SECOND YEAR KNOWLEDGE PART TWO

Museum (Studies) Mondays | Katlyn Wooder

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October has come and gone, it went by so fast. But that is because around week 6 is when school starts to get really busy.

Source.

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Exhibition Class

This month is where you to start planning your exhibit project in earnest.

The most important part of the assignment is to figure out your scope. It’s something I have trouble doing.

As a masters student, I want my exhibit to be amazing. To be frank, sometimes it's hard to know what parts of the project are the most important to prioritize. You need to concentrate on these details to ensure that you're not wasting time. No one, and I mean no one, wants to waste time when you're in graduate school. Eventually your friends and family will storm the gates, and demand attention.

Source.

If you can narrow down your scope at the beginning, it will save time and effort, and help you succeed at 'The Pitch'.

The Pitch is where your group gives a three minute presentation on your exhibit project, and a panel of professionals will decide if you receive some of the $10 000 class budget. You are supposed to cover what you are doing (the big idea), how you are doing it (such as the design, the budget and schedule), and what you need to succeed.

It’s not the easiest thing to do, but it's good practice for later in life when you have to convince your superiors of your projects' worth.

Source

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Museum Planning and Management: Projects and Fundraising

There were two distinct parts of class this month. The first part was guest lectures, and the second part was the Charter Project.

Our class had the pleasure of having a guest lecturer Katherine Molineux, Principal Consultant, Lord Cultural Resources. She shared with us her experience of working as a project manager on multiple projects. She went over all the tools needed for success. Molineux really stressed the importance of communication. If you do not communicate, the people involved in the project waste time, and feel unimportant and demoralized. The second guest speaker was Maria Piacente, Vice President, Exhibitions, Events, and Project Management, Lord Cultural Resources, who covered what happens when things go wrong. These two experienced museum professionals shared their experience, knowledge, and problem-solving skills.

The Project Charter was an interesting project. We separated into about ten groups and were assigned situations. My team was given a fictional ROM project where we had to plan a permanent exhibit about bugs. Other groups needed to plan a new lobby at the AGO, or a membership drive at the Science Centre.

We all drafted Charters, where we figured out the goals, outcomes, schedule, risks… of the different projects, and then in class presented the work we’ve done. One of the things I learned was that people responded very well to colour and charts. A pie graph with the budget made some swoon, but not as much as the extensive RACI chart. They help to establish authority, and give the air of competence to your project.

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We’ve had our final class on Project Management tools; six weeks is an intensive period to soak it all up, but there are Certificate programs out there if you're interested in this part of the museum world.

The second half of this course will concentrate on economics. Yay.

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A piece of advice from a Second Year: there’s a lot of team work in the second year. Figure out who you work well with, and who you don’t. It will help save headaches later on. Don't feel bad if people spontaneously start to cry, people are just very stressed.

All the best,

Katlyn Wooder

Write to you in a month.

SECOND YEAR KNOWLEDGE PART 1

Museum Mondays | Katlyn Wooder

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Source.

Hello and greetings.

While this column is called Museum Mondays it will neither be about Museums or Mondays... although it will be posted on Mondays... what a happy coincidence ;). Now it will be known as Museum (Studies) Mondays.

This column will be a monthly explanation of what the University of Toronto is teaching us the Museum Studies’ Students.

This year this I'm going to conduct a Musings’ experiment. My premise is that part of Musings audience is current or future students who would find it helpful to be given an outline of what to expect in the second year mandatory classes. The two mandatory second year classes for Fall 2018 are MSL4000 Exhibitions Project and MSL2350 Museum Planning and Fundraising and Human Resources.

Of course, that excludes those interested in the thesis option rather than the exhibitions option. I don’t have a lot of useful personal information on that stream, except if you want to do a thesis these are the things you should do to prepare for the first week of school: look at what topic you would like to explore, and then find someone you want to learn from at the University of Toronto, and contact them to see if they would be willing to be your supervisor (don’t be too scared, most of the professors are human, and quite supportive if you come prepared).

If you are not a student, don’t exit the page. This is a great way of learning what our faculty found so vitally important that they argued and worked, and submitted and reviewed, and worked some more to get the courses up and running. They felt strongly that museum professionals needed to know these lessons.

