case studies

A MUSEUM MADE OF PEOPLE | Portugal

At the tiny village of São Brás de Alportel, the 5,000 inhabitants are deeply involved in the museum’s daily activity. Owned by the local religious charity (Santa Casa da Misericórdia), the popular costume museum has a staff of three but is supported by a huge number of volunteers.
The museum develops different projects and is truely a local forum, a meeting point and a sharing space, with many activity groups, educational projects that involve old and young.

Credits:

Interviews with Emanuel Sancho by Maria João Nunes; Filming and edition: Joana Bourgard; Translation and subtitling: Maria João Nunes. Museu do Trajo de São Brás de Alportel. Mapa das Ideias, Portugal, 2013.

AMAIA, FEMINIST AUTHORITY AND THE MEDIATOR | Spain

The story of how in 2009 El Cubo Art Gallery in San Sebastian started a process of trusting Amaia as another expert in experimenting with new formats in audience-development. These formats have to do with acknowledging a Social Constructionist Framework where visitors where treated as co-authors and the mediator would provide/negotiate different ways of viewing the temporary exhibition. It is also a story of recognition on Museum Mediators task as it was shown in the credits of the exhibition and in the Museum Catalogue. Moreover, Amaia claims Museum Mediation Programs should also be researched and written up in terms of process and action-research.

Credits:

Conversation between Amaia Urzain and Carla Padró; Filming and edition: Paola Villanueva; Translation and subtitling: Montse Ballesteros. Thanks to: Ane Abalde, Sala kubo-kutxa, Guipuscoa, Spain. Universidade de Barcelona, Spain, 2013.

AMPARO AND THE PEDAGOGIES OF THE THIRD LANDSCAPE | Spain

Amparo compares museum mediation with Gilles Clement’s (2011) notion of the third landscape that is, landscapes that have not been produced to be consumed and remain chaotic, untouched, heterogeneous and biodiverse. Amparo parallels audience development and museum education’s urge to follow curator’s content or institutionalized notions of museums as communicators. She thinks this is an artificial act of knowing to be revised if mediators and museums in general assume museums visitors is also a social construct.

Credits:

Conversation between Amparo Moroño and Carla Padró; Filming and edition: Paola Villanueva; Translation and subtitling: Montse Ballesteros. Universidade de Barcelona, Spain, 2013.

ARTAZIAK AND THE CALL FOR NARRATIVE INQUIRY INTO A MUSEUM MEDIATION PROCESS | Spain

How Museum Mediators recall, retell and document their working processes and how sometimes they are not allowed to negotiate their ideas, concepts and practices since the institution has fixed modes of operating and does not see Museum Mediators as agents of change. The three mediators share another voice on talking about museum mediation from a subjective perspective.

Credits:

Conversation between Artaziak (Andrea Arrizabalaga, Ana Revuelta and Maider Urrutia) and Carla Padró; Filming and edition: Paola Villanueva; Translation and subtitling: Montse Ballesteros. Universidade de Barcelona, Spain, 2013.

DESCOBRIR: THE EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMME OF  GULBENKIAN FOUNDATION | Portugal

Maria de Assis, the programme Coordinator, explains the philosophy underlying the “Descobrir” Programme that intertwines the cultural agenda and educational activities of the Music Service, Modern Art Centre and Gulbenkian Museum, as well as the Gardens’ Service in more than 3,000 events per year.

Experimentation and educational innovation are also touchstones of the programme through specific projects such as “10×10”. Through these projects, the goal of the Foundation is to promote new pedagogical strategies in and out of the school environments, creating value for teachers and students.

Management issues are also addressed, through the fusion process that led to today’s structure, as well as the challenges behind the creative work, the issues of freelance and the audience demands.

Credits:

Interview with Maria de Assis by Inês Bettencourt da Câmara; Filming and edition: Joana Bourgard; Translation and subtitling: Maria João Nunes. Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian. Mapa das Ideias, Portugal, 2013.

DIFFERENT IS EXTRAORDINARY: MUSEUM MIIA-MILLA-MANDA | Estonia

The branch manager of Museum Miia-Milla-Manda, Maarja Kõuts discusses their educational program on preventing bullying and values education development in museum context.

