Pondering the future of museums

Aug. 7, 2016
LAS CRUCES – Lately, I’ve been thinking about museums. And not just in the line of journalistic duty, on the arts and entertainment beat.

Recently, I was one of several locals asked to meet with consultants for a brainstorming session about a new permanent exhibit for the Branigan Cultural Center. Our spirited discussion tackled everything from the role of museums in a community, to educational and entertainment expectations of visitors. We digressed into a critique of museum websites (which most of us liked and found helpful) and local government and university websites, which garnered less-than- stellar reviews.

I kept thinking about museums, and all the museums I’ve covered and visited, and all the consultant panels and groups I’ve been part of over the last several decades.

The pondering didn’t stop during my vacation, which turned into a busman’s holiday. In addition to the regulars on Museum Hill in Santa Fe, we hit some of our favorite public and private museums in and around the Santa Fe Plaza.

Dr. Roger had been reading about the Manhattan Project and decided we should also go visit the Bradbury Museum in Los Alamos. He went off to check out some exhibits focusing on the scientists who’d lived a few blocks from the museum and changed all our lives by developing the first atomic bomb.

Maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised when I felt arms grasping me and leading me off in another direction. I’d been chosen, friendly voices informed me, to test some new interactive exhibits.

I protested that I was on vacation, and am known to generations of long-suffering Information Technology (IT) guys as someone who had an unerring instinct for screwing up their most carefully plotted, best-laid and allegedly user- friendly plans.

They were delighted. And amazingly, their delight grew as we went through panel after interactive panel, and I tapped when I was expected to swipe (and vice versa) and found many new and exciting ways to misconstrue and misinterpret what they’d thought were crystal clear instructions.

I was delighted too, to finally find an appreciate audience. I’ve always felt my ability to think outside the box, make unexpected choices (and creatively confound computer design guys’ ideas about “logical” and “intuitive” human behaviors) was a talent that should be harnessed for the good of mankind.

“Hey, look what she did here,” the nice Bradbury team tester exclaimed, encouraging her colleagues to make note. “That was surprising! Gee, none of us expected anyone to do THAT!” (Hear that, IT guys? Not “wrong,” not “frustrating,” but “surprising” and “unexpected.”)

We had fun, and I hope I didn’t create a monster, or an otherwise imaginative, educational and entertaining interactive game/exhibit that no one but me can figure out how to play.

I’m convinced they were on the right track, however. And I’m confident that I do know what people like and want after years as a consumer myself, making endless museum runs with colleagues, friends, and multiple generations of kids and grandkids. I’ve also had the inside track as someone with friends, and a former spouse, who’ve designed interactive museum exhibits.

And I’ve covered museums, and fiestas and special events at museums that range from the monthly downtown Ramble to music, science and arts extravaganzas and city-wide, multicultural celebrations, as well as the brand new, multimedia darling of Millennials, Meow Wolf in Santa Fe.

I’ll always treasure the opportunity to spend an hour or two quietly savoring miracles and milestones of art, science, history and even pop culture in a thoughtfully designed, special environment. But I’m also convinced that to thrive and survive in the future, most museums will have to find their own fusions of significant content and fiesta ambience through interactive and online exhibits and special events.

S. Derrickson Moore may be reached at 575-541-5450, dmoore@lcsun-news.com or @derricksonmoore on Twitter.