Meaning, context and the museum Tanya Barson, Curator I think you have to have awareness, especially being a museum curator – that there are ways in which the work is going to be viewed once it has entered the Collection, and how it will be read from that point in. And I think that if opportunities arise for works to be shown in a different context, then it’s great if we can support that as well and lend it out. But I think yes – inevitably the museum operates in a certain way, and I think that increasingly we are understanding the subtleties of what happens to a work of art when it is absorbed into a museum collection, or when it becomes part of a museum collection – simply the recognition that that has an impact on the way that the work is (a) displayed and (b) read – then we can begin to proceed with greater sensitivity to the work itself – and trying to at least recognise that and present the difficulties around that – I think is part of the role for the curator. I’m not sure how one we can necessarily mitigate against those effects, because I think we have a certain context and a certain environment to work with within the museum – so in a way we have to basically take those conditions on board; as a museum curator you have to take those conditions on board ... But in terms of there being a certain value in acquiring objects for a collection – that being a valuable process – because it enables a certain audience to see a work of art that may not otherwise have seen it, that the work of art is preserved for the future - All of these things that wouldn’t necessarily otherwise happen – that this is a valuable activity but has its impact, nevertheless, on the work of art and how its viewed – and the more that we can take those on board or talk about them – then maybe there is a way of mitigating those effects – or working with an artists to ensure that they are comfortable with the way that their work is viewed within the museum. This is part of the whole curatorial process. So it isn’t something that ends with the work arriving in the collection – that each presentation presents challenges for the work and for the curator. |