European museums on show - my personal bests 1

The format if the EMYA conference is a series of 10 minute interviews with the shortlisted candidates, conducted by members of the Judging Committee. Slides are shown as background to the one on one discussion, and all candidates are required to bring an object that encapsulates their museum. 

Before I comment on the judges' final decisions in a future blog, I'd like to share my personal 'bests'. 

I was intrigued by the Hilversun Sound and Vision Experience in the Netherlands. The building puts on show 700,000 hours' worth - or 90 years - of Dutch television broadcasting. Visitors - which Director Pieter van der Heijden calls 'viewers' - can choose to log onto 94 locations in the course of their visit, which on average lasts 4.5 hours. In Pieter's words, the secret of its success is that the institution builds on content that is already part of the public's prior knowledge. I admired the way the museum deals with its fundamental premise: that content gleaned from the media forms the (often non-critical) backbone of all our perceptions. If visitors truly come away, as claimed, with a slightly increased understanding of the complete mundanity of the subject along with its terrific influence, this museum has much to say to the world of media/moving images/film and television. This is the first 'museum' I have come across where we grapple with the cultural effects of media rather than with its technological and material evolution. Hurray! (http://portal.beeldengeluid.nl Not that given the naturally Dutch character of this institution, its website is entirely in Dutch) 

Best storyteller among the candidates was Jimmy Moncrieff of the Shetland Museum and Archives in Lerwick who opened proceedings on Thursday. Jimmy's Norman surname gives his Viking roots away - he is a big man, with as big a personality and a wonderful accent. He brought a 'feral' scarf to show us, as his representative object. (I thought at first the object would, when liberated from its acid-free tissue paper, up and bite delegates sitting in the front row. I have since discovered that 'feral' is derived from Fair Isle, the tiny island lying half way between Orkney and Shetland - apologies, Jimmy!) 

The scarf boasts a beautiful red and blue design which doesn't seem to fit at all with any contemporary styles. Jimmy recounted the tale of a few 17th century Spanish sailors shipwrecked off the coast who walked ashore - like Martians, in their finery of (wet) lace, collars, doublets, plumes (this may be a bit of an exaggeration, but give me some leeway). They stayed on the island for 3 months, speaking I don't know what language, and obviously captivated the local inhabitants, the knitters and weavers amongst them. The scarf is testament to the narrative hold that objects can have on our imagination, and Jimmy living proof that key messages ("the Shetland islands are and have been a crossroads between the North Sea and the Atlantic") are most effectively communicated through stories. 

More personal bests anon.