Museums and the Public Sphere Museums and the Public Sphere Jennifer Barrett © 2011 Jennifer Barrett. ISBN: 978-1-405-17383-4 To Caitlin Miranda Museums and the Public Sphere Jennifer Barrett Thiseditionfirstpublished2011 (cid:1)2011JenniferBarrett BlackwellPublishingwasacquiredbyJohnWiley&SonsinFebruary2007.Blackwell’spublishing programhasbeenmergedwithWiley’sglobalScientific,Technical,andMedicalbusinesstoformWiley- Blackwell. RegisteredOffice JohnWiley&SonsLtd,TheAtrium,SouthernGate,Chichester,WestSussex,PO198SQ,United Kingdom EditorialOffices 350MainStreet,Malden,MA02148-5020,USA 9600GarsingtonRoad,Oxford,OX42DQ,UK TheAtrium,SouthernGate,Chichester,WestSussex,PO198SQ,UK Fordetailsofourglobaleditorialoffices,forcustomerservices,andforinformationabouthowtoapply forpermissiontoreusethecopyrightmaterialinthisbookpleaseseeourwebsiteatwww.wiley.com/ wiley-blackwell. 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Setin10/12.5ptGalliardbyThomsonDigital,Noida,India PrintedinMalaysia 01 2011 Contents Listof Images vii Introduction 1 1 ThePublicSphere 15 2 Historical Discourses of the Museum 45 3 TheMuseum as PublicSpace 81 4 Audience,Community,and Public 118 5 TheMuseum as PublicIntellectual 143 Conclusion 164 References 175 Acknowledgments 191 Index 193 List of Images 1 Thomas Struth,Hermitage 1, St Petersburg,2005 2 1.1 Louis-Le´opoldBoilly,ThePublicintheSalonoftheLouvre,Viewing the Painting of the ‘‘Sacre’’begun 1808, Woodner Collection 17 1.2 E´tienne-Louis Boulle´e,Ce´notaphe de Newton,1784 19 1.3 Hubert Robert, Projet d’ame´nagement de la Grande Galerie du Louvreen 1796,1796 31 1.4 HonoreDaumier,FreeAdmissionDay–Twenty-FiveDegreesofHeat, 1852 35 2.1 JohnTenniel,TheSundayQuestion.ThePublic-House;or,TheHouse For The Public?,1869 59 2.2 Louis-Le´opold Boilly, Interior of a Parisian Cafe´, c.1815 66 2.3 Edgar Degas, Mary Cassatt at the Louvre: The Etruscan Gallery, 1879–80 69 2.4 Jacques-Louis David, Le Serment des Horaces,1784 73 2.5 Jacques-Louis David, The Tennis Court Oath, 20th June 1789, 1791 75 3.1 Forecourt, British Museum, 2005 92 3.2 Turbine Hall,TateModern, 2004 93 4.1 Installation view, The Arts of Islam: Treasures from the Nasser D Khalili Collection 125 5.1 Belongingshomepage2009.MigrationHeritageCentreNewSouth Wales 144 5.2 Talkback Classroom ‘Political Satire’ forum with John Safran and cartoonist David Pope 154 5.3 GardenofAustralianDreams,openingdayattheNationalMuseumof Australia 157 5.4 Jean-Marie Tjibaou CulturalCentre, New Caledonia 158 5.5 Exhibition People,Power,Politics: The first generation of anthropologists at theUniversity of Sydney,2008 161 5.6 Makarr-garma: Aboriginal collections from a Yolngu Perspective, Macleay Museum2009 161 viii Images 5.7 Book cover The Changing Presentation of the American Indian: Museums and Native Cultures by the National Museum of the American Indian 162 6.1 Thomas Struth,TokyoNational Museum, 1999, Tokyo 168 Introduction Museums are highly visible institutions in contemporary societies and theirongoingexistenceandclaimsforresourcesareoftenjustifiedonthe grounds of “relevance.” To what, and to whom, are they relevant? The common answer is “the public.” Within the museum context the term public is often used to invoke a generalized body of people: an audience, a represented community or certain non-visitor interest groups. It is employed to lay claim to and convey the museum’s status as an open, democratic institution for and of “the people.” However, for all its centrality to the museum sector’s talk about itself, the term “public” is oftenusedloosely.Atothertimesitisusedstrategically,withaparticular political purpose that may suggest clarity, even precision, but is actually tendentious, even opportunistic. In the literature, one finds a surprising lack of sustained critical reflection upon the term: little awareness of its etymology, its political meaning, or the reasons why it has had such an expansive influence upon the museum world. This book seeks to offer such a reflection. What are the many ways in which the museum is, or is not, public? How can the museum be under- stood as a critical sphere of public debate? How do museums facilitate, respond to, support, and intersect with wider public discourse? These questionsarethekeytounderstandingandredefiningtheveryparameters ofthe museum. Reworkingtheideaofthemuseumiscriticalinaworldinwhichmuseums