HOW TO SURVIVE A PANDEMIC: UNIQUE APPROACHES TO SUSTAINING

Museum Innovations | Sara Fontes

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The pandemic has been really difficult for all of us, but especially for the arts & culture and the tourism sectors. As emerging professionals in the museum field where these two sectors overlap, it is a scary phenomenon. How will the museum field weather this storm and survive until we get there? Luckily, museums large and small are finding ways to overcome the drop in visitors and funding. 

Cat and Mouse Badge by The British Museum on Sketchfab

Some large museums are promoting and increasing accessibility to their online digital collections. With places like the British Museum, the Uffizi Gallery and the Royal Ontario Museum having virtual reality versions of their permanent exhibits, doing “radio” shows on facebook, 3D recreations of objects and 2D digital photographs of some of their collections.

But what about small museums? How do small museums survive this crazy pandemic when people cannot come through their doors? Some smaller arts institutions are also digitizing and offering their collections for free online, similar to viewing objects and art works in the physical world. John B. Aird Gallery in Toronto is one such place. There are grants available for digitization from the Canada Council for the Arts, but there are limits to the amounts you can submit and receive. There is not always enough grant money for everyone, leading the museum sector to be creative problem solvers.

Traditional Brine Pickles at A Festival in Poland. Source.  

A small museum in Kitchener, instead of its annual picklefest this year, partnered with sponsors to create a pickle box and the box sold out. The Vincent Van Gogh exhibition by Lighthouse Immersive offers a drive-thru version of the Van Gogh show by Atelier des Lumières. A museum in Saskatchewan has started a 50/50 lottery, the type that you would find at a sports game. As with usual 50/50 lotteries, the museum gets to keep 50 of the pool and the winner gets the other half. 

Approximately five people at the Van Gogh Experience Show. They are looking at paintings by Van Gogh being projected on the walls. Source.

In the spirit of creative problem solving and virtual solutions, I will be reviving my predecessor’s "Museum’s on a Budget" series. I’ll be focusing on things useful during the pandemic such as digitization, libraries of things, virtual tours, and 3D object scanning. 

TO DIGITIZE OR NOT TO DIGITIZE, (WHY) THAT IS A QUESTION!

 Museum Innovation | Sara Fontes

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Our daily lives are morphing into something increasingly digital. My new normal day consists of interactions mostly through digital devices. I work on my laptop; I have school through the camera, and I entertain myself with my phone or the TV. Even my books are stored in my kindle. At the end of the day, my eyes are stinging, and I see lines when I close my eyes. I have realized that in this new normal, when so much of the world is digital, it is becoming important to find ways to engage in non-digital fun and education, while also staying safe.

New Digital Normal | Source

For many years, museums have digitized their collections and gallery spaces (like the ROM, Uffizi, the British Museum) almost as if in preparation for the pandemic. Digital elements can be useful to complement education and to share more objects than are on display.

In recent months, some museums have called to the Ontario government to help them digitize in order to survive the pandemic, and some museums have taken a different approach. The children’s discovery museum of Normal, Illinois (yes that’s a real place) has given out STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) kits at a local free lunch service. I think this is a truly amazing initiative during a pandemic. Presumably they are one-use kits, but other kits might be able to be sanitized and reused safely. I think this program is key during this time because of how much we are using and relying on technology.

Technology | Pixabay

When we cannot physically go out to a museum, it is important to be able to bring the museum home to keep us from going bored out of our minds or from concentrating too heavily on the crisis. Even so, we need to be careful how we bring the museum home. The pandemic has highlighted and increased the inequalities that exist within our society. So while having the online exhibits are useful for some, it can disadvantage others who may not have the same access to the internet or technology.  Not only can it disadvantage some people, especially children, digital screens can harm our vision. Time away from computers and other screens is increasingly important when so much of our lives depend on digital. Museum kits offer different strengths from digitization, and both are important. These kits might currently better suit our educational and recreational needs during this pandemic. 

COLONIAL COPYRIGHT?: OPENING DOORS AND CREATING BARRIERS

Breaking the Glass Case | Alexandra Forand 

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Earlier this semester, I wrote an article about the Sarr/Savoy report called “What Does it Look Like to Decolonize Cultural Heritage.” In this article, I discuss the Sarr/Savory report and its three components. The component I would like to discuss further in this article, is the digital aspect of the report.

The Sarr/Savoy report requests that museums with African material culture (in France) complete a full inventory of the items they hold, send the lists to relevant African countries to claim their heritage, and publish these inventories online by Spring 2019. Essentially, the Sarr/Savoy report is calling for these museums to digitize their collection on mass and very quickly. At first glance, this proposal is exciting and revolutionary ! To think, not only are the objects going back to their rightful community, but the general public is able to have free, unfettered access to these treasures!

