**Readings: ** -Introduction ot the Special Issue: Discursive Space -Curatorship as Social Practice

Both of the articles pretty much talk about the fact that over time museums have changed to adapt to the needs and wants of the people rather than focus on the collections themselves. This then means that the role of a “curator” within a musuem is constantly redefined. Curators are now forced to not only think about the collections and objects themselves but also the people and their experiences in the museum. The articles then seem to sum up with the idea that the best thing to do is bridge this gap between