Exhibition as Theme Park: Olafur Eliasson at Tate Modern

Room for One Colour

I went to see the Olafur Eliasson exhibition ‘In Real Life’ at Tate Modern. I first saw Eliasson’s work in 2003 when his ‘Weather Project’ was in the Tate’s cavernous Turbine Hall. This new exhibition is spread throughout thirteen rooms in the new Blavatnik building, the extension that opened in 2016. There are also a handful of exhibits outside the main exhibition – the most interesting being ‘Room For One Colour’ which casts an unhealthy orange glow over all those waiting for the lifts to take them to the viewing platform at the top of the Blatavnik building.

There is much to love about ‘In Real Life’ but the experience was rather ruined by one of the big problems associated with major exhibitions – too many people. It’s a timed-entry exhibition, but even with that the Tate are allowing too many people in. It felt a bit like going to a theme park where you have to queue to get in and once inside you then have to queue for every ride. At one point the queue to experience ‘Your Blind Passenger’ snaked through four rooms of the exhibition and it took over 30 minutes to the entrance of the experience. The one minute experience of moving through a peasouper or a dense cloud is disorientating and wonderful. Visibility is restricted to about a metre and as you walk cautiously through the fog new colours appear and figures become briefly visible. It’s a brief bubble where the senses are confused by the syrupy smell, the changing light & the occasional accidental brushing up against a stranger you never really see. When you’re disgorged from the tunnel of cloud into a room full of reflecting surfaces like a  kaleidoscope it takes a few moments to reorient yourself in what passes for the real world. I felt a little like Alice in Wonderland.

Your Blind Passenger

At ‘Your Spiral View’ parents were encouraging their children to do handstands and forward rolls through the mirrored spiral as if the exhibition was an extension of a playground. Adults stood and waited and waited and waited until it became clear that the children had no intention of leaving the spiral (and their parents had no intention of asking them to). Eventually most of the adults wandered off to join yet another queue.

In Real Life

‘Your Uncertain Shadow’ projects the shadows of visitors onto a large wall in five pastel colours. It’s impressive (and somewhat reminiscient of 1970s album covers, or the opening sequence of ‘Tales of the Unexpected’) but the room was so packed that several times the lights were almost entirely blocked so nothing was being projected onto the wall.

Your Uncertain Shadow

And at ‘Big Bang Fountain’ (after yet another queue) we were eventually ushered behind a thick black curtain into a completely dark room where everyone stood awkwardly a light mist settling on their skin as a strobe light illuminated water sculptures that appeared and disappeared in the blink of an eye. It was mesmeric, but ruined by the woman who (despite all visitors being told repeatedly that photography was forbidden) not only took photographs, but turned on the torch on her phone meaning that everyone got to see how the illusion was created. No one wants to know how the magician does his tricks and for the first time in a long time I saw usually polite Londoners take the, rather less than polite, photographer to task.

I’m not sure what galleries and museums can do to ensure that everyone who wants to see an exhibition can see it (though the £20 entry fee already excludes many who might want to go). Exhibitions cost a lot to put on and money needs to be made to recoup some of the costs, but increasingly this is at the expense of the experience. The overcrowding at the ‘In Real Life’ exhibition was the worst I’ve experienced in a long time and exacerbated by the fact that within the exhibition numbers to many exhibits were also restricted, but the recent Don McCullin photography exhibition at Tate Britain was almost as bad with people jostling each other just to get a look at one of his photographs. Something ought to be done whether that is extending opening hours, extending exhibition running times or reducing the number of tickets available. I’m sure I’m not the only disgruntled visitor, but I guess there would need to be many thousands of us before there’s any need for galleries and museums to take action, and if we stop going to see the shows then I guess that means more room for those who do go!

I had taken a few days off to get away from my Dark Tourism travels to try to stop thinking about museums, galleries and heritage sites…in that I failed miserably! Next time I’m going to sit on a beach for a week and read books!

 

Visiting Museums – my personal bugbears!

I’ve been on the road again visiting museums and heritage sites around Ireland. For the most part I’ve loved it. I learnt a lot and met many interesting people along the way. But I’ve also noticed that there are many things that could be done better and while there are specific things that could be improved at individual sites there are also a number of things that repeatedly drive me mad – things that could be fixed without any great investment of time or money.

I’m in the process of drawing up a list of things that have a negative impact on the visitor experience (and suggest some things that are easy (and cheap) to do that might save other visitors the irritation I’ve felt). This is just a start…I’ll have lots more to say when I go through my notes, but if anyone has suggestions of things to add to my list – things that drive them mad, or examples of where things have been done really well, please drop me a line and and I’ll include them.

To start here’s a few that immediately spring to mind:

List the correct opening days and opening hours on your website. There’s nothing worse than driving for hours to get to a site only to find that it’s closed when the website said it would be open. In some instances I’ve found sites that have different opening hours listed on different (official) sites. On one occasion I rang the site the day before I wanted to visit and was told that the last tour was at 4.00pm so we turned up at 3.30 only to discover that the last tour had already left.