Wait, wait, wait, I caution you to not fall into this line of thinking.

Last year at this time Selin Kahramanoglu wrote an article entitled “Digitization to the Rescue,” where she outlines the limitations of the digital approach to conservation, but I would like to touch on the colonial implications of digitization.

Creating a digital object. Source. 

We have to remember that these object, including culturally sensitive objects, were removed from their communities and brought to colonial institutions that proliferated a narrative of dominance for the means of control. Culturally sensitive objects were stripped of their original meaning and forced on display to be gawked at by a foreign audience. When a museum moves to digitize a culturally sensitive object, either by taking a photograph or a 3D scan, they are creating a digital object, which is inherently tricky. In many cases, culturally sensitive objects do not lend themselves to digitization. It is easy to take a picture of a culturally sensitive object, but an image cannot convey the personhood or the intangible nature of that object.

Furthermore, the museum now owns that digital object that was created because of copyright, and they can exclude people from using it, charge people to access it, decide how to use, edit, and curate the image. Inherently, copyright is a tool and a product of colonialism.

The “Open by Default” Journey of Auckland Museum’s Collections Online -https://t.co/7Ux4kCNvDM

Making Room for Native American Voices - https://t.co/sExfShSTiC

— Museopunks (@Museopunks) December 19, 2019

Now, I hear what you are about to say: “Why don’t these museums make these digital objects open access?” and in the words of Ed Rodley of the podcast Museopunks “How can it possibly be anything other than good to have more access? More access is more gooder, right?”

It is true, open access can open doors and many museums are transitioning to an open access model, but it can also be a barrier for certain audiences who are digitally remote. Secondly, open access can be seen as an over correction, because these culturally sensitive objects are now available to the people they were taken from… and everyone else. Once again, culturally sensitive objects have a personhood and protocol associated with their being. In some case, not all, culturally sensitive objects should be handled by certain groups of people or at certain times of the year, and these protocols do not dissipate because the object is digitized. 

While these Arctic objects are owned by the Smithsonian Institute, they are pictured at the new Smithsonian Arctic Studied Centre in the Anchorage Museum. Source 

While, I do not have a quick fix for this problem I want to finish this article by suggesting an approach to digitization. Firstly, if you choose to digitize culturally sensitive objects consult the community the object came from on how they would like the copyright managed. Even better if you are able to turn the copyright over to the community. Also, if you are a part of an institution that is beginning to digitize I would encourage you to ask why. Why are you digitizing this object? What audiences are you trying to reach by digitizing? Are you the best person to tell this communities story through the object? Lastly, know that the process of digitization should not be fast and that there is an argument for slow digitization. Digitization may be the future, but it doesn’t have to be.

What are your thoughts on digitization? I want to know! Please leave me a comment below or via twitter, my handle is @ally_but_online.

HIDDEN IN THE BACK: OPENING AND RE-INTERPRETING COLLECTION SPACES FOR THE PUBLIC

Collections Corner | Jaime Meier 

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One of the reasons I decided to write for the "Collections Corner" column was because I knew very little about collections and wanted the opportunity to expand my knowledge by exploring current practices. A popular career choice by students in my program is collections work and a sentiment I have heard illustrating why is, "I like working alone and being surrounded by interesting objects." As an extrovert, the thought of going a full day without human interaction is harrowing. Collections rooms and warehouses act as private places for museum staff, but I am left wondering what role does the public play in collections, if any.

I was fortunate enough to tour the Western Development Museum collection over Christmas. (Source)

I believe that in order to stay relevant and serve their audiences, museums must be willing to share not only their exhibition spaces, but also their collection storage rooms. Museums belong to everyone, regardless of education, race, and gender, and therefore people have the right to see more than the exterior, a small part of the story. I was shocked the first time I saw a collections room, with a huge variety of items stacked high and low. By seeing the collection, I was reminded that these things were made by humans, for humans, and are still being cared for by humans to serve other humans. A variety of museums have begun to allow the public to access their spaces or bring the collection to the people via digitization projects.


The McCord Museum in Montreal has reconsidered how to incorporate the public into their collection through collaborating with Inuit Elders. In the early 2010s, eleven workshops were planned and included over 85 participants. While the elders were asked to be careful with the fragile objects, they were encourage to handle the objects freely and based on personal discretion. The unique aspect of touch allowed for unparalleled understandings of remembrance, narratives, demonstration, and communication between Inuit peoples, cultural objects, and the museum. The idea of having people go into a collection and touch objects without gloves may terrify some, but the very objects we collect, especially cultural significant ones, only unveil their true meaning once grounded in the hands of a person.

