[ad_1]
According to one of the museum's permanent exhibitors, the curator of Agnes Alley, visitors are often surprised. Instead of seeing glorious moments and heroes of history, they explore the living environment, the household, the hobbies, the work and the social norms of ordinary people at different times in history. it is important that their opinions are meaningful, "says a museum interviewer at the museum's research department, who is currently developing a dissertation on visitor engagement initiatives in Estonian museums over the last decade. According to A.Aliya, the museum is intended for those who want to think and just want to relax
– Since 1909, the Estonian National Museum operating in Tartu has never had a permanent exhibition, only exhibitions temporary events were organized. New museum building in 2016 In autumn, it was opened with two permanent exhibitions – "Meetings" on Estonian daily life and "Ural Awaits" on tribes belonging to the Finno-Ugric language group. How many people have content? Have you had time to create it?
– A total of 200 people contributed to the constant emergence of content creation, because we wanted to present the latest scientific discoveries. After the opening of the museum, I thought that it would usually be necessary to change the content of these times, but the archeological part is the most changing, since scientists have recently found something new . We do not have an archaeological museum in Estonia, so archaeologists were very happy to have included them in the creation of the exhibition.
We thought we were going to find a connection between contemporary people and what we are going to tell. Scientists shared their knowledge and we, the tutors, took the responsibility to present them in the best visual way. There was a lot of meetings, discussions, because we had time – almost a decade. For a long time, politicians could not decide exactly where the museum was – in the city or behind, on the territory of the Raadi Mansion. Sometimes it seemed that the museum would not be built at all. I think that the cultural heritage in Estonia is not as popular as in Lithuania. Politicians came to ask us who would build a national museum if people could visit the museum in Helsinki or Paris. In Estonia, the significance of heritage for identity is not so clear
– I really liked that the exhibition "Meetings" from the chronological point of view does not begin since Stone age, but from the beginning until today. Find links with ancient objects, seeing their usual things first. They no longer seem to be so exclusive, just things used by their ancestors.
– Why is it usually important to talk about everyday life at the museum? Maybe people want to see something special, like a treasure or art. And here – plates, used by our grandparents, agricultural tools.
– The Estonian National Museum is an ethnographic museum. From the very beginning, people have been collecting things from ordinary people. Our archives are full of stories about how people managed their lives at different historical times, under different circumstances, in different political systems. On the other hand, when preparing for a permanent exhibition, we wanted to create something new, intriguing. We tested the museum version, which focuses on the visitors themselves. We show different attitudes towards the same cultural phenomenon, we talk about everyday life. Here you will not find significant presidents, we wanted to allow visitors – the ordinary people of Estonia.
– Indeed, the history of daily life in the exhibition "Meetings" helps to understand the Estonian mentality. By choosing this exhibition, we chose a more sophisticated option for the visitor. He must choose his own path, because he has a lot of content, it is impossible to see everything and hear everything. Finougram for the exhibition is much simpler. There is only one way to see it, many visualizations. We can say that these exhibitions illustrate different ways of presenting a culture in the museum.
We thought we would find a connection between modern people and what we are going to tell. Scientists shared their knowledge, and we, the Conservatives, took responsibility for presenting them in the best visual way.
We made this decision by understanding what Estonians are. Our only 1.3 million, of which about 250,000. Really interested in culture. Most Estonians read the tabloids and do not scratch their heads in theaters or museums. As a result, we have created such an institution whose construction and exhibition would attract all Estonia. It's a crazy idea, of course. The museum is therefore intended for those who want to think and those who just want to relax, experience the aesthetic experience.
– Foreigners do not hesitate to take part in your visit. I first saw the maps that instantly converted the Estonian text to the screen in English, German, Russian, Finnish, Latvian.
– These cards are our invention. We did not want to display texts in multiple languages because they would take up a lot of space. We found a Las Vegas company that sells screens that work without electricity except at a time when the language changes. Initially, employees of this company did not respond to our letters, apparently they did not know where Estonia was. One of our designers had to fly to the US and go to their office. At first, the order seemed too small, but finally accepted and now announces the operation of the screens for us because it is really smooth.
Fortunately, we are visited by many tourists. In particular, many Latvians come, who say that their story is similar and very familiar. They feel as if at the Latvian National Museum. I certainly did not expect the museum to have such an important impact on tourism in Tartu.
– What did not you expect yet?
– I think we were not really expecting the interest of visitors. We have probably been waiting for complaints about how we talk about everyday life and ordinary people. We used a lot of scientists to create the exhibition. If history is based on research – it is easier to justify being well thought out, weighed. Agree, this fear is not fulfilled.
