I decided to pursue conceptualizing an interactive, educational museum. In the end, I came to the conclusion that I would rather err on the side of being too didactic rather than creating a museum that isn't new-art-viewer friendly. I'm realizing that while there need to be several different types of museums with different identities, if I were to work at a museum, I'd want to work at one that was colorful, fun, and engaging. I would want to share art in a captivating manner, teaching a passionate type of art appreciation via multiple media. Because of my passion for education and carefully designed exhibitions, my dream museum would be a Children's Art Museum.
I started to do some online research to see if there were any of these institutions already in existence. There are a few, but they aren't super common! The ones that do exist, however, look so awesome. This is definitely the type of museum I would want to be involved with and represent. Here are a couple of examples:
Children's Museum of the Arts in NYC
Young at Art Museum in Florida
I think I will continue to look on these websites and make notes about how these museums seem to be run, and decide which elements I like and which ones I do not. I'm assuming that these museums are very program-driven, which is something that I actually do like. I suppose that is a defining factor of the "didactic" museum, and in this case it is purely educational. Didactic doesn't have to carry a negative connotation in any way with a Children's museum, especially one where the message is, "art is important and fun!" Work that is didactic only becomes negative when it's a message that people don't want to hear, but I don't know of anyone who would disagree with developing an awareness and appreciation of art in children. :)
Hopefully my museum would utilize many many media, not only 2-D and 3-D art but art that utilizes technology (meeting children in their own era) like videography or other computer art, fashion, music, architecture, and even some implications of visual culture, to show children that art is all around them.
These are my ideas thus far, there will be more to come!
Re: your dream museum, see this article in the WSJ:
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Kids as curators!