Existing Tasks
WCMA holds special discussions at WCMA for community members to join.
Cristina is a resident of Williamstown who was really intrigued by an exhibit she visited in WCMA. She felt she could personally relate to some of the subject matter and she’s now curious about what others have to say about the exhibit. She heard about a discussion facilitated by WCMA that was being held in the museum on a Wednesday night and decides to go to hear what others have to say and contribute her thoughts.
Conversations between WCMA staff/representatives and visitors about exhibits
Sophie is a museum employee who specializes in academic and public engagement. She is responsible for bridging the gap between visitors and curators to facilitate interpretation of exhibits. She works to help museums understand their visitors and overall visitor-centered goals. To achieve these goals, museum employees conduct fly on the wall observations, formal solicitations of feedback and informal and/or formal conversations to measure accessibility and responses of a particular exhibit.
Visitors create alternative interpretations and critique exhibits during their visit already
Anna is a young adult and a lover of contemporary art. Her local museum recently announced the opening of a new exhbit she is interested in. As other museum visitors focused on the main painting, she had her eyes on a painting with a simple black dot on the canvas. She was having trouble figuring out what the black dot meant: hope, death, humans? She goes with her first thought; it must be hope. She believes that this should have been the main painting on display since she finds it the most intriguing.
Potential New Tasks
Sharing discussions happening at WCMA for the wider community and inviting people to participate as they experience an exhibit
Claudia is a Williams College student visiting WCMA. As she is walking around an exhibit, she can’t help but have a critical lens on how the gallery is arranged and wonder about what conversations were happening as the space was designed. She is itching to talk about it with someone and to hear what thoughts were being considered in the creation of the exhibit as well as how other people have received it. She is in fact unaware that WCMA held a discussion about it two nights ago, but something is implemented in the exhibit that allows her to view some of the discussion that happened and participate in ongoing conversations about the exhibit, while she is there.
Making the dialogue between museum staff/representatives and visitors easier to access
Alex is a student who has seen changes in a layout of an exhibit he saw a few weeks ago. He thought the changes in the exhibit affected his interpretation and understanding of the message that was being conveyed in the work. He started wondering why the changes were made. Unfortunately, there are no museum staff/representatives who he feels comfortable talking to in person about the changes. Perhaps an interactive discussion forum at an electronic kiosk at the exhibit where Alex can anonymously leave his questions and museum staff/representatives could answer his questions would facilitate and increase dialogue. The benefit of having a device at the exhibit itself allows future visitors who have questions like Alex can see the questions and answers.
Making/sharing/reading alternative interpretations of exhibits/works that specifically address expressions of power, discomfort, and marginalization in museums
Maria is a student who rarely visits museums. She finds it difficult to connect with art that doesn’t pertain to her culture. On a recent school fieldtrip to an art museum, she felt uncomfortable by an exhibit about Latin American culture. She felt as though her tour guide misinterpreted the images on display. She wanted to say something, but she felt that sharing would draw unwanted attention to herself. She wonders if she was the only one who felt that way and wishes she could tell others how she felt. She also believes that the tour guide should have done further research about the art.