If this article is successful people will be as happy and prepared for a successful experience, if not…

Source. 

I hope a first-year student next year will share their experience in the mandatory first-year courses.

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Exhibition class, taught by Prof. Matthew Brower, to manage and execute a successful museum project. Before the course even started, he did some heavy-lifting and found 20+ institutions with the desire to partner with UofT students to work on an exhibition project.

Those sponsors then propose the exhibit projects in class on week two. The presentations share the BIG idea: what the exhibit topic is about, who you are working with, what your resources are, or if you have resources.

Source.

Some students create their own projects. These enterprising souls started their own project by using their work, connections, mentors, internships, took opportunity by the (censored) and ran. One student is reorganizing a Gallery’s Map collection and updating their catalogue system.

There are students who choose their project because it’s fully funded. Some people will choose the project based on the museum’s topic. The historic heritage crowd would rather chew off their arm than work with art... for the most part. There is a myriad of different priorities to manage, and it will help you to have a list of priorities you think are important, or knowledge of what skills you want to have after this.

There really isn’t a wrong choice. There are just different things you are going to learn.

By the end of this course, you are going to have a basic understanding of how to complete a museum project. The course is designed to teach you the different steps week-by-week. Last week, we learnt about budgeting and the different knowledge that is needed to create a budget. The major tip I learnt is never underestimate the amount of money you need; we are creating a professional exhibit and the budget should match.

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Museum Planning and Management: Projects and Fundraising, commonly called the Project Management course by the students.

This year the course is taught by Judith Koke. “The objective of this course is to offer students applied knowledge of core concepts for planning and managing projects in museums, as well as of revenues, grant making and fundraising in the museum environment” (excerpt from the course syllabus). This course is the backbone of the Master program. It will give you knowledge on how to manage the business aspects of your career in the cultural heritage sector.

Some of the practical tools I have learnt of the last month include:
1) RACI Chart
2) GANTT Chart
3) Project Charter

This course will ground you. It will make a template for your professional career.

One of the projects it will force you to complete is a journal. You will document the readings (which will force you to do the readings), you will write the course notes, and you will document your thoughts. The professor understands the only way to get an overworked graduate student to spend the time necessary to read around a hundred pages a week, and to reflect on them, is too make it part of the grade.

But it will be worth it. Other courses will teach you the theory. This course will give you the practical tools to complete a project.

Such as a Project Charter. The charter is the backbone of your project. It should be the document that you look to, to mire your thinking in. It’s so easy to get overwhelmed when you’re working on a project. To think everything is important. All the knowledge, all those resources, all your opinions will be important. The charter should be the thing that helps you cut. It will help you question if that thing you just need to include is important or necessary.

This course gives you the foundations to be successful.

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A piece of advice from a second year: Whenever you are given a project think: How many hours am I dedicating to the project? How important is this project? Should I be ultra-controlling or go with the flow? Is stress  acne worth it?

All the best,

Katlyn Wooder

Write to you in a month

MMSt 2018: EXHIBITION PROJECTS PART III

RESEARCH COLUMN

BY: SERENA YPELAAR

Hello again, and to those who celebrate, Happy Easter weekend! We are back with our final installment of #MMSt2018 project coverage, in which our students tell you all about their theses and exhibitions!

In this edition, we will explore the last batch of exhibitions and projects launching across the city. You know what to do - read about the stories in the group members' own words below!


Mixed Messages: Making and Shaping Culinary Culture in Canada (May 21-August 31, 2018) 
Sadie MacDonald, Cassandra Curtis 

Image used with permission of Rogers Media Inc.,
All rights reserved. 

Location: Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, 120 St. George Street, University of Toronto

We are curatorial assistants for Mixed Messages, which will display rare cookbooks and culinary objects from the 1820s to the 1960s. Through a combination of traditional object displays, digital media, and public programming, this exhibition will explore the stories of those who participated in - or were excluded from - making and shaping culinary culture in Canada.

