More Comments on the Lindow Man Exhibition
Leave a Comment so far
Leave a comment
August 29, 2008, 9:07
Filed under: Lindow Man Exhibition
Filed under: Lindow Man Exhibition
Verity Walker, Director of Interpretaction, an organisation that works in the area of education and interpretation programme development for natural,cultural and historic sites, has visited the Lindow Man exhibition and made the following comments:
“I think it works as an exhibition and its focus on different viewpoints without any conclusion drawn is refreshing… It’s a good deal more inclusive to have an exhibition based on different viewpoints than on ‘this is the unquestioned truth because we are the experts’ which decades on turns out to be incorrect (cf Tutankhamen in the ’70s!).
I wonder if a brief introductory panel which reminds people of the traditional approach taken previously and explains why the approach is different this time (explaining interpretation is always of its time) might be a useful addition right at the outset, so that people have more of a context for what they are about to see?
The lighting is very flat and dull – using more directed lighting can nudge visitors in interesting directions they might not otherwise follow, with darker areas in between.
The addition of the pictures of the ‘viewpointers’ would be good repeated in the alcoves where the sound systems are – people are drawn towards a friendly face.
Pete Brown, Head of Learning and Interpretation at the Manchester Museum, has also spent time in the exhibition and earlier this week noted that “the place really had a positive and welcoming buzz of activity. People instinctively get on with exploring things, which is very different to the hands behind the back strolling and gazing activity that more conventional exhibitions seem to promote (that’s not to say that I think strolling and gazing is a bad thing – just that that wasn’t our aim with this exhibition).
I was in the Temporary Exhibition Gallery myself yesterday and a lady and her young children were reading the introductory board. They seemed quite animated to see Andy Mould’s photo. I asked if they came from Lindow and if they knew Andy. They said they were from Wilmslow, that they didn’t know Andy but what a good idea it was, they said, to show who had found the body and for him to describe in his own words what it was like. I drew their attention to the audio interview with Andy and Bruce and then had to go to a meeting. But it was very busy and people did seem genuinely engaged with the exhibition.
Leave a Comment
Leave a Comment so far
Leave a comment
Lindow Manchester 