Museum Stories
Museums and their collections tell narratives. Some of these narratives are stories told through the arrangement of objects in an exhibition, permanent or temporary. Other stories are told through the physical building, the arrangement of space in and around the museum, accessibility to the public, the controlled flow of visitors from one room to another, and the temporal progression of the museum experience (to name but a few aspects). These stories are as much a reflection of the individual museum and its mission as the social and cultural milieu in which they were created and operate. Through these various devices, museums have the power to shape the experience of the visitor and convey messages.
What story does the Guggeneheim tell about itself and about American society past and present? Reflect on your total experience: finding the museum; entering the museum; reception; spatial arrangement; exhibition and collection; and tour. Write up your thoughts in a short reflection piece of 450-500 words. You can include pictures if you want. Then take 5 minutes to think about the following: If you were to create a museum what kind of narrative would you want it to tell? Come up with 5-7 keywords that you would want to describe it.
When you are done, post your reflection piece to the course blog site (https://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/heath17/) and be sure to add the keywords as tags (you’ll find the place to do this in the lower right hand corner of the post page). Post your work by Sunday, September 10th. When you are done, take a quick look at the Guggenheim’s own narrative about itself in the mission statement it has posted on its website.
After the deadline has closed, read the blogs of your classmates and respond to at least 3 of their posts regarding their interpretation of the Guggenheim and their keyword descriptions of their museum. Based on their description what kind of building do you think would best enable the museums described to embody the keywords achieved?
Deadline for blog: Sunday, September 10th at 5:00 pm
Deadline for comments: Monday, September 11th at 11 pm.