ROAM Audio Tours (Project; May 2018) 

Breanna Stephenson 

Location: Toronto

My concept, ROAM Audio Tours, is a start-up e-business aimed at creating unique and accessible museum audio tours. The company will be privately launching its first exclusive tour Crafting Culture: Tools of Humankind through the Age at a Toronto institution this spring. With embedded directional cues and insightful audio, ROAM will invite you to explore museums from a different perspective, fostering new connections between you and collections.

As the founder, I am responsible for several tasks to develop ROAM into a publishable product, such as in this photo where I am pictured revising the tour script before it's recorded. Photo courtesy of Breanna Stephenson. 

Partners: ROAM Audio Tours could not exist without the collaboration of my resource partners. I would like to thank my contacts at MH Studios Toronto, BigServe Graphx, and my web developer Connor McKinnon for all of their amazing support so far.

Snapshots of Change: The Influence of the CNE on Toronto (June 21-September 29, 2018) 

Bretton Weir, Marlee Yule

Kids look at Ferris Wheel, 1962. Photo courtesy of CNE
Archives, Alexandra Studio Fonds, MG5-F770-I3.

Location: Withrow Common, 200 Princes’ Blvd (Canadian National Exhibition), Toronto
Exhibition Hours: Thursdays 1 pm – 5 pm (exhibit will be closed during the CNE – see withrowcommon.ca for details)
Opening Reception: TBD

Our exhibition is a retrospective look at the massive photo collection of the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE). As a historical landmark in our city, we were inspired by the changes to Toronto we have seen reflected in the past 139 years of the CNE. Join us in discovering the past, present, and future influence of Toronto’s hidden neighbourhood!

A Tradition of Giving: Sir Henry Pellatt and The St. George's Society of Toronto (July-August 2018) 

Samantha Eadie, Jennifer Lee, Kathleen Vahey, Serena Ypelaar 

(From left) Serena, Kathleen, Jenny, and Samantha, fundraising
for the exhibition by speaking at the St. George's Society
Christmas Dinner. Photo courtesy of Serena Ypelaar. 

Location: Casa Loma, 1 Austin Terrace, Toronto
Opening Reception: TBD

Our exhibition explores the history of Toronto’s oldest charitable organization, the St. George’s Society of Toronto, and the legacy of notable life member and President, Sir Henry Pellatt. Using archival material, photographs, and historical objects connected to the Society, we will illustrate both its evolution since its inception in 1834 and its lasting legacy in the city.

Partners: The St. George's Society of Toronto; Casa Loma

Mazel Tov! A Celebration of Jewish Weddings and Marriage in Ontario (July 5-August 6, 2018) 

Katie Paolozza, Leore Zecharia 

Leore in the archives at the OJA.
Photo courtesy of Katie Paolozza.

Location: The Gallery at the J, located in the Jacobs Lounge on the main floor of the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre, sponsored by the Ontario Jewish Archives
Opening Reception: TBD

Our project combines the joyful chaos of weddings with the social history of Jewish families in Ontario. We've used the traditional steps of Jewish weddings to thematically frame our narrative, inviting our audience to join us on a multi-generational journey through time. Our exhibit uses photographs and engaging ephemera ranging from old advertisements to legal documents to tell the story of how weddings symbolize the hopes and dreams we have for our families.

Doris McCarthy Symposium (Project; November 2018) 

Alexis Moline 

Location: Doris McCarthy Gallery, University of Toronto Scarborough, 1265 Military Trail, Toronto

For my project, I'm working with the Doris McCarthy Gallery to host a symposium offering fresh perspectives on the life and work of Doris McCarthy. I am responsible for research, communication, advertising and organizing the event and will continue to work on this project throughout the year. This symposium will open in conjunction with an exhibition of McCarthy's work in the fall of 2018.

Doris McCarthy, Iceberg with Icicles, 2000. Oil on canvas, 152.4 cm x 213.4 cm. Gift of the artist. Collection of the Doris McCarthy Gallery. 

Looking Back, Going Forward (Project; Date TBD)

Madeleine Long 

My project involves going through a personal archive that belonged to Harlan I. Smith, who was, among other things, an archaeologist and photographer. I'm working on organizing information from the collection so that it can eventually go somewhere where researchers can have easier access.  

