Museums have long been viewed as exclusive, excluding, and as antiseptic to intimacy. In the past few decades, however, humanized experiences—cultivated by curators, educators, artists, activists, and marketers alike—have emerged as the reason for being for these cornerstones of community. Such experiences are often possible only in museum settings, where cultural exploration, probing conversation, and safe risk-taking can occur in spaces now becoming sacred through inclusiveness.
This book brings together an interdisciplinary collection of essays examining the kinds of human experiences and interactions that have converted the once-sterile museum into a space of enlivenment and enrichment, as well as physical and emotional well-being. The essays focus for the first time on the uniquely human and humanizing experiences to be found in the collections, programs, exhibitions, and spaces of today’s museums.
- Cover
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Editor’s Introduction
- Part One: Experiencing Education in the Museum
- Garreth Heidt – 1. Experience to Encounter
- Klare Scarborough & Miranda Clark-Binder – 2. Teaching and Learning in a University Art Museum
- Florence Gelo – 3. Finding Empathy in Art
- Part Two: The Museum as Experiential Space
- Megan Bayles – 4. Know Thyself
- Jessica Ruhle – 5. Museum Constellations
- Patricia Maunder – 6. Awakening Our Sense of Touch
- Part Three: The Museum as a Site of Re-Experiencing
- Bryan Stevenson (interview) – 7. “A Power in the Place”
- Thomas Otten – 8. The Iconization of a Monument
- Corinne Ball & Nikki Sullivan – 9. A Labour of Love
- Part Four: Within (and Without) Museum Walls
- Kristin Tollefson – 10. Both Ways
- Hildy Tow – 11. “The Arc of Promise”
- Nikki Sullivan – 12. Crafting Community, Connection, Compassion in a Pandemic
- Further Reading
- Index
Text
Audio
Adobe DRM
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