A padlocked door – never a good sign during supposed ‘opening hours’

Don’t spend lots of money on technology. It’s expensive, prone to breaking down and difficult to get fixed. It also goes out of date almost as soon as it’s installed. I can think of only one site I’ve visited where all the technology has been working when I’ve been there. There are occasions when it’s great and enhances the experience, but so often it really is a waste of money.

Be friendly and welcoming. In most cases those at reception and tickets desks are very friendly and helpful, but not always and a grumpy or sullen ‘welcome’ really does impact on the rest of the visit. More than once I’ve waited to buy tickets while the person behind the desk has continued a lengthy (and clearly personal) telephone call. On one very recent visit the man at the ticket desk never once looked at me or spoke to me while he took my money and begrudgingly handed me a receipt.

Death by Text. Many museums have an enormous number of panels stuffed full of information. No one will ever read all of them. And in rooms full of them many people will read none of them. Keep it short and sweet and direct visitors to books about the topics that the interested visitor can buy instead.

Less is More. Don’t put all your artefacts on display. Curate them, rotate them. Tell interesting stories about the ones that are there. Visitors will remember those stories, and they’ll come back to hear new ones when the displays change.

Tell memorable stories. I want to know about the buildings and the architectural detail can be fascinating, but I also want to know about the people who lived in these buildings. Too often I learn about the bricks and mortar, the naves and architraves, the mullions and machicolations without any proper explanation of what they are or why they’re there. Often I learn nothing about the people associated with these places. Frequently I bring children with me on these trips and the language used is often not appropriate – what 12 year old knows what a machicolation or a mullion is. Complex things can be explained using simple language.

But it is mostly good news. There are some brilliant things being done in museums and heritage sites across the country and I will write up a post about some of the best places I’ve visited recently when I’ve got over my irritation about driving for several hours to visit a site only for find it closed for a a private function!

In search of misery…please help!

Over the next few months I’ll complete my tour of misery in Ireland (and hopefully complete my jigsaw). Most of the trips have been far from miserable, but I have sought out tales of suffering, misery and hardship as told through our museums and heritage sites. I’ve traveled thousands of kilometers up, down and across the country to see how sites tell the stories of conflict, starvation, emigration and death.

So far I’ve visited twenty-three counties and I’ve another four counties – Kerry, Clare, Offaly and Fermanagh to visit over the next few weeks.

However, there are five counties where I currently have no sites to see – Cavan, Longford, Leitrim, Armagh and Kildare (and only one site in Clare). I’d like to be able to include all thirty-two counties in the book so if anyone has any suggestions of places to visit in those counties please let me know.

The key criteria is that there has to be some interpretation associated with the site – a memorial, statue or plaque isn’t sufficient (though I do stop by any that I happen to be passing). Ideally, the museum or heritage site should have some connection with the stories that it tells – places such as Wicklow Gaol, the Irish Workhouse Centre in Portumna, the Dunbrody Famine Ship in New Ross where the site is crucial to the visitor experience are ideal, but I’ll go anywhere that tells a story associated with a place rather than a generic story of the famine in Ireland – anything to get that jigsaw finished!

If anyone has suggestions for places I might visit please let me know via here, or twitter (@gillianmobrien) or email: g.p.obrien@ljmu.ac.uk.

Ireland’s Institutional Shame

Home Babies – (A)dressing Our Hidden Truth by Alison Lowry

(A)dressing Our Hidden Truths is an exhibition of work by Alison Lowry. It’s on at the National Museum in Collins’ Barracks, Dublin from March 2019 to May 2020.

Attack on the Mummies of St Michan’s

 

Elaborately decorated coffins in the Crypt of St Michan’s

Places to visit in Ireland during the mid-term break!

It’s mid-term break next week so it seemed like a good time to suggest some more places to visit. At the beginning of the year I recommended ten places that I think were worth a trip –  A Top Ten of Irish Sites to Visit. But there are far more than 10 great museums and heritage sites scattered across the country, so here’s another selection of sites I’ve visited over the last few months that I think braving a chilly spring day for.

Cork City Gaol, Cork

I’ve been here three times in the last year and really like it. The audio tour is engaging and nicely paced (though I’d skip the exhibition on the gaol’s life as a radio station…not least because it’s said to be in the haunted part of the building!) The visit is informative and entertaining….but the real draw is the old prison itself and the chance to step inside the cold, forbidding cells and perhaps catch a glimpse of the prison’s ghost.

Adults, €10.00, Children – €6.00, Family – €30.00

King John’s Castle, Limerick

The Castle has a lot of interactive and informative, all-singing, all-dancing exhibits. It’s particularly strong on the 17th century – lots of battle and sieges, but there’s also a lot to be learnt about the history of Limerick. And you get to walk the Castle Ramparts (and see Thomand Park in the distance).