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And with that, we're done featuring all of the #MMSt2018 projects. Thank you to every student who spoke about their work, and thanks to you, the readers, for your support. I hope you found this series as insightful and fascinating as I did, and I hope to see you at the opening receptions!

MMSt 2018: EXHIBITION PROJECTS PART II

RESEARCH COLUMN

BY: SERENA YPELAAR

Happy Sunday, readers! It's your friendly neighbourhood Editor-in-Chief again, with another installment of #MMSt2018 exhibition projects for your curious minds. Last weekend you got to hear about the ones that are opening first; this post will follow the same chronological structure and pick up where we left off.

So sit back, relax, and enjoy hearing more about our students' projects!


Temple of Fame: Staging Women's Roles (April 25-June 10, 2018)
Maeghan Jerry, Kara Isozaki, Sarah Kelly

Location: Aurora Museum & Archives, 22 Church Street, Aurora
Opening Reception: April 25th, 2018 5:30 pm - 8:30 pm

A century ago, the women of Aurora produced the Temple of Fame: A Pageant of Famous Women. The play featured historical and fictional female figures vying to be crowned by the Goddess of Fame. Our exhibition explores how the play illuminates the changing roles of women in 1918. Our project is a portion of larger centennial programming, which celebrates local women through a series of community events, including a remount of the play.

1918 production of Temple of Fame. Photo courtesy of the Aurora Museum & Archives.

Redefining Language in African Art Scholarship (April 30, 2018 –) 

Susan Jama

Working at Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections! Photo courtesy
of Susan Jama. 

Location: Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collection, York University Libraries, Toronto

My digital exhibition, Redefining Language in African Art Scholarship, explores the history of language used to describe African art from colonial to post-colonial era. Redefining Language in African Art Scholarship reveals the transformative shift in African art literature written from the 1900s to 1980s.

Messages from the Mosaic (May 1, 2018 –)
Ellen (Mairead) Murphy, Zhuohua (Nicole) Yang

Location: Canadian Language Museum; messagesfromthemosaic.ca (digital exhibition)

Promotional image for the exhibition. Photo courtesy of

Ellen (Mairead) Murphy.

Our exhibition project is Messages from the Mosaic, a digital exhibition about the languages of Canada. Using text, infographics, and clickable elements, we want to curate a web exhibition that explores the history, trends, and challenges surrounding Canada’s transforming language mosaic. This is a bilingual exhibition (English and French) and will be launched in May 2018.

A Telepathic Book (May 5-15, 2018)

The Broadbent Sisters' Telepathic Book. Photo courtesy of
Broadbent Sisters and Robynne Redgrave, 2017. 

Aurora Cacioppo, Meagan Fillmore 

Location: Black Cat Art Space, 2186 Dundas St W, Toronto
Opening Reception: May 3, 2018, 6 pm (remarks at 7 pm) at Stephen Bulger Gallery, 1356 Dundas St W, Toronto

We are working with the Broadbent Sisters to translate the components of their sculptural photobook into an exhibition for CONTACT Photography Festival. For fourteen days, the artists used meditation to telepathically send and receive images to one another. Afterward, they revealed their photos to one another and found unbelievable connections! Using each day’s images, the artists produced A Telepathic Book, which displays these parallels while promoting meditative practice through its design.

Partners: The Broadbent Sisters

The History of the John Street Roundhouse: 1929 - Present (May 2, 2018 –)
Hannah Monkman, Abebe Mengesha, Alice Norton-Bell

Location: The Toronto Railway Museum, 255 Bremner Boulevard, Stall 17, Toronto
Opening Reception: TBD

Our project is to create a new entryway exhibit in the Toronto Railway Museum, which will set the tone for an upcoming museum-wide redesign. We’re exploring the rich history of Toronto’s rail lands from 1929 to the present day, looking specifically at the John Street Roundhouse where the exhibition will be located. Come learn the story of an area once dedicated to the railway, that’s now a bustling neighbourhood filled with iconic Toronto attractions!

The John Street Roundhouse in 1930. Photo courtesy of
Toronto Public Library Archives.

