Mertola Castle (Photo: Fátima Alves) |
A family
arrives at the foot of Mertola Castle. They have four children. The mobility of
one of them, a 10/11-year-old boy, is quite conditioned. One of his brothers
picks up the stroller and runs to the top of the steps that lead to the
entrance of the castle. The mother supports her son from the arm and they
slowly start going up. Half-way, she suggests they took a rest. The boy prefers
to continue. He´s making an enormous effort to place his foot on the next step;
he´s tired and his foot is trembling. I don´t want to overtake them; I follow
them, I go along with their rhythm. Once at the top of the steps, the boy
finally takes a rest. His mother moves on a bit, trying to evaluate the
difficulty of the rest of the way.
I witnessed this ‘ascend to the castle’ at the end of a week where I
attended two meetings on museums and accessibility: the annual seminar of GAM –Group for Access to Museums, entitled Programming for Diversity, and the 1st Crossborder Encounter of Museum Professionals in Alcoutim. A few days before GAM´s
seminar, I had met with a Polish colleague who asked me: “What do you expect of
these meetings?”.
Among museum professionals, accessibility is more and more of an issue.
And the concept of ‘accessibility’ constantly grows and widens. It´s not only
about being concerned and also obliged to attend to the needs of people with
disabilities (physical and cognitive), but to a wide spectrum of intellectual,
social and cultural needs of all citizens. It´s also about managing and being
able to take advantage of people´s growing wish and need to be involved in the
process of decision-making, so that they may feel represented in the final
products museums propose to their audiences (my presentation on this subject in
Alcoutim is available on the right-hand column).
I am writing this text approximately one week after and I realize that
the issues that marked me the most in these two meetings and which made me
think more were all related to mentality, our mentality, that of museum
professionals.
Fernando António Baptista Pereira, a professor at the School of Fine Arts
and curator of a number of exhibitions presented in Portugal and abroad, was
the keynote speaker at GAM´s annual seminar. When asked which was his best and
worst exhibition, he didn´t hesitate to admit that his worst exhibitions,
although extremely beautiful, were those he had done for his peers, those which
were not done with the general public in mind. Hearing this from someone who
has curated and will curate in the future exhibitions which attract large
numbers of visitors is a sign of hope. And just like Fernando António Baptista
Pereira, there are surely more professionals in this field (curators and museum
directors) who, even though they don´t say it, they know it is so. So, one
wonders when we can expect to see in portuguese museums, especially national
(public) museums, exhibitions which may be understood by the non-specialists
who visit them and form the majority of visitors. When can we expect to see
exhibitions which may be a source of new knowledge, true pleasure and
discovery, instead of being a means of communication and dialogue among the
‘initiated’ few, while a source of frustration for the rest?
In Alcoutim, we had the opportunity to hear Maribel Rodriguez Achutégui
talking about “Writing exhibition texts for all audiences”, which reminded us
that it is possible, yes, to write for all, without making it sound childish,
without vulgarizing, without compromising the scientific accuracy of the
information we present. And to some of us, this brought back memories of GAM´s
first annual seminar, back in 2006, “Do you know how to write for all? The
accessibility of written communication in museums”, which was marked by two
very special speakers: the late Helen Coxall (a museum language consultant –
yes, the specialization exists, just like there exists extensive bibliography on
this issue, part of it available on GAM´s website) and Julia Cassim (a designer associated to the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Inclusive Design). Later in that same year, Helen Coxall did a
memorable workshop, Am I Communicating? Writing effective museum texts,
organized by GAM at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. What has been the
impact of these initiatives in Portugal? Those working in education services
frequently complain that it is very difficult to convince museum directors and
curators of the need to write texts in a more accessible language (not just
exhibition texts, but texts for all sorts of supporting materials museums
produce in order to communicate with people) – I can think of some exceptions,
though, like the texts of the exhibition on automobiles at the Transport and Communications Museum in Porto or those
at the Batalha Community Museum, to mention just two. One wonders, why is it so
difficult to convince them? Have they never heard their visitors´s complaints?
Or they don´t mind about them?
Another brilliant and very ‘educational’ presentation was that of
graphic designer Filipe Trigo, who brought to us a number of examples we have
all encountered during our visits to museums and exhibitions: books on the
wall, small font size, labels which are hidden or placed too low or too high,
constrasts that make reading impossible, a total anarchy in the presentation of
contents (placed wherever it might be more convenient, without any logic),
inadequate lighting. This presentation deserves to be seen by curators and
museum directors, as well as graphic designers, as there doesn´t seem to exist
consensus as to who imposes solutions on whom. There is distrust, though, and
maybe also a somehow vague definition of the role of each one and, between the
two, that of the museologist and/or education and communications staff.
Woudln´t it make sense that each one was heard in the area of his/her
speciality, with the final aim of offering visitors a better service?
Today I would be able to give a better answer to my Polish colleague´s
question “What do you expect of these encounters?”. I expect that next time
there is a meeting to discuss accessibility (any kind of accessibility) there
are more museum directors, curators, architects and designers in the audience.
This does not concern just the education staff. I would even say that it
concerns more and more those who make the final decisions. What is the point of
raising awareness among and giving technical preparation in museum studies
courses to future museum professionals, who only in 20-30 years from now will
be in a position to make decisions, if in the next 20-30 years they will be
encountering the greatest barrier of all inside museums themselves? If these
meetings go on being an opportunity for those already aware to get
together and agree between themselves, their impact will continue being
limited, almost inexistant. There is a need to make commitments and not just
politically correct statements. There is also an obligation to abide by the
law. And it has to be now, not in 20/30-years time. It doesn´t cost anything
(and it doesn´t cost more...).
Videos
Joaquina Bobes, Textos expositivos y visitantes: ¿hablamos el mismo idioma? (with english translation
from minute 14´35´´)
Julia Cassim, Inclusive design
2 comments:
Excellent text. The opening story moved me more than I expected...
You touched the point which I've been thinking since the GAM seminar... I remember like once I asked one of my colleagues: for who museum should be? He said: for museologists! With disarming frankness! And I think so, that this mental barriers sometimes are much more toilsome, demanding, and costly than any others. But, anyway, it's just one of boundaries to cross, is it?
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