Visitors’ Voices: Lessons from Conversations in the Royal Ontario Museum’s Gallery of Canada: First Peoples
Several days before Christmas 2005, the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) held a “members only” opening for their new First Peoples gallery. Attending this occasion with one of the curators, I had the unique opportunity to gain an inside view of the curatorial strategies behind the exhibit, while simultane...
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2008
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ftuninewbrunojs:oai:ojs.journals.lib.unb.ca:article/18119 2023-05-15T18:03:22+02:00 Visitors’ Voices: Lessons from Conversations in the Royal Ontario Museum’s Gallery of Canada: First Peoples Willmott, Cory 2008-01-01 text/html application/pdf https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/MCR/article/view/18119 eng eng Material Culture Review / Revue de la culture matérielle https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/MCR/article/view/18119/19472 https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/MCR/article/view/18119/19473 https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/MCR/article/view/18119 Copyright (c) 2015 Material Culture Review / Revue de la culture matérielle Material Culture Review; Volume 67, Spring/Printemps 2008 Revue de la culture matérielle; Volume 67, Spring/Printemps 2008 1927-9264 1718-1259 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion research-article 2008 ftuninewbrunojs 2022-07-11T11:50:10Z Several days before Christmas 2005, the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) held a “members only” opening for their new First Peoples gallery. Attending this occasion with one of the curators, I had the unique opportunity to gain an inside view of the curatorial strategies behind the exhibit, while simultaneously positioned to overhear the uncensored remarks of visitors as they first encountered the show. This circumstance stimulated dialogue on such central issues as redefining the “culture area” concept, overcoming the “disappearing Indian” stereotype and revisiting the pros and cons of dioramas, as well as the constraints of finance-minded administrators and unreliable professional design teams. Reflection on these issues draws attention to the importance of reaching children through exhibits and of establishing comparative frameworks for the postmodern narratives of contemporary exhibits. This article uses visitors’ comments as a springboard for a discussion of the above issues. Résumé Quelques jours avant Noël 2005, le Musée royal de l’Ontario organisa l’inauguration, « réservée aux membres », de la toute nouvelle galerie des Premières nations. Assistant à cet événement en compagnie de l’un des conservateurs, j’ai eu l’opportunité unique de voir de l’intérieur les stratégies de conservation à l’arrière-plan de l’exposition, tout en étant en même temps en bonne position pour entendre les remarques non censurées des visiteurs qui regardaient cette exposition pour la première fois. Cette circonstance a suscité le dialogue sur des questions de fond telles que la redéfinition du concept « d’aire culturelle », comment surmonter le stéréotype de « l’Indien en voie de disparition » ou la réévaluation des avantages et des inconvénients des dioramas, autant que sur les contraintes générées par des administrateurs soucieux des finances et les équipes de designers professionnels pas toujours fiables. La réflexion sur ces questions attire l’attention sur l’importance d’atteindre le public des enfants au moyen de ces expositions ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Premières Nations University of New Brunswick: Centre for Digital Scholarship Journals Canada Indian |
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Open Polar |
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University of New Brunswick: Centre for Digital Scholarship Journals |
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ftuninewbrunojs |
language |
English |
description |
Several days before Christmas 2005, the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) held a “members only” opening for their new First Peoples gallery. Attending this occasion with one of the curators, I had the unique opportunity to gain an inside view of the curatorial strategies behind the exhibit, while simultaneously positioned to overhear the uncensored remarks of visitors as they first encountered the show. This circumstance stimulated dialogue on such central issues as redefining the “culture area” concept, overcoming the “disappearing Indian” stereotype and revisiting the pros and cons of dioramas, as well as the constraints of finance-minded administrators and unreliable professional design teams. Reflection on these issues draws attention to the importance of reaching children through exhibits and of establishing comparative frameworks for the postmodern narratives of contemporary exhibits. This article uses visitors’ comments as a springboard for a discussion of the above issues. Résumé Quelques jours avant Noël 2005, le Musée royal de l’Ontario organisa l’inauguration, « réservée aux membres », de la toute nouvelle galerie des Premières nations. Assistant à cet événement en compagnie de l’un des conservateurs, j’ai eu l’opportunité unique de voir de l’intérieur les stratégies de conservation à l’arrière-plan de l’exposition, tout en étant en même temps en bonne position pour entendre les remarques non censurées des visiteurs qui regardaient cette exposition pour la première fois. Cette circonstance a suscité le dialogue sur des questions de fond telles que la redéfinition du concept « d’aire culturelle », comment surmonter le stéréotype de « l’Indien en voie de disparition » ou la réévaluation des avantages et des inconvénients des dioramas, autant que sur les contraintes générées par des administrateurs soucieux des finances et les équipes de designers professionnels pas toujours fiables. La réflexion sur ces questions attire l’attention sur l’importance d’atteindre le public des enfants au moyen de ces expositions ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Willmott, Cory |
spellingShingle |
Willmott, Cory Visitors’ Voices: Lessons from Conversations in the Royal Ontario Museum’s Gallery of Canada: First Peoples |
author_facet |
Willmott, Cory |
author_sort |
Willmott, Cory |
title |
Visitors’ Voices: Lessons from Conversations in the Royal Ontario Museum’s Gallery of Canada: First Peoples |
title_short |
Visitors’ Voices: Lessons from Conversations in the Royal Ontario Museum’s Gallery of Canada: First Peoples |
title_full |
Visitors’ Voices: Lessons from Conversations in the Royal Ontario Museum’s Gallery of Canada: First Peoples |
title_fullStr |
Visitors’ Voices: Lessons from Conversations in the Royal Ontario Museum’s Gallery of Canada: First Peoples |
title_full_unstemmed |
Visitors’ Voices: Lessons from Conversations in the Royal Ontario Museum’s Gallery of Canada: First Peoples |
title_sort |
visitors’ voices: lessons from conversations in the royal ontario museum’s gallery of canada: first peoples |
publisher |
Material Culture Review / Revue de la culture matérielle |
publishDate |
2008 |
url |
https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/MCR/article/view/18119 |
geographic |
Canada Indian |
geographic_facet |
Canada Indian |
genre |
Premières Nations |
genre_facet |
Premières Nations |
op_source |
Material Culture Review; Volume 67, Spring/Printemps 2008 Revue de la culture matérielle; Volume 67, Spring/Printemps 2008 1927-9264 1718-1259 |
op_relation |
https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/MCR/article/view/18119/19472 https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/MCR/article/view/18119/19473 https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/MCR/article/view/18119 |
op_rights |
Copyright (c) 2015 Material Culture Review / Revue de la culture matérielle |
_version_ |
1766174187096899584 |