Anna taping up the exhibition space for Inner Spaces!
Photo courtesy of Kasey Ball. 

Inner Spaces (May 1-31, 2018)Cassy Kist, Anna Kawecka, Kasey Ball

Location: Ontario Science Centre, 770 Don Mills Rd., Toronto
Opening Reception: May 5th, time TBD

Our exhibit provides a brief glimpse under the microscope of research being done across Canada. Displaying images of cellular pathology captured in the lab, we hope to bring awareness to this amazing scientific work.

Collecting Moments: The Photographs of Dr. John E. Ackerman (May 17-June 13, 2018)

Charlotte Gagnier, Sarah Proulx

John E. Ackerman, Men outside Ackerman's Grocery Store ca.
1940s. Ontario Jewish Archives, Blankenstein Family Heritage
Centre, accession 2013-7-13. 

Location: Black Cat Artspace, 2186 Dundas Street West, Toronto
Exhibition Hours: Wednesday to Sunday, 12-7 pm
Opening Reception: May 17, 8-10 pm

Our exhibition consists of photographs reproduced from archival negatives taken by an accomplished amateur photographer, Dr. John E. Ackerman. We are very excited for the opportunity to work with such a rich collection, held by the Ontario Jewish Archives. The best part of fulfilling our role as curators has been looking through this beautiful collection of moments that portray the personal life of Dr. Ackerman as well as life in Toronto in the mid-20th century.

Lost and Found: Rediscovering Fragments of Old Toronto (May 2018-May 2019)

Hannah Hadfield, Tanya McCullough, Leora Bebko

Promotional image for Lost and Found. Photo courtesy of
Leora Bebko, 2018.

Location: Campbell House Museum, 160 Queen St. W., Toronto  

Opening Reception: May 17, 2018 – Panel Discussion from 6-7 pm, Reception from 7-9 pm

Our exhibition will feature six groupings of handcrafted carved stones salvaged by Rosa and Spencer Clark from iconic Toronto buildings in the postwar era. Positioned throughout the Campbell House Museum gardens and juxtaposed against the modern city landscape, we hope that our exhibition will inspire visitors to contemplate the city’s relationship to its heritage and imagine what the city will look like in another 50 years.

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Kudos to all these amazing groups and their fascinating exhibition projects - I'm looking forward to visiting them all. Be sure to check the exhibitions out in person at the openings or beyond! 

MMSt 2018: EXHIBITION PROJECTS PART I

RESEARCH COLUMN

BY: SERENA YPELAAR

Welcome back to the #MMSt2018 project coverage! Today, we're featuring the first eight exhibition projects my talented colleagues in second year of the program are currently working on.

Each of the 23 exhibition groups in this series kindly agreed to speak about their project. Their exhibitions will open across the city in the next few months. They are listed here in chronological order, starting with Nikita and Amanda, whose exhibition opened last week!

Toronto: The Views are Different Here (March 6-29, 2018)
Nikita Lorenzo-Vicente, Amanda McNeil

The exhibition is on display at the Aird Gallery!
Photo courtesy of Nikita Lorenzo. 

Location: John B. Aird Gallery, 900 Bay Street (at Wellesley), MacDonald Block, Toronto
Opened: March 8, 2018, 6-8pm

Our multimedia exhibition examines Toronto identity through the individual narratives of its people. It strives to display personal thoughts and emotions from a variety of backgrounds within Toronto to unpack the ways in which we think of our city.

Partners: City of Toronto Art Connections Program

Ontario Science Centre Robotics Hot Zone (March 9, 2018 –)
Jessica Baptista, Christopher Shackleton, Napat Malathum, Shannon Crewson
Location: Ontario Science Centre Hot Zone, on Level 6
Opened: March 9, 2018

For our project we worked as co-producers for the Ontario Science Centre’s Hot Zone. Focusing on the topic of robotics, we developed an educational program which allows participants to experience robotics through both hands-on activities and four specific robot stories. The Robotics Hot Zone will be presented daily by the Ontario Science Centre’s hosts.

Team members Christopher and Jessica help with the presentation of INDY - an archaeology robot used to explore tunnels in Egypt and created by Ryerson University's N-CART Lab. Photo courtesy of Napat Malathum.

