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Modern Art in Modern Life at Post CS Stedelijk
Do you remember the last time you were in museum? Probably your last time and your first time was the same time when you were taken by school to visit a national museum as a part of school curriculum.
Life becomes more and more difficult these days, especially in Thailand where most people spend long hours at work Monday to Friday and some people work six days a week. On weekend they just want to relax at home, go to shopping mall or go to cinema where they can have pleasant time.
Going to museum on weekend seems like an unusual thing to do in this country. There are a couple reasons for that. Firstly, museums in Thailand are dull as they still put an object behind the glass and give very small information. Visitor can not truly understand the real meaning of exhibits: why those objects are there, what the real meaning of it, why it so important to preserve them.
It s like you go to the stadium to see an American football match but you dont know the rules, players or tactics and there is nothing there to make you understand it. So it is very easy that you get bored after a short time and the chance you come back is very small. Same as in museum, boring exhibits and dull atmosphere scared people to step back in.
Another reason that people dont go to museums is that Thai museums are not made to suit for modern life. National museums around Thailand operate in office hours from 9 a.m. 5 p.m. Most of them open everyday, but is that enough? There is no way museum can reach normal visitor on weekdays as most people have to work when museums opens. Some people may argue that there are weekend that we can visit museums but if you spend long hours five days at work, do you still think going to museums which has dull environment is your first choice of spending your precious time?
How do we solve such a problem? How can we make people go to museums more often? How can we change the impression and perception of people that museum is a storage place where to keep objects to gather dust? How can we make museum relevant to peoples everyday life?
Here is the example of successful solution for the answers from Post CS Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
At first, Stedelijk museum was located in museum square where Rijkmuseum and Van Gogh museum are sited. All three museums together in a big square, each museum have different target groups. People who love Dutch golden age paintings from 17th century like Nightwatch a master piece by Rembrandt or Maid pouring milk by Vermeer, they go to Rijkmuseum. Post impressionism fans go to Van Gogh museum, where they can see Sunflower, one of the most expensive paintings in the world. For modern art lovers, Stedelijk was their choice, where they can observe what going on in contemporary art.
For people who have never been to the old Stedelijk might picture the building of the museum as a flashy building in modern architecture style like their collections, instead Stedelijk building was old fashion architecture. We could call that as monument building even. Modern art in monument building, how interesting?
There was not only contradiction outside the building but also inside. The exhibits were arranged in chaotic. It did not make any sense at all you see one object from one period next to another one from different period, which has non related context.
Anyway, in 2002 Stedelijk museum decided to renovate the building and improve a curatorialship of their collection. This is where to new soul searching begins.
One of the main problems of old Stedelijk was the low number of visitors. Among those three museums in museum square, Stedelijk has lowest number of visitors. Parts of its reason were an irrelevant of collections and building, and an irrelevant curatorialship where people cannot understand or connect to the context of collections. Modern art itself is already difficult to understand, imagine modern art on top of strange curatorialship, is even worse. Surely it played important rule in re-visit ideas.
In searching answers, the museum had to solve the irrelevant problems; museum had to try to interpret their collections in easy way to their visitors. Besides, the museum also had to find the way to increase the number of visitors. They had to make themselves to be enjoyable place, give people a good time, so people will re visit. The key answers of these questions were how they can make museum to be relevant and be a part of people daily life, how they can balance the educative purpose and joys.
The first solution they picked up on was new curatorialship. There are no more mix and match in confusing setting but exhibits are arranged by theme. Thematic approach made exhibits more solid and distinctive. It is easier for visitors to get what collections try to communicate. For example in the design collections, the exhibits of chairs are arranged by functions. Simple wooden chairs are display all together in chronology. Visitor can walk around and get the ideas that museum try to make them see the development from simply wooden chairs to complicated ones. Such a good curatorialship makes object speak for itself, no need texts, labels or audio guide.
The next answer was a As the old Stedelijk has to be closed during the renovation, they had to pick a new location for a house of collections, which has to be convenient for public at the same time it should be a building that fit the context of contemporary art collections rather than total contradiction like before.
They selected the formal post office building next to Amsterdam main train station (Central Station) where thousands and thousands people pass by every morning when they go to work in other cities. Post office building is not only great location but also great meaning of the word post, which can also means after, the after Stedelijk museum.
The right location only is not enough, it has to be the right time also. Stedelijk Post CS opens daily from 10.a.m. 6 p.m. and opens until 10 p.m. on Fridays. The opening hours helps visitor to include museum visit in their agenda.
Right location and right time still are not enough; it also had to have a right service as well. The unique provisions of this Post CS are the restaurant and club on the 11th floor, which is trendy, flashy and perfectly fit for the lifestyle of people of mid 20s-mid 30, the main target group of the museum.
So here you see the connection of modern art in modern life. People go to work, the train pass by the museum, they see advertise of exhibitions on the billboard. They make appointment to hang out with their friends on Friday night in the museum. They can spend time viewing exhibitions on the second floor while waiting for friends. Then go have a dinner altogether and dancing through the end of the night.
Some people may argue that going for the restaurant and bars in the museum can not count as benefit to the museum. Of course it counts! It is the first step of many people who always have a certain picture of dusty looks of museum. It is a breaking ice point to change such a perception. Morever, most people who hardly come to museum are not comfortable of way finding in museum. They dont know how to accommodate themselves in museum environment. Having them in the bar or restaurant, which are a part of museum might help them to get familiar with museum setting. The pleasant environment, good food, good music contribute to their pleasant experience. So after all, museum is not scary as they thought. And once they have a good experience about museum then they want to come back again.
Hans Benekers, 29 Software Programmer, said that
I have never been to this new stedelijk museum before. My friends brought me to the club on the 11th floor. We had a good night, good music and nice looking people. Then I thought next time I wanted to come back to check out an exhibition downstairs
Making museums going to public is a new approach in museology these days. More and more museums try to expand their horizons by making themselves around peoples everyday life. Today Thai government had spent tremendous money on building museums and knowledge centers. The Thailand creative and design centre (TCDC) will be open soon, the first national discovery museum in museum complex project will be completed in a year , plus the Bangkok Art Museum by Bangkok Metropolitan Administration will be build in a short period. I hope that the new approach to reach museum audience will be implementing into their practice, rather than only focusing on its collections. Basic understanding of visitor behavior should be understood and tune in to the new museums. And next time when people ask you when the last time you go to museum was, you could say I went to museum yesterday
 
| Create Date : 31 สิงหาคม 2548 |
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| Last Update : 31 สิงหาคม 2548 9:41:55 น. |
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