Credits:

Presenter: Maarja Kõuts; Museum Miia-Milla-Manda (branch of Tallinn City Museum), Tallinn, Estonia. Filming and edition. Translation and subtitling: Eesti Rahva Museum, Estonia, 2013.

EXITING ATTIC: PÕLVA PEASANT MUSEUM | Estonia

Marge Luude, museum educator from the Põlva Peasant Museum, presents a non-formal, non-supervised and non-musealised educational museum space. Here, extra space and objects in a museum are put to use for educational and museum mediational purposes.

Credits:

Presenter: Marge Luude; Põlva Peasant Museum, Põlvamaa, Estonia. Filming and edition. Translation and subtitling: Eesti Rahva Museum, Estonia, 2013.

IRENE AND RESIDUAL PEDAGOGIES | Spain

Museum Mediators and the Residual Pedagogies or the stories nobody tells, at least in Congresses, Press Releases and Projects, since normally the focus is on celebrating good practice. Irene talks about the importance of process and how errors, failure, resistance, etc. open up new spaces of transition, healing and change. Irene views Museum Mediation as a performative act, were each action is not the same, it is always in constant flux and changes according to how museum mediators collaborate with visitors.

Credits:

Conversation between Irene Amengual and Carla Padró; Filming and edition: Paola Villanueva; Translation and subtitling: Montse Ballesteros. Universidade de Barcelona, Spain, 2013.

ITALIAN EXPERIENCES IN MUSEUM MEDIATION | Italy

In this 20 minute long compilation we make a journey through different museums and mediation experiences in Italy: “In other’s shoes” at the Museo di Storia Naturale e Archeologia Montebelluna; teaching biodiversity at the Museo Civico di Zoologia de Roma; the project “In the future, we will come back” at GAMeC – Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea Bergamo; projects and experiences from Mambo – Museo d’Arte Moderna Bologna; and, finally, a long-term project with students called “My Modernikon” at the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo per l’Arte Contemporanea.

Credits:

Images from: “Nelle scarpe degli altri – In other’s shoes”, Dario Antonini (Collettivo Fotosocial - www.collettivofotosocial.com), at Museo di Storia Naturale e Archeologia Montebelluna; “Insegnare la biodiversità” – Teaching Biodiversity at Museo Civico di Zoologia; “Futuro ritorno –  In the future, we will come back”, Luca Vitone, at GAMeC – Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea Bergamo; Daniele Campagnoli, Mambo – Museo d’Arte Moderna Bologna; “MyModernikon”, Elena Maria Olivero, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo per l’Arte Contemporanea.

Editing and italian subtitles: Andrea Cocchi. English subtitles: Cristina da Milano and Roberta Agnese. ECCOM – European Center for Cultural Organization and Management, Italy, 2013.

MY SCHOOL HAS AN ARCHAEOLOGY CLUB | Portugal

The Archaeology Clubs’ Network received the first ICOM-CECA Award in 2012, for Best Educational Project. This outstanding project was developed by the National Archaeological Museum and builds a bridge between Museum and schools, by outsourcing collections, tools and ideas in school clubs. Each school club is free to develop the projects and activities that best suit their social and cultural context, pupils’ skills and interests, sharing information through an online platform managed by the Museum. The Museum staff also visits the schools, promoting workshops and exhibitions through replicas or collection items, inviting archaeologists, as well as other scientists, artists and other.

Mário Antas, the coordinator of the project talks about this experience.

Credits:

Interview with Mário Antas by Inês Bettencourt da Câmara and Maria João Nunes; Filming and edition: Joana Bourgard; Translation and subtitling: Maria João Nunes. Museu Nacional de Arqueologia. Mapa das Ideias, Portugal, 2013

PERFORMANCE AND FEMINISM IN MEDIATION. THE SALONNIÈRES, ARTISTIC GROUP | Spain

A case on why Performance is being used in Museum Mediation as a way to get distanced form logo centric styles of communication. How embodiment and the corporal could be another issue to discuss within the field of Gender Mainstream and Museums.

