MULTIPLE is five day workshop that aimed to train participants in designing new layers for existing exhibits, through the creation of interactive devices that foster to renew bonds with audiences. With a predominantly practical approach, participants worked in groups on different areas of the exhibition, designing prototypes that shall provide new gateways to some core ideas of the exhibit.
Activities took place at the Museo Histórico Regional de la Colonia de Entre Ríos and were led by Elaine Heumann Gurian (USA), consultant in museums and James Volkert (USA) expert in designing exhibitions, together with Tam Muro, local exhibit designer.
The workshop also hopes to contribute to the creation of new networks and opportunities of collaboration for Entre Ríos museum professionals.
The whole process has been registered and the results will be published so that the experience can be spread in other museums in Argentina and Latin America.
WHERE AND WHEN
At the Museo Histórico Regional de la Colonia de Entre Ríos, from April 14th to 18th, 2015.
PARTICIPANTS
Fourteen museum professionals from Entre Ríos Province have been selected through an open call. Also members of MUS network, a group of museum professionals that took part at the TyPA Lab on Museum Management 2013, will also join MULTIPLE workshop.
CV coordinators MULTIPLE: Layering for preexisting exhibits.
Elaine Heumann Gurian is a consultant/advisor to a number of museums and visitor centers that are beginning, building or reinventing themselves, a partial listing includes Museum of the City of London UK, The Exploratorium, San Francisco, The Royal BC Museum, Victoria, Canada and the Detroit Zoo, Detroit MI,The Museum of the Resistance, Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic, The Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Australia. Gurian is a teacher, trainer and lecturer at many academic and in-service programs of museum studies worldwide. In 2006, Routledge published her volume, Civilizing the Museum: the Collected Writings of Elaine Heumann Gurian. She is editor for the volume. Institutional Trauma: The Effect of Major Change on Museum Staff and currently on the editorial board of the journal, Curator. Gurian is a past president of the Museum Group and has served on the Advisory Arts Council to the President of Brandeis University. Elaine Heumann Gurian holds a B.A. in art history from Brandeis University and a M.Ed. in elementary education and art education from State College at Boston.
James Volkert, principal of Exhibition Associates, a firm that consults internationally with museums on exhibition and facilities development, new programs, and management. Over 35 years as a museum professional, Jim has facilitated major institutional changes: Program and architectural integration; facility staffing and operational planning, and policy development. He has broad experience and understands issues of institutional growth, new construction and architecture, exhibition development, staffing, resources, schedules, and audience demographics. He has developed more than 350 exhibitions on the arts, sciences, and history. Prior to becoming a consultant, Jim was the former Associate Director for the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), Smithsonian Institution, in Washington D.C.. In that capacity, he was responsible for all aspects of the completion of the new museum on the National Mall which opened September 21, 2004. This includes exhibitions, programs, architectural coordination, and visitor services. Prior to that, he was Director of Exhibitions for the National Museum of American Art. He has served as a consultant to museums nationally in the development of programs and has worked with museum programs in Argentina, Canada, Germany, Guatemala, Jordan, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay, and Peru. He taught exhibition development at the George Washington University for 10 years. He holds a B.A. in fine art from the University of California and an M.F.A from Art Center, College of Design.
MULTIPLE: Layering on preexisting exhibits is organized by Fundación TyPA and MUS, with the support of Fundación Nuevo Banco de Entre Ríos, and the collaboration of Municipio de San José, Museo Histórico de la Colonia de San José, and the United States Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
