Bluetooth technology has helped reveal how visitors explore museum exhibitions, and how much they learn in the process Museums are an important setting for informal learning; their invaluable collections and purposefully designed spaces mean learning can happen almost ‘accidentally’. But making these learning opportunities available to as diverse an audience […]

In major museums around the world, some truly great works of art are hidden away from public view. What are they – and why can’t we see them? Kimberly Bradley finds out.

After being cooped up inside during the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us are itching to leave home. While some people might want to take a trip to a faraway destination or eat at a new restaurant, many art lovers just want to visit a museum or a gallery. There’s nothing […]

Matt Rayner was planning for an academic career in ornithology and conservation biology when a colleague pointed out an advertisement for a curator of land vertebrates at the Auckland War Memorial Museum in New Zealand. The ad described the role as maintaining a research programme, managing and developing the museum’s […]

Join the #FutureMuseum Project and add your voice to the future of museums Museum workers based in 18 countries — including Nigeria, Guinea, Botswana, South Africa, Argentina, Colombia, Singapore, New Zealand, Denmark, and Norway — have already contributed their ideas to this ongoing free-to-access project. Add your voice to the […]

Many people who don’t normally visit museums have a tendency to dismiss them as boring and often wonder what the appeal is. People visit museums for a variety of reasons, some personal, some societal, and we thought it would be interesting to examine these reasons in an effort to dispel […]

Let’s be honest: Generally, the disconnect of 2020 has proven that the arts and culture industry does not (yet) have a digital strategy. Articles herald memes on TikTok from the Uffizi Gallery, Spotify playlists at the Tate or the art world’s virtual viewing rooms as bastions of digital pioneering. But how much of this innovation […]

Museums have the power to support artists not just by giving them exhibitions, but by acquiring their work, as well. By embracing artwork by a diverse group of practitioners, museums can create a more equitable public understanding of art and artists. Done right, this helps guard against the case of […]

The two key objectives of museums — exhibition and preservation — are often in conflict. Exhibiting an object and exposing it to elements like lighting, fluctuating temperature, humidity and variable air quality can cause damage and degradation. The very decision to exhibit an item may mean its future is compromised.

To those who aren’t as passionate about the power of museums as readers of this blog, it can often seem that such institutions are merely places where forgotten objects go to enjoy their final years. But despite this, there’s a strong case to be made that the museum is more […]