Adults, €11.70, Children – €9.50, Family – €40.50

Ulster-American Folk Park, Omagh, Co. Tyrone

Not so much a park as a village (or more than one). There are museum displays in the visitor centre where the shop and cafe also reside, but once outside you get to wander through an Ulster Village before boarding a ship and disembarking in America where you get to see the sort of houses lived in by many thousands of Irish who emigrated across the Atlantic. The costumed guides in some of houses are great – chatty and informative, without making it too interactive. It’s quite a positive spin on the emigrant experience (and refreshing for that).

Adult – £9, Children – £5.50, Family – £25

Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin

A place I return to time and time again….and not just for funerals. It’s even better now that it’s linked with the glorious Botanic Gardens. You can walk around the cemetery and gardens for free or pay for entry to the museum and a tour. There are all sorts of tours available, and if you’re feeling energetic you can even climb up the round tower that marks Daniel O’Connell’s final resting place and survey the north side of Dublin City. The cemetery contains the bodies of most of those you’ll have read about in history books from O’Connell to Parnell to Markievicz, Collins and de Valera, but it’s often the lesser known stories that are most engaging – make sure you learn about the business of grave robbing!

Ticket prices vary depending on the tour. General ticket prices are: Adults, €13, Children — €10.20, Family – €36

Titanic, Belfast 

This is not a cheap day out, but it is really well done. I’m always amazed at the interest in the Titanic. It seems odd to commemorate a great failure – surely the shipbuilders of Belfast would rather commemorate some of their great successes, but it seems there’s no money in that! But if you’ve any interest at all in the Titanic this is the place for you (the amount of information is quite overwhelming so factor in a long coffee break afterwards!)

Adult – £18.50, Children – £8, Family – £45

1798 Rebellion Heritage Centre, Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford

I hear rumours that this may be on the move from its current location so go now while you have the chance. There’s a lot of information at this site (and it feels like it’s written by a bunch of historians and as as one I can say that that’s not always a good thing!) But if you want to learn about the Rebellion this is the place to go. The recreation of the Battle of Vinegar Hill is worth the entrance price alone.

Adult – €7 Children – €3, Family – €20

St Anne’s Church, Shandon, Cork

I love this place, not only because it’s my favourite Cork landmark, but also because it hasn’t become one of those generic experiences full of interactive panels and mannequins. It’s a little rough around the edges and you’ll learn a bit about the Church, a bit about Cork and quite a lot about Campanology. But really, it’s about the climb and the bells and the view. You can ring the bells (how the good folk of Shandon put up with the incessant largely tuneless bell-ringing amazes me). If you’re claustrophobic and don’t like heights it may not be the place for you, but for everyone else it’s great. One piece of advice – go when it’s likely to be quiet as passing people on the narrow stairs isn’t fun. And make sure you find the wooden ladder that brings you out onto the balcony (no one told me it existed on my first trip!)

Adults – €5 Children – €2.50, Family – €12 (cash only)

View from the top!

King of the Vikings, Waterford

This one you’ll have to save for St Patrick’s Day or later as it’s closed until mid-March. Experience Viking Waterford in Virtual Reality. I found it fascinating, but I don’t play computer games and know little about VR so I’d be very interested in what those more au fait with computer graphics and games think of it. I’m taking my team of young museum visitors on my next trip and will report back!

No prices on the website

Fort Dunree, Inishowen Peninsula, Co. Donegal

This isn’t the best military museum you’ve every seen, but it is the most glorious location. The fort is an amazing feat of engineering and I love the dilapidated former military huts and buildings that are scattered around the site. And it has one of the most beautifully located coffee shops you’ll find anywhere in the country.

Adults, €7, Children – €5,  Family – €15

 

 

 

 

Wallpaper: How everyday objects can make a statement

Bodies of Colour is an exhibition at the Whitworth Gallery in Manchester until the end of April. Using the gallery’s collection it reflects on how imperial attitudes were often reflected in wallpaper.

Upcoming Talks

 

Between the end of January and the end of March I get to talk about Maps, Markets, Museums & Convents.

A Top Ten of Irish Sites to Visit

‘A Rag-Bag of Pointless Information’? – The Value of Teaching History

The Irish Association of Professional Historians  held a workshop in Mary Immaculate College in Limerick earlier this month.

The workshop discussed the teaching of History at primary, secondary, and third level, as well as outside the formal education system. Over the course of the day I heard a series of really engaging and thought-provoking papers which examined policy and curriculum developments over the history of the state and also looked at ways in which public history, material culture, and the digital space can inform History teaching today. The programme for the day is available here

I gave the keynote lecture at the workshop. My paper was prompted by the recent removal of history as a core subject for the new Junior Cycle, but also examined the importance of both teaching and learning history more broadly. I also considered how museums and heritage sites engage with teaching history in both formal and informal settings.

Given the fact that Minister Joe McHugh has decided to review the decision to remove history as a core subject for the Junior Cycle it seemed like a good idea to make my lecture publicly available for anyone who might be interested in reading why I (and many others) feel very strongly that history must be reinstated as a core subject.

You will find a PDF version of the lecture (along with some of the slides I used) by clicking on this link: ‘A Rag-Bag of Pointless Information?: The Value of Teaching History