Nushelle de Silva, SMArch Architecture Studies ’15 and current PhD candidate in History, Theory, and Criticism writes in Places Journal about the expanded responsibilities museums have while adapting to the pandemic.
From the article:
The pandemic has presented an unexpected opportunity for “encyclopedic” museums like the Met to reconsider their responsibilities in the 21st century. In 2002, the Met was one of eighteen institutions to sign the Declaration on the Importance and Value of Universal Museums, in the process resisting calls to repatriate objects with the argument that “museums serve … the people of every nation.” Some have lauded the potential of virtual programming to bring the museum to a global public that cannot enjoy the Met in person. Others have opined that the camaraderie suggested by hashtags like #MetAnywhere and phrases like “together at home” is belied by the fact that only a relatively privileged cohort can settle down in secure homes with strong bandwidth to enjoy a virtual Met concert on a Friday afternoon (Eastern Time, that is).
It is hard to tell if this augmented virtual space will be maintained, or if the Met will scale back this new engagement as its physical spaces reopen. But if a wider array of online offerings is here to stay, then museums have an opportunity to seriously engage global audiences; in which case it is important to consider not only what content becomes publicly available, but also how that material is mediated. That museums not only accumulate culture but also actively produce it, through curation and programming, is now clearer than ever as live events, and virtual access to those events, have proliferated. A more transparent approach to the role museums play in cultural production will expand what I call “cultural” bandwidth, or the familiarity with, and the ability to participate in, that production.
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