Week 3 Blog task - Mining the Museum

We have been told the role of museum in this week's lecture. I think the galleries are not just for housing or displaying artworks, more importantly, they try to tell people stories behind the artworks and describe culture. Besides, they show the power of the country, which the artworks belong to. Museums fit in contemporary ideology by sharing the spirit of artist, they show us what we need to learn from artworks and what should improve for contemporary period. Recently, 'museum critics point to the ways in which this single, linear narrative is expressed in gallery designs which have a one way flow based on a clear sequence of exhibits' have said that the single line chronology of displaying objects is not valid. (Witcomb, 2003)

In order to get further for museology, I picked the Room 1970 and 1980 which show the theme about BP Walk through British Art in TATE BRITAIN to study. 

I was really interested in this artwork 'Stack' created by Tony Cragg. Cragg used a wide range of objects and materials to pack tightly as a solid cube, like wood, brick, plastic, metal, textile and paper. It presented the fact that people use lots of man-made objects, also tell us the story about the relationship of nature and how human race impacts on nature. The natural world now is full of man-made objects. Cragg pointed out that landscape and city should not be distinguished by his work 'Stack'. He appreciated that man-made materials can be used in a wide valid range, even still have much value to use. I believe it is not just the voice of Cragg, also the opinion of people who focus on developing the world. I absolutely appreciated his concept.

This work caught my eye when I just came in this room. This artwork 'Elephant' created by Bill Woodrow. He used triangular ironing board to create the head of the elephant, the nose is made by a vacuum cleaner, and the map of Africa and South America became the ears of the elephant. On the floor, he laid out ten car doors as a round. Woodrow showed us the fact that Africa and South America are the third world continents. He told us Africa and South America are soon becoming the point of the world.

I read the stories of artworks, and have been inspired by them. I believe that the most important function of museums is telling particular stories, presenting the culture.


References

Witcomb, A. (2003) Re-imagining the museum: beyond the mausoleum. New York: Routledge