Credits:

Conversation between Les Salonnières (Cèlia Prats, Meritxell Romanos, Ester g. Mecías, Laura Cardona) and Carla Padró; Filming and edition: Paola Villanueva; Translation and subtitling: Montse Ballesteros. Thanks to: Centre de Cultura de Dones Francesca Bonnemaison, Barcelona. Universidade de Barcelona, Spain, 2013.

PORTABLE EXILE ART: TARTU ART MUSEUM | Estonia

Reeli Kõiv, head of educational centre of theTartu Art Museum discusses the challenges of creating high-quality educational programs for a temporary exhibition such as the exhibition “Estonian Art in Exile” of Estonian World War II refugee artists.

Credits:

Presenter: Reeli Kõiv; Tartu Art Museum, Tartu, Estonia. Filming and edition. Translation and subtitling: Eesti Rahva Museum, Estonia, 2013.

SPECIAL PEOPLE IN WONDERFUL ENVIRONMENTS |Portugal

A Gulbenkian Foundation team is developing and researching museum mediation with special needs visitors. Miguel Horta shares with us their vision and the challenges that they face in an unchartered territory, where each person is truly unique and the museum experience represents a world of experiences – tactile, vision, sound and performance.

Credits:

Interviews with Miguel Horta by Maria João Nunes; Filming and edition: Joana Bourgard; Translation and subtitling: Maria João Nunes. Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian. Mapa das Ideias, Portugal, 2013.

TALKING WITH OURSELVES AND OTHERS THROUGH OBJECTS | Portugal

Mapa das Ideias was founded in 1999 with the mission of developing projects and support media for museums and their visitors. Each project is developed in a research matrix, by addressing a problem and identifying resources and goals. Then the creative component becomes the main axe, aiming a full experience between content, emotion and action.

Ana Fernambuco and Isabel Avillez talk about the different projects that are developed for Mapa’s clients, as well as the pedagogical models that are paramount to all the mediation activities, working issues such as self-esteem and community action, game and team-building, respect and empowerment through the discovery of very different collections and museum environments at the National Museum of Costume and the National Palace of Ajuda.

Credits:

Presented by Ana Fernambuco and Isabel Avillez; Filming and edition: Joana Bourgard; Translation and subtitling: Maria João Nunes. Mapa das Ideias. Mapa das Ideias, Portugal, 2013.

VALUED ACTIONS: THE PEDAGOGICAL SERVICE OF THE WATER MUSEUM | Portugal

Margarida Filipe, the coordinator of the pedagogical service of the Water Museum, talks about the 15 year experience of work with schools across Portugal. The Water Museum is a private museum that belongs to EPAL (a water provider for the metropolitan area of Lisbon and other municipalities. This educational department was founded in the company’s communication and PR cabinet and was transfered after to the Museum. Through the activities, support materials and contests, a multidimensional programme is developed through heritage, history, science and environmental education. Through the experience and knowledge, the students are actively involved in an environmental programme, promoting a active citizenship and community actions.

Credits:

Conversation between Margarida Filipe and Inês Bettencourt da Câmara; Filming and edition: Joana Bourgard; Translation and subtitling: Maria João Nunes. Museu da Água, EPAL. Mapa das Ideias, Portugal, 2013.

WHAT REVOLVES AROUND WHAT? TARTU OLD OBSERVATORY | Estonia

Janet Laidla, a curator from the Old Observator talks about creating illustrative teaching aids for teaching science in the Old Observatory.

Credits:

Presenter: Janet Laidla; Old Observatory (branch of the University of Tartu History Museum), Tartu, Estonia. Filming and edition. Translation and subtitling: Eesti Rahva Museum, Estonia, 2013.

WHAT THING IS THE MUSEUM? ESTONIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM | Estonia

An educational program for a variety of age groups explaining the value of museals and cultural heritage is presented by the guide-methodologist Virve Tuubelfrom the  Estonian National Museum.

Credits:

Presenter: Virve Tuubelfrom; Filming and edition. Translation and subtitling. Estonian National Museum, Tartu, Estonia. Eesti Rahva Museum, Estonia, 2013.