competefortherepresentationandinterpretationofculturalheritagewith other related “public” forums and sites, including community cultural centers, public halls and the Internet. In this world of increasingly diver- sifiedmedia,whatcanmuseumsoffertoourexperienceofbeinginpublic? Thisbookexaminestheimplicationsofamorecomplexunderstandingof howthepublicisrealized,invoked,andunderstoodinthemuseumcontext. An examination of the way museums themselves use the term “public,” Museums and the Public Sphere Jennifer Barrett © 2011 Jennifer Barrett. ISBN: 978-1-405-17383-4 2 Introduction Image 1 Thomas Struth, Hermitage 1, St Petersburg, 2005. C-print, 114.0(cid:1)144.5cm. (cid:1) 2010 Thomas Struth. (Image from Struth’s project, MuseumPhotographs,whereheforegroundsthepubliciniconicmuseums.) as well as other critiques of the public, will enhance the capacity for museums to engage with “publics”in more complex, productive ways. This book emerges from my long-term engagement with what con- stitutes public culture, who produces it, where is it represented and by whom.Myinterestinthisareahasincludedcommunityculturalpractices, where communities of interest engage, practice, and produce culture, bothforthemselvesandsometimesothers.Themuseumwasnotalways present in these practices, or surrounding discourses. In recent years, however, sites of community culture have also attracted museum professionals. Communities areidentified as a new audience, or alterna- tivelyasproducersofculturewiththepotentialtorenewtheroleofthe museum. What this shift implies about the pre-existing location and natureofcommunityculturalpracticesisoftenleftunspokeninmuseum studies. Introduction 3 One of the first questions about the relationship between the museum andtheideaofthe“public”ishowthemuseum’spublicremithasaltered over time. The utopian or idealist goals of the late eighteenth- and nineteenth-centurydemocraciesincludedusingmuseumspacestocivilize and educate people. Museums also symbolized a nation’s achievements (military,cultural,oreconomic).Theroleofthe“modernmuseum”atthis time was caught up with the new experience of being public. More recently,asmuseumsre-examinewhatitmeanttobeapublicinstitution, thetermhasbeencalledupontoreflectinclusivityanddiversity,incontrast to the historical singularity of “the public.” The contemporary museum oftenstrugglestonegotiatebetweentheremnantsofanearlierrhetoricof “public” and new practices and types of spaces designed to attract new audiences,engagenewcommunitiesandrespondtothelocalityornation within whichtheyare situated. Central to this adjustment, andto the reconfiguration ofthe museum, was Peter Vergo’s (1989) invention of “the new museology.” The idea emergedatatimewhenmuseums(incommonwithotherpublicinstitu- tions such as libraries) were suffering funding pressures and cut-backs, often because they were perceived to be elitist and inaccessible. The new museology, as a response to this situation, argued for an increased emphasis onthevisitors andtheirexperienceandfornewthinkingabout museum education and the importance of accessibility. Authors included in the new museology, such as Nick Merriman (1989) and Peter Wright (1989), were directly influenced by Pierre Bourdieu’s original works (1969 and 1979). These were translated from French in 1990 and 1984 respectively and were based on research on museums in Europe in thelate1960sand1970sandhissociologicalapproachtounderstanding who visits museums and why. His research found that museums repro- duced for visitors the existing class-based culture, education, and social systems. Bourdieu maintained that the museum, rather than welcoming the broad spectrum found in social life, instead reinforced existing social and cultural distinctions and maintained social inequality, particularly in Europeinthesecondhalfofthetwentiethcenturywhereclassdetermined thecapacity to be comfortableor not inthe museum.Thistheory,based on empirical research and new theories about learning in the museum is discussedinChapterFour.Itinformednewpracticeswithinthemuseum context, practices which purported to engage with the public differently from the universalizing exhibiting practices of previous centuries. It attempted to “democratize” the museum by advocating multiple ways of interpreting the world and its history, and by emphasizing the impor- tanceofconsultationwithcommunities,inparticularindevisingexhibits.