ICOM conference

[Alison Wain <alison@orac.net.au>]

Several people on this list were at the ICOM conference anyway, but I
had to put in a brief "highlights" report at work so thought I would
forward it to Ozons for anyone who wasn't there. Perhaps other people
who went would like to give their thoughts as well? 

Anyway, food for thought.

In the plenary session on Cultural Diversity in Australia I was
particularly interested in Prof. Mary Kalantzis' discussion of the
conventions which are built into our  museums - most of them
encapsulating
a very traditional Western view of the world which is so standard that
we
do not even see the slant which they place on our exhibitions. Her
example
of the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in which non-Western
societies
were presented under the banner "cultures" whereas Western society was
presented under the banner "civilisation" was very telling. 

The Conservation Committee meeting raised some interesting ideas about
ways
to engage and empower visitors to heritage sites.  Roberto Nardi's paper
(presented by Gael de Guichen) spoke about the presentation of long term
conservation/restoration projects as exhibitions in their own right, and
the huge sense of excitement and ownership this creates in the viewing
public. He noted however, that a conservation-in-progress exhibition
will
not be successful if it is just limited to a few small information
boards.
It needs to be treated as a full exhibtion in its own right, with
extensive
signage explaining what is happening, working areas prepared for public
access (including walkways, viewing platforms etc), training and regular
updates for guides/daily news leaflets so that there is a sense of
something new happening every day, tours for local people and special
interest groups, associated computer information, and possibly events
like
a regular sweepstake, the winners of which get to have a closer look and
actually enter the work site. In one such exhibition in Italy
questionnaires filled in by visitors indicated that 69% felt that being
able to see the conservation work in progress raised their interest in
the
artefacts, and 75% said they had become much more aware of the need for
regular maintenance of
collection items.

David Dolan spoke about the use of questions to draw visitors in and get
their attention. Much of the information in museums and other heritage
sites focuses on presenting "the facts" - boards full of answers
prepared
by "the experts". He noted that while all research raises more
questions,
we do not present these qustions to visitors, almost as if it is
shameful
to not know something. Whereas for the visitor, some questions amongst
the
facts can give a sense of mystery and things still to be discovered -
they
can use their own knowledge and imagination as well as passively
accepting
other people's opinions.

Nicole Gesche-Koning spoke about an interesting exercise in reaching a
broader audience. A display discussing conservation issues - such as the
impact of tourism on fragile heritage sites - was placed at a highway
rest
point. This reached a very large audience and a very wide cross section
of
people, and many people commented that they liked the fact that a
heritage
organisation had reached out to them - that they didn't have to make the
first move by going to a museum.

I also found the Trade Fair very valuable, as I was able to see for
myself
a number of products which I have only heard about. Particularly
impressive
were the Hanwell monitoring devices. Although these are at the moment
expensive due to the fall in the Australian dollar (they are produced by
a
UK firm) they are so well designed and though out that I think they have
the potential to recoup much of the outlay cost in increased operating
efficiencies. They also perform functions which are not to my knowledge
available in other equipment, because other equipment is not designed
specifically with conservation as a priority. One example is a lamp
which
can be used either for conservation work or photography - it has a
daylight
colour temperature but with low UV emissions so can be used for colour
matching work, it produces almost no heat and is therefore  safe near
flammable objects, and it can be synchronised with a digital camera to
eliminate the need for flash lights.

Alison