(From left) Shauna, Emily, and Karley at the Art Museum! 
Photo courtesy of Shauna Taylor, Emilie Albert-Toth, 
and Karley Staskus.

2018 Shelley Peterson Student Art Exhibition (March 23-April 14, 2018) 

Emilie Albert-Toth, Karley Staskus, Shauna Taylor 

Location: Art Museum at the University of Toronto, 15 King's College Circle, Toronto
Opening Reception: March 23, 2018, 7-9 pm

We are currently in the process of installing the SPSAE 2018 and have had the opportunity to handle some amazing artwork and work with some wonderful people. Here’s a picture of us looking cool and casual while discussing In My Dreams by Lisa Veregin. Please come look cool and casual with us on the night of our opening, we’d love to discuss some artwork with you!

Case Studies: A history of physics innovation at the University of Toronto (April 2018 –)

Erin Beaubien, Daniel Rose

Location: McLennan Laboratory Foyer, 60 St. George St., University of Toronto
Opening Reception: April 4th, 2018, 4-6 pm (remarks at 4:30) in the Physics Grad lounge (rm 111, McLennan Physical Laboratories, 60 St. George St.)*

Our project is in partnership with the U of T physics department and the University of Toronto Scientific Instruments Collection (UTSIC). We wanted to use this exhibition as an opportunity to explore the department's history and highlight some stories of invention and innovation that have occurred here. The exhibition features four instruments and processes that were developed or created at the University and the people and history behind them.

To RSVP for the opening reception, please email outreach@physics.utoronto.ca.

University of Toronto Archives. Boris Stoicheff Fonds. B2010-0025/001P(10). 

Collections storage at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM).
Photo courtesy of Naomi Recollet. 

Reconfiguring the Collection (Project; April 2018)
Naomi Recollet 

Location: Royal Ontario Museum

This project is focused on reconceptualizing and reconfiguring the Northeast and Subarctic material in the First Peoples collection at the ROM. The purpose is to improve the facilitation of research and exhibition planning from scholars, and particularly from members of Indigenous communities. I hope that this reconfiguration will be easier for members of Indigenous communities to access the collections, approach materials, locate object types and identify any future relationships with the collections and the ROM.

Here Emily takes notes regarding the location of the exhibition
and the cases available for the objects. Photo courtesy of Emily
Welsh and Madison Stirling.

Hazel Stuart and the Indigenous Peoples of Papua New Guinea (April 9, 2018) 
Emily Welsh, Madison Stirling

Exhibition Name: Hazel Stuart and the Indigenous Peoples of Papua New Guinea
Location: Department of Anthropology (Third Floor), University of Toronto, 19 Russell St, Toronto

For our exhibition project, we are a producing a permanent display of artifacts and ephemera from the Department of Anthropology’s Hazel Stuart Collection. Hazel Stuart lived and worked in Papua New Guinea from 1973 – 1975 after recently graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from the University of Western Ontario. Our display will examine the study of anthropology, the process of collecting, and the knowledge represented by the Indigenous cultural objects gathered by Hazel Stuart.

Made-Up Toronto features 21 participants from Toronto 
sporting their own makeup looks. Photo courtesy of 
Leeor Wild. 

Made-Up Toronto (TBD) 
Jessica Svenningson, Sarah Rolko

Location: Downtown Yonge BIA Pop-Up Gallery, 385-387 Yonge St., Toronto
Opening Reception: TBD

We came together to work on this project because we both had noticed how little makeup was highlighted in the museum and art gallery world. We collaborated with Downtown Yonge BIA to bring our vision to life by focusing on the makeup culture in Toronto. Our goal with this exhibition is to demonstrate how makeup is a powerful tool for self-expression and expression of cultural identity.

