Museums and the Public Sphere

204 Pages·2010·3.797 MB·English

by  Jennifer Barrett(auth.)

Museums and the Public Sphere
Museums and the Public Sphere Jennifer Barrett
© 2011 Jennifer Barrett. ISBN: 978-1-405-17383-4
To Caitlin Miranda
Museums and the
Public Sphere
Jennifer Barrett
Thiseditionfirstpublished2011
(cid:1)2011JenniferBarrett
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Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-1-4051-7383-4(hardcover:alk.paper)
1. Museums–Socialaspects.2. Museums–Philosophy.3. Public
spaces–Socialaspects.4. Publicspaces–Philosophy.5. Communitylife.
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Contents
Listof Images vii
Introduction 1
1 ThePublicSphere 15
2 Historical Discourses of the Museum 45
3 TheMuseum as PublicSpace 81
4 Audience,Community,and Public 118
5 TheMuseum as PublicIntellectual 143
Conclusion 164
References 175
Acknowledgments 191
Index 193
List of Images
1 Thomas Struth,Hermitage 1, St Petersburg,2005 2
1.1 Louis-Le´opoldBoilly,ThePublicintheSalonoftheLouvre,Viewing
the Painting of the ‘‘Sacre’’begun 1808, Woodner Collection 17
1.2 E´tienne-Louis Boulle´e,Ce´notaphe de Newton,1784 19
1.3 Hubert Robert, Projet d’ame´nagement de la Grande Galerie du
Louvreen 1796,1796 31
1.4 HonoreDaumier,FreeAdmissionDay–Twenty-FiveDegreesofHeat,
1852 35
2.1 JohnTenniel,TheSundayQuestion.ThePublic-House;or,TheHouse
For The Public?,1869 59
2.2 Louis-Le´opold Boilly, Interior of a Parisian Cafe´, c.1815 66
2.3 Edgar Degas, Mary Cassatt at the Louvre: The Etruscan Gallery,
1879–80 69
2.4 Jacques-Louis David, Le Serment des Horaces,1784 73
2.5 Jacques-Louis David, The Tennis Court Oath, 20th June 1789,
1791 75
3.1 Forecourt, British Museum, 2005 92
3.2 Turbine Hall,TateModern, 2004 93
4.1 Installation view, The Arts of Islam: Treasures from the Nasser D
Khalili Collection 125
5.1 Belongingshomepage2009.MigrationHeritageCentreNewSouth
Wales 144
5.2 Talkback Classroom ‘Political Satire’ forum with John Safran and
cartoonist David Pope 154
5.3 GardenofAustralianDreams,openingdayattheNationalMuseumof
Australia 157
5.4 Jean-Marie Tjibaou CulturalCentre, New Caledonia 158
5.5 Exhibition People,Power,Politics: The first generation of
anthropologists at theUniversity of Sydney,2008 161
5.6 Makarr-garma: Aboriginal collections from a Yolngu Perspective,
Macleay Museum2009 161
viii Images
5.7 Book cover The Changing Presentation of the American Indian:
Museums and Native Cultures by the National Museum of the
American Indian 162
6.1 Thomas Struth,TokyoNational Museum, 1999, Tokyo 168
Introduction
Museums are highly visible institutions in contemporary societies and
theirongoingexistenceandclaimsforresourcesareoftenjustifiedonthe
grounds of “relevance.” To what, and to whom, are they relevant? The
common answer is “the public.” Within the museum context the term
public is often used to invoke a generalized body of people: an audience,
a represented community or certain non-visitor interest groups. It is
employed to lay claim to and convey the museum’s status as an open,
democratic institution for and of “the people.” However, for all its
centrality to the museum sector’s talk about itself, the term “public” is
oftenusedloosely.Atothertimesitisusedstrategically,withaparticular
political purpose that may suggest clarity, even precision, but is actually
tendentious, even opportunistic. In the literature, one finds a surprising
lack of sustained critical reflection upon the term: little awareness of its
etymology, its political meaning, or the reasons why it has had such an
expansive influence upon the museum world.
This book seeks to offer such a reflection. What are the many ways in
which the museum is, or is not, public? How can the museum be under-
stood as a critical sphere of public debate? How do museums facilitate,
respond to, support, and intersect with wider public discourse? These
questionsarethekeytounderstandingandredefiningtheveryparameters
ofthe museum.
Reworkingtheideaofthemuseumiscriticalinaworldinwhichmuseums
competefortherepresentationandinterpretationofculturalheritagewith
other related “public” forums and sites, including community cultural
centers, public halls and the Internet. In this world of increasingly diver-
