Museums and Galleries Month

Theme for 2007 is "People - Who are we?"

Museums and Galleries Month

May is Museums and Galleries Month in the UK. To get an impression of the range of exhibitions and events, the 24 Hour Museum website can be recommended. This is the UK's National Virtual Museum, updated daily with at least two new stories including arts and museum news as well as exhibition notices, reviews, features and trails. You can search the site for what's on by place, date or by any subject you choose. The site aims to encourage visitors out into attractions around the country, not only during the Museum month, but also all year round.

Night of the Museums
British Museums are also more active than ever participating with a large range of events for the pan-European festival on May 19, the Night of the Museums. This is one more chance to showcase the value of museums and discover or rediscover the treasures of museums.

Can historical exhibitions be neutral?

So museums and galleries across the country are in multiple ways helping visitors to learn about their history. As Culture Minister David Lammy said at the opening ceremony of the Museum and Galleries Month: "…our shared history shapes our heritage. And it is our heritage that gives richness and depth to our multi-cultural society. But our island story is not always an easy one to read. There is pain and frustration too. But museums and galleries are the perfect medium to express and discuss it in a non-political and non-threatening way. They provide the means to tell these tales to a new generation and explain them in a way which has real meaning."

Perhaps the Minister is referring to the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the British transatlantic slave trade when he talks of pain and frustration. Slavery is certainly part of Europe's history, but can we really consider museum exhibitions on historical topics such as Tates on the abolition of slavery  as non-political? It seems a bit naïve. Any exhibition on a historical topic will always be slanted and angled in one direction or another. Historical exhibitions can never be neutral, but can strive to be factual.

Identity heritage
The theme - "People, Who are we?" - is in keeping with a seemingly global trend. It aims to explore the relationship between museums and identities. But the million-dollar question is whether this search for identity through family history workshops in Nottingham or drawing of artefacts that mean something to you in Kent is possible. Do we as humans get our identity through museum and gallery exhibitions? Or is our identity defined by a number of circumstances such as social relations with friends, family and local community, genetics, skills, etc. and less through history?

Of course it is intriguing to search our genealogy or village, but our identity is so much more than our ancestry. Rather our identity is determined by events and actions of today, more so than by events of the past. Heritage and history is fascinating and important to gain an understanding of our time and age, but dangerous if used to encourage claims from different groups, each with their own identity and story. Which dilemmas this may create is the topic of this week's article on Judging Values (ethical dilemmas). Worst-case scenario may be that everyone maintains their own 'historical identity', which they want society and its laws to be based upon. Maybe the exercise should be to find common identities, things that bond us together, rather than divide us.

Another fly in the ointment
Some have aired their concern with regards to the survey that is being carried out as part of Museums and Galleries Month 2007. The questions and possible answers are very much in keeping with the theme on "who we are". Here are a few examples:

1. Which one person, represented in a UK museum or gallery, would you bring back to life? Options are Nelson Mandela, Kate Moss, Elizabeth I, Churchill, Marilyn Monroe, etc.
2. Which object in a UK museum or gallery would you bring back into everyday use? Options are routemaster bus, wind-up gramophone, ink pen, corset, telegrams, steam train, penny-farthing bicycle, pocket chain watch, slate board, wooden spinning tops or rocking horses.
3. What everyday object from today should be preserved in a museum to reflect the identity of 2007? Options are ipod, blackberry, oyster card, hybrid fuel car, take away coffee, etc.

What the answers can be used for is difficult to say, but you can win tickets to major exhibitions at Tate this summer.

Multifaceted please, not grey 
Some claim that, instead of promoting the ordinary with focus on my identity and my ancestry, museums should bear in mind that they are keepers of society's memories. Some fall in the ditches of grey and bland ordinariness. But most museums are doing their best to keep up standards with high-quality and demanding exhibitions and events - while at the same time battling to ensure a steady flow of visitors.

Related information
Museums and Galleries Month, MGM  (same website as 24-hour museum)
UK's National Virtual Museum, 24-hour museum
International Museum Day, International Council of Museums (ICOM)

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