National Museum of Scotland
I'm a terrible science museum geek and have been known to visit cities purely for their science centre. Though I seem to have outgrown the worst of this nerdy-ness, I recently visited the National Museum of Scotland, in Edinburgh, and wanted to share a few things I noticed.
It takes a very long look at the history of Scotland, considering natural history alongside all the Celts and Romans, Kings and Queens, etc. This is the approach lots of museums used to take. The Natural History Museum used to be part of the British Museum, in fact the V&A and the Science Museum were the same for years too; the delineation of science museums is a (reasonably) recent trend. Anyway, my point is that it's visitors aren't just coming for the science, and it is part of a larger, more broadly influenced, institution.
Visually there were a few things that caught my eye. All the photos are links to flickr, so you can click on them to see bigger versions.
Above is the piece I was most intrigued by. It'sa allusion to children's own writing within a science text. Some of the explanatory sections of signage were presented as a schoolchild's exercise book*, with "hand-written" notes and diagrams. I think this says a lot about how and when the public are expected to engage with scientific ideas.
There was also this illustration, used as backdrop to cases and displays. This is in many ways decorative, but also takes a small cross-section of roots, a rather traditional form of technical illustration. There was not further textual elucidation of this cross section that I could see, and I wondered if the scene was an illustration from an old science book pasted up mainly for decorative purposes. Below is another shot of it, with one if the display cases in front, showing "Nessie" along side more "scientific" displays.
If you are in Ediburgh, it's worth going to the museum, if only to see Dolly. Yes, the real Dolly (preserved). The Science Museum in London only has a jumper made from her wool (an intarsia jumper, with a picture of a sheep on it, naturally, but a just a jumper nonetheless).
* or rather "jotters", it being Scotland.
Comments
A great post! Good to get your thoughts on this museum with pics. (Brings to mind the idea of recording a podcast tour that people could download and make their way around the museum -- it could be called 'the science project tour' :)
There are so many variables in exhibit design -- sometimes less well-funded places are obviously updated piecemeal and the bits and pieces don't fit very well together as a result (as in the wonderful Isaac Newton museum in Grantham, for example). I like the idea of the schoolbook metaphor, though sticking these panels under glass seems to lessen the impact of that idea. And the real Dolly preserved! That makes this place a contemporary art gallery too… will have to go visit.
Posted by: Katherine | December 9, 2006 02:06 PM
I love the museum tour podcast idea, but few people really use it. I wish more people would use it for subversive purposes (e.g. a creationist tour round the natural history museum...)
The social construction of museums is just as much (if not more) of an issue as it in book developement. many, especailly in science museums, stick to a standard "grammar". it was interesting to see this museum deviate from it a bit
Posted by: alice | December 10, 2006 03:26 PM
I love the subversive podcast idea. Will try to put one together should we visit a museum in Victoria, BC over the holidays...
It seems to me that exhibit design as a discipline is poorly understood and not really taught in earnest, at least in the art and design schools I've been exposed to: people who end up working as exhibit designers often work on trade show stands for their bread and butter, or the more glamourous studios might do many different museums (rare to work on a whole wing/floor/overarching concept at one time) So the messages we get as visitors are put together by curators? researchers? And its probably worse than in book design, in the sense that there is a semblance of objectivity, when in fact all the museum shows is a matter of subjective choice (whether or not its standard fare), regurgitated by designers to make it appealing, fun, interactive, or whatever.
Posted by: Katherine | December 13, 2006 07:46 PM
we had a research seminar on just that topic (processes of exhibition design) just this week actually! I'd say the person giving the paper largely agrees with you, she's doing a PhD aiming to build an understanding of museum galleries - applying literary theory
Posted by: alice | December 15, 2006 07:02 PM