– Completely realize what is called the paradigm of the participating museum. How do you include visitors?
– 2012 We launched an advertising campaign and tried to involve people in the creation of the museum as soon as possible. For example, when we moved a collection of the old building to that. We also invited the domains to send their photos to the museum logo. Did you pay attention to the models in the exhibition? These are real human body models designed to create a 3D scanner. Here is our invention too. We measured the clothes we wanted to look for and we were looking for people who would suit them best. It is much easier to add visitors nowadays because most use phisebus, an instagram.
We can review what you read in the exhibition using the language card. These data are supplemented by visitor tracking. The data badysis shows us which objects are causing visitors' emotions or encouraging them to talk to each other. Suppose I was surprised that people often cry watching a movie on the Baltic Way. They are motivated by the memory of this event or by the fact that so many people can unite for this purpose. However, no tears are pushed towards the images of the Baltic Highway near Tallinn at the Vilnius Gallery. People are not beautiful in the photos – the late 1980s – and the film is much more moving.
People find it easier to find links with ancient objects, seeing them first with common objects. They do not seem to be so exclusive, just things used by their ancestors
– In one of the permanent exhibition halls, we invite visitors to create their exhibition in the 1990s.
exhibition created. We announce a contest and people can propose their own projects and then vote for them. We launched the curiosity open in 2009 in the old museum building, and since then everything is fine. Museums never predict what people really want to see in the exhibition. During the first competition, we were convinced that the theme of coffee culture and street art in Tartu would be happy. But many more votes were collected by the project about authentic emblems. It was unexpected.
– What were your toughest questions as a curator?
– It is partly easy to talk about freedom by presenting the opinions of eight different people on this subject. For five years, it is freedom of consumption, for the ninety years it is a political ideal. However, there were such topics where, as a curator, I had to make a specific statement. We try to be a museum that involves people, listens to their stories, so I have long thought that my statement would be accepted.
For example, an urgent curatorial decision was to be made on the stand of modern Estonian religiosity. Usually we say we are the least religious in the world, but we have challenged that stereotype by saying that we are the most ezeric. In Estonia, the books are mostly self-confident, people like movies like "Eat, Pray Take advantage of extrasensory battles on television, religious life is replaced by something else – yoga, objects unrecognized shuttlebads, "New age" badociates.Although I had a scientific rationale for my priest's decision, I was still scared of how he would understand.A large number of people related to the church participated in the opening of the museum.I asked a priest if everything was fine with the position on the modernity of Estonian religiosity.He replied that there is no There are not too many objects that illustrate our predilection for esotericism.
Nowadays, people's attitudes are very different, you never know in which context your proposal will be interpreted. For example, there was a scandal about the museum building. Younger and more open has supported the project and is delighted that the old space has received a new meaning. However, it seemed that the museum was built for the money of Vladimir Putin because it was a monument to the former Soviet airfield. I would never have anticipated it. On the other hand, there was no controversy that we had anticipated due to the exposure. It's a bit unfortunate. After all, because of scandals, people also come to museums. We really like scandals. We survived one of them for expensive dishes at the museum's restaurant, until today I'm watching how people discuss it while eating
– I remembered the scandal from the Museum of the Second World War in Gdansk. I think it's time for him to visit him, hear about the dissatisfaction of the ruling party and plan to close it or change it.
– We do not have that. The government does not care about what we are exposing here. I think they like the building, but they do not believe that the museum can change people's opinion or have a political impact. Unfortunately, the cultural heritage in Estonia is not considered so important.
– XXI century. the mission of museums to contribute to the quality of democracy. Do you think that the exhibition about everyday life should change the preferences of the visitor, raise his civic awareness, empathize for others?
– I think he should do it. I also think that there is a need for various museums. As a result, we created two different exhibitions – the most usual and the most critical, the most badytic of society.
We pay a lot of attention to the visitor experience because we want to understand what interests them, what they remember. I can say that more than half of the visitors think about the exhibition. My head is good statistics. Therefore, the exposure arises to ask questions. However, I would not say that we are changing society. These are drops in the sea.
We decided that after seeing different opinions on the same subject, like freedom, people would broaden their worldview. However, in an interview with visitors, it is obvious that they find them close to the viewpoints in the exhibition, while others do not notice it. They are happy to see their institutionalized approach. As a result, I can not say that changing the world is faster by showing visitors that they are important. In fact, museum people draw attention to what they know in advance, they rely on their previous experience. Therefore, change of attitude is difficult, it is only very little written to offer a new point of view on a topic that already interests the visitor.
[ad_2]
Source link