Art & Mindfulness (April 13, 2018-April 2019) 

Julia Zungri, Tabitha Chan, Kelly Manikoth 

Location: Claude T. Bissell Building, University of Toronto
Opening Reception: April 13, 2018, 5-7 pm (remarks at 6pm)

Our exhibition explores the relationship between art, students and mental health. The artists featured in this exhibition use art as a tool for wellness, resilience and mindfulness. As an exhibition curated by students and for students, we hope that showcasing these works will contribute to the destigmatization and awareness of mental health issues on campus. Also featured in this exhibition is the 1000 Words Campaign by the UMatter initiative, and students’ pieces created from the Rethink Recovery workshops.

(From left) Julia, Kelly, and Tabitha while selling bookmarks and postcards as part of their fundraising event in December 2017. They wish to thank everyone who contributed! Photo courtesy of Julia Zungri, Kelly Manikoth, and Tabitha Chan.

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Congratulations to my fellow MMSt students for all you've accomplished! Thanks for sharing your work. I can't wait to attend the exhibition openings. Maybe I'll see you there, dear readers!

MMSt 2018: THESIS PROJECTS

RESEARCH COLUMN

BY: SERENA YPELAAR

Hello Musings readers! This special post is the first in a series of installments featuring the work of the MMSt Class of 2018. This weekend, we're catching up with our brilliant thesis students to see what research they've been working on for their degree. Read on below to hear about their projects!

The​ ​Future​ ​of​ ​the​ ​Past:​ ​Third-Party​ ​Heritage​ ​Preservation​ ​Interventions​ ​and 3D​ ​Printing Technologies
Sydney Stewart Rose

Supervisor: Dr. Cara Krmpotich
Second reader: Dr. Seamus Ross, former Dean of the iSchool

Dry-dusting at work, where I specialize in intellectual property rights and copyright laws (a key aspect of my thesis research). Photo courtesy of Sydney Stewart Rose.

My project examines the use of 3D printing technologies in projects which seek to recreate cultural property destroyed in Syria by ISIS. I was really interested in thinking about the ways these types of projects may create new heritage narratives or potentially contribute to colonizing narratives. I’ve been looking at three high profile cases which use 3D printing technologies to restore cultural property destroyed by ISIS. I’m using them to create a framework to consider how these types of projects may actually contribute to colonizing narratives and offer insight into a decolonizing approach to third-party heritage intervention projects.

Close to Home: Alberta’s Local Museums on Canada’s Cultural Landscape

Kristen McLaughlin 

Supervisor: Dr. Cara Krmpotich
Second reader: Siobhan Stevenson 

I don't really have any photos of myself at work, but for my research I visited each museum, camping along the way to get a better feel for the local landscape. However, as you can see, that meant I didn't really look very glamorous for a few months. Here I am in my first campsite in the Crowsnest Pass in the Rockies of Southern Alberta, with a bit of a smoky background from all the surrounding forest fires of 2017. Photo courtesy of Kristen McLaughlin.

For the past year and a half, I’ve studied the community engagement practices of local museums, using three case studies in Alberta to better understand these distinct contexts. I’m interested in this aspect of museum studies because, as someone who did not grow up with the large urban institutions we are familiar with in this program, I noticed that local museums stories are not common in museum studies literature and work. I felt that it was important to acknowledge and try to understand the relationships between local museums and their communities—both the obstacles and the successes—and what this might mean on a larger scale.

Research possible thanks to the support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Alberta Historical Resources Foundation.

Affective Metadata for Object Experiences in the Art Museum
Erin Canning

Supervisor: Dr. Costis Dallas
Second reader: Dr. Cara Krmpotich

Affective metadata workshop at the 2018 iSchool Student Conference. Photo courtesy of Hannah Monkman.

For my thesis, I am exploring how to structure information about visitor experiences so that we can document it similar to how we catalogue objects – how that information can be made amenable to integration into a database, what that database would look like, and what that information would look like once it was in there. I am interested in the affective experiences that museum visitors have with artworks, and using data modeling as a way to really understand those experiences. My thesis draws together my experience as a CRO: I am applying the information systems design principles from my MI degree in the museum domain. 

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I'm in awe of these three talented MMSt/CRO students and their dedication to such extensive and important research. Excellent job Sydney, Kristen, and Erin - thank you for sharing!

Stay tuned for next weekend's article, where we'll feature the first batch of exhibition projects in the MMSt Class of 2018!