Quitsaq Tarriasuk and the late Simon Makimmak discussing a fishing rod at the McCord Museum. (Source)

Physical, social, and economic barriers can prevent people from attending the collection location and many museums have turned to digitizing their collections for a wider audience. The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in Toronto has over 13 million artworks, cultural objects, and natural history specimens and approximately 43,004 have been published online. While not a complete reflection of the collection, it offers a unique glimpse into the collecting habits and considerations of a major institution. It has become a necessity to understand what objects are being held within museums, especially cultural significant or sacred ones. This aids in rectifying possible prior unethical collecting practices by re-opening spaces and conversation for communities to (re)connect and claim sovereignty over their items.

Opening collection spaces allows for the demystification of museum spaces and will only strengthen the public's connection to their past, present, and future. Since a vast majority of museums are colonial institutions, they have a special duty to share their collections with the communities involved and increase physical or technological access. Objects are not and should not be preserved just for people to look at, but experience on their own terms.

LET'S ERASE HISTORY: THE PRIVILEGE OF SAVING AND FORGETTING

Collections Corner | Jaime Meier 

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It is a safe assumption that a majority of us have heard the classic quote attributed to Winston Churchill, "History is written by victors." While the ideas revolving around objectivity and the reinforcement of single narrative histories have rightfully come under fire, who and where can we learn about history? One of my amazing Art History professors, Felicia Gay, once told our class in relation with working with Indigenous peoples that we must "Speak with the community instead of for the community." This allows for a historical record to emerge that has been repressed by the colonization politics of Canada, a repression that Library and Archives Canada (LAC) continue to implement to this day.

LAC has been involved in several digitization projects with Nunavummiut (the peoples residing in Nunavut), including "Project Naming" and "Listen, Hear Our Voices." "Project Naming" was created by Nunavut Sivuniksavut with the eventual formation of a partnership between the Government of Nunavut and LAC. Since its inception in 2002, over 10,000 images have been digitized and thousands of Indigenous peoples, activities, and places have been identified by numerous generations. LAC acknowledges that this improves not only their own records but also "helps members of communities connect with their past and create inter-generational bridges."

"Young Denis and his mother" were identified through "Project Naming." (Source)

The foundation for what would become "Listen, Hear Our Voices" started with the work of Leah Otak, an Inuit woman who digitized hundreds of interviews with elders and made plentiful contribution to Arctic science. Instead of photos, this initiative focuses on saving the stories, songs, and other spoken word recordings captured on deteriorating tape records. These recordings are invaluable to the revitalization of traditional Indigenous languages and cultural growth. LAC is "proud to assist Indigenous communities in their efforts to secure a sustainable future for their heritage recordings."

Leah Otak digitizing recordings. (Source)

The financial support provided by LAC was monumental for the continued success of the projects, but it is a convenient way for LAC to focus on the documents they willingly share with the public instead of the many they have been accused of hiding. A majority of these "hidden" documents are related to residential schools, especially the abuses inflicted on the children attending. This has left survivors to fight for their right to have their histories accepted and understood. Even in a disappointingly bleak post-Truth and Reconciliation Commission Canada, the government and its collection continue to shrink away from the burden of the horrors of residential schools that they aided in perpetrating. 

Where the Canadian government has continuously failed, many museums are ready to step up. Myseum Toronto has completely abandoned the notion of a permanent collection. Nathan Heuvingh, Curatorial and Program Lead at Myseum, said that the non-traditional set up of Myseum does not allow for a space to hold objects, instantly overcoming the inherent problems that come with collecting certain objects over others. This allows the voice of Myseum to evolve with the needs of the communities they work with instead of imposing a strict model.

Some of the works from the AGO being deaccessioned for sale. (Source)

While the lack of collection succeeds at Myseum, in order for artists to thrive and produce new works, we need to financially support them. Art institutions, such as the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), have begun to deaccession works by artists who are over represented in their collections. By removing and selling these artworks, it allows for the collection to diversify and invest in underrepresented gender identities and people of colour. Art created by marginalized groups deserves to take up space and arguably demonstrates a more comprehensive representation of Canada's past and future.

As we move into the holiday season, be mindful of how one sided histories have affected your friends and families and create, at times, haughty discussions. This does not mean we avoid challenging their often ignorant, racist, and/or prejudice options but instead, meeting them where they are. Even if you do not succeed with these discussions, you can find solace in the fact that your history reflects so much more than the "victor."