Here in Berlin, as in some other parts of the world, measures to combat the pandemic are not only continuing but increasing. So how are museums responding?
By now it’s clear that the pandemic is not going to be short-term. Not only has it been affecting our daily lives for nearly a year, but despite the vaccine on the horizon, it will continue to do so for months to come. Institutions are responding to the mandatory closures in different ways – and unfortunately, most museums are not exactly on the forefront of innovative thinking here. In many institutions there is a hunker-down-and-wait-for-it-to-blow-over mindset that is highly, tragically regrettable.
BUT!
There are some shining lights in the museums landscape: institutions who have embraced the digital to connect with their communities despite the lockdowns. Here are two of my favorites:
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
The Rijksmuseum’s admirably visitor-oriented approach is evident just from a first glance at the home page. The top image currently shows a visitor taking a selfie with art in the gallery, and a friend taking a photo of the selfie-taker. Not only acknowledging but encouraging this sort of self-referential, tech-based interaction with the exhibits is unusual among museums! Many tried for a long time, and are still trying, to discourage this sort of modern way to engage with museum displays. But I agree with the Rijksmuseum: you can’t win that battle. And why would you want to? It’s more productive for everyone to respond to visitors’ interests, not try to repress them.
Moreover, the Rijksmuseum has built up its online offerings in numerous ways. You can create your own curated collection of museum objects and share it with others – what a fun idea! And the YouTube channel is full of lively, short videos. I especially liked the one on “Female Leadership.”
Museum für Naturkunde (Natural History Museum), Berlin
One measure of how actively museums are exploring new directions to reach people is simple: are they on TikTok? It might sound laughable, but it is dead serious! In this respect Berlin’s Museum of Natural History is a frontrunner. Its TikTok channel is full of short videos, some made of clips from videos on other platforms, pepped up with cut-out animations and stickers pasted over the top, not to mention of course the ubiquitous music of this platform. Within 1-2 minutes you can learn something significant, and it feels like an accident!
The video tours are also great fun, led by young and charismatic guides (Sebastian Demtröder is a hero!). One video series is formatted like a cabaret/variety show, with the lights turned low and the participants in black eveningwear, doing various acts like drawing, storytelling, and other performances – all about natural history, of course. Although for me the talking parts were a bit long, I absolutely love the idea and especially the fact that the museum is trying such a wild new format!
The museum also made a podcast series – and another one especially for kids! Many of the digital offerings are conveniently listed on one page of the website. It’s all in German so far; maybe they will expand to English at some point to reach further audiences.
What museums do you know that are embracing the digital? Comment below with any other examples you know about!
T-Rex modified from photo by Etemenanki3, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.