sifiedmedia,whatcanmuseumsoffertoourexperienceofbeinginpublic?
Thisbookexaminestheimplicationsofamorecomplexunderstandingof
howthepublicisrealized,invoked,andunderstoodinthemuseumcontext.
An examination of the way museums themselves use the term “public,”
Museums and the Public Sphere Jennifer Barrett
© 2011 Jennifer Barrett. ISBN: 978-1-405-17383-4
2 Introduction
Image 1 Thomas Struth, Hermitage 1, St Petersburg, 2005. C-print,
114.0(cid:1)144.5cm. (cid:1) 2010 Thomas Struth. (Image from Struth’s project,
MuseumPhotographs,whereheforegroundsthepubliciniconicmuseums.)
as well as other critiques of the public, will enhance the capacity for
museums to engage with “publics”in more complex, productive ways.
This book emerges from my long-term engagement with what con-
stitutes public culture, who produces it, where is it represented and by
whom.Myinterestinthisareahasincludedcommunityculturalpractices,
where communities of interest engage, practice, and produce culture,
bothforthemselvesandsometimesothers.Themuseumwasnotalways
present in these practices, or surrounding discourses. In recent
years, however, sites of community culture have also attracted museum
professionals. Communities areidentified as a new audience, or alterna-
tivelyasproducersofculturewiththepotentialtorenewtheroleofthe
museum. What this shift implies about the pre-existing location and
natureofcommunityculturalpracticesisoftenleftunspokeninmuseum
studies.
Introduction 3
One of the first questions about the relationship between the museum
andtheideaofthe“public”ishowthemuseum’spublicremithasaltered
over time. The utopian or idealist goals of the late eighteenth- and
nineteenth-centurydemocraciesincludedusingmuseumspacestocivilize
and educate people. Museums also symbolized a nation’s achievements
(military,cultural,oreconomic).Theroleofthe“modernmuseum”atthis
time was caught up with the new experience of being public. More
recently,asmuseumsre-examinewhatitmeanttobeapublicinstitution,
thetermhasbeencalledupontoreflectinclusivityanddiversity,incontrast
to the historical singularity of “the public.” The contemporary museum
oftenstrugglestonegotiatebetweentheremnantsofanearlierrhetoricof
“public” and new practices and types of spaces designed to attract new
audiences,engagenewcommunitiesandrespondtothelocalityornation
within whichtheyare situated.
Central to this adjustment, andto the reconfiguration ofthe museum,
was Peter Vergo’s (1989) invention of “the new museology.” The idea
emergedatatimewhenmuseums(incommonwithotherpublicinstitu-
tions such as libraries) were suffering funding pressures and cut-backs,
often because they were perceived to be elitist and inaccessible. The new
museology, as a response to this situation, argued for an increased
emphasis onthevisitors andtheirexperienceandfornewthinkingabout
museum education and the importance of accessibility. Authors included
in the new museology, such as Nick Merriman (1989) and Peter Wright
(1989), were directly influenced by Pierre Bourdieu’s original works
(1969 and 1979). These were translated from French in 1990 and
1984 respectively and were based on research on museums in Europe in
thelate1960sand1970sandhissociologicalapproachtounderstanding
who visits museums and why. His research found that museums repro-
duced for visitors the existing class-based culture, education, and social
systems. Bourdieu maintained that the museum, rather than welcoming
the broad spectrum found in social life, instead reinforced existing social
and cultural distinctions and maintained social inequality, particularly in
Europeinthesecondhalfofthetwentiethcenturywhereclassdetermined
thecapacity to be comfortableor not inthe museum.Thistheory,based
on empirical research and new theories about learning in the museum is
discussedinChapterFour.Itinformednewpracticeswithinthemuseum
context, practices which purported to engage with the public differently
from the universalizing exhibiting practices of previous centuries. It
attempted to “democratize” the museum by advocating multiple ways
of interpreting the world and its history, and by emphasizing the impor-
tanceofconsultationwithcommunities,inparticularindevisingexhibits.