Interview by Virginia Ciccone

When we think about the “museum” institution we automatically think about a place which is entirely dedicated to the knowledge, the preservation and exhibition of objects that testify to the identity and culture of ancient or contemporary civilizations. In most cases in the collective imagination the term also necessarily implies an unavoidable sense of respect for an institution perceived as the official temple of undisputed knowledge.
How is an effective museum gallery constructed and which are the core values that should be taken into consideration in this delicate phase?
We asked it to Sheila Watson, Deputy Head of the School of Museum Studies, University of Leicester, UK.

Would you mind to start this interview introducing yourself and telling us something about your background?

My name is Sheila Watson. I am a senior lecturer at the School of Museum Studies at the University of Leicester, UK. I have had several different careers – I started off as a secondary school teacher of history before moving into Museum education. I became a curator and museum manager and one of my last jobs before I joined the Leicester team was to develop a new community museum called Time and Tide in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.

In your lecture “How do emotions affect the way people learn in history museums?” ( March 28, 2014 – Malta) you were focusing on the important role played by feelings both in the construction and in the perception of a museum gallery: when and how did you start developing this kind of research and what was the main inspiring reason for doing so?

I became interested in this sort of thing about three years ago when I was involved in a European project called EuNaMus www.ep.liu.se/eunamus which investigated national museums throughout Europe. It occurred to me then that museums were trying to explain the nation in the museum using logical and intellectual terms and that what really mattered was the affective impression nations made on people. I began to think that for most visitors their national identities are very emotional ones yet no-one really highlighted this. I also found very little research had been done into the topic of emotions in museums so I decided I had better start to do some myself!

How is it possible to investigate and conduct an academic research on such a subjective topic like feelings and emotions? Do you need any knowledge in psychology?

This is, of course, a very challenging subject to investigate. At the moment a great deal of my thinking has been influenced by ideas of historians and cultural theorists who think that emotions are culturally regulated, in part by history and historical practices. I am also looking at theories relating to the way in which recent psychological research suggests that even when we think we are dispassionate the part of the brain that controls emotions also responds to stimulus and does so a split second before our cognitive functions. What I would like to do now is to undertake some visitor research involving historians, artists and similar, museum professionals, academics in museum studies and psychologists.

According to your experience, which are the most important values a curator should take into consideration in order to build up an effective museum gallery? Do they vary according to the culture and the society the museum belongs to?

I think there are some values that are the same whichever culture and society the museum belongs to. We should, I think, always be honest and encourage open enquiry. Curators need to think about the ways in which the visitors engage with the objects and the spaces in which the objects are placed and be sensitive to a range of barriers to understanding that museums might, inadvertently put in place for those who are not used to visiting galleries and museums. Ideally a museum gallery is a space for trial, error, more trial etc. and should never be considered finished. Curators should involve audiences and communities in deciding how and what should be exhibited and should always evaluate what they do. Having said that yes, some aspects of galleries and museums will be culturally specific and depend on where the museum is situated.

School of Museum Studies, University of Leicester, ©Martine Hamilton Knight Photography.

School of Museum Studies, University of Leicester, ©Martine Hamilton Knight Photography.

How can the right balance between academic content and emotions be established in the construction of a museum gallery?

I think we might find it helpful if we thought about emotions and the academic content as something that was not separate but actually intertwined. Much of what we think of as dispassionate academic text, discourse, and interpretation in a gallery is culturally regulated and all cultures have an emotional register. For example, in the UK we pride ourselves for having a ‘stiff upper lip’ – in other words our feelings and emotions are not very open. However, those of us familiar with this convention will be able to ‘read’ the emotional undercurrent in texts which might appear completely devoid of emotions. Thus I would like us to begin to be aware that the old division between emotion and cognition does not represent how people react and think as they go round a gallery. They think and feel simultaneously and gallery design should accommodate this and be aware that sometimes cultural backgrounds will influence the way people feel about what they experience in the gallery.

In your opinion, talking in terms of the real emotional experience visitors are provided with, which are the most advanced history museum realities/displays around the world?

What a difficult question! Of course I have not seen all the history museum displays round the world but here are two I would recommend highly
The Swedish History Museum, Stockholm. Beautifully curated and recently large sections of it have been redisplayed. Here the emotional responses of the visitor are carefully orchestrated through the narrative and design.
Imperial War Museum North, Manchester, England. The Big Picture Show – an amazingly powerful use of space, sound, light and photographs which changes hourly. Dealing with difficult subjects it manages to be thoughtful and touching. It makes you think as well as feel and both enhance the experience of the other.

During your lecture “How do emotions affect the way people learn in history museums?” you mentioned the Istanbul Military Museum as an example of a museum which provides visitors with such a hard content that they might be even shocked by what they see. What do you think about such a direct kind of approach? Is it right as long as it shows true everyday life images, or should a museum, being a public institution, somehow protect the emotional sensitivity of its visitors?

I think this touches on a whole set of difficult questions. For me this is as much about the ethics of showing ‘hard content’ (in this case dead and mutilated bodies) as it is about the impact on current visitors. Do such exhibitions desensitize us to violence? Are we voyeurs of someone’s last intimate moments of life? However, as you point out we also need to think about the ethics of whether it is right to shock and upset visitors. In my opinion we should reserve the right to show things that might unsettle or upset people but we should warn them so they have a choice as to whether or not they see and experience such things or not.

What do you think about MUZA, the project for the development of a new museum and a new museum typology that the Malta Local Government, Heritage Malta and the Ministry of Tourism have embarked on?

This sounds like a fabulously innovative project that will be an exemplar for other museums to follow, it will provide the Maltese people with accessible and interesting displays in a museum that does them proud and will give visitors a great insight into new ways of experiencing art. It is a great example of a collaborative, community based project and I am looking forward to seeing it when it is complete.

According to your experience, is the MUZA project something new or can it be compared to some other already existing museum realities around the world?

From what I have heard this project is new and different. I think it will surprise the world.

MyTemplArt Magazine is particularly focused on the matter of art institutions, both museums and school of museum studies, in the 21st century. What is your personal opinion about them?

Obviously for me all art institutions and the institutions that study them are important parts of our cultural heritage. They are to be cherished and nurtured and challenged in equal parts.

You have been a member of the School of Museum Studies since 2003 and are now the Deputy Head. Which institutional changes have you experienced there since then?

There are far too many to mention them all here. The School is a very dynamic place. www2.le.ac.uk and one only has to look at its website to see how many things are going on here. It has almost doubled in size in the last ten years and the sorts of programmes it offers have grown. We now do distance learning courses and offer these in Digital Heritage, Museum Studies, Learning and Visitor Studies in Museums and Galleries and Heritage and Interpretation. We have developed very large international research projects and collaborate far more than we used to do with colleagues all over the world. Our student cohort was always international but it has become even more diverse which is wonderful.

Nowadays to curate an exhibition is often seen as something fashionable rather than as an action based on a scientific content. Do you think that curators are wielding too much power, thus creating exhibitions lacking of sense and artistic value? What do you think about “the state of the art” of curating contemporary art?

Exhibitions, especially art ones, have different purposes and meanings. I don’t think curators have too much power as such but I would like to see more collaboration with their audiences so that there is a dialogue between them before and during the exhibition. I would also like to see more cross disciplinary exhibitions using art. For me art is not just something in a gallery – it is part of the whole of life’s experiences.

Scuola di Studi Museali, Università di Leicester, UK:  www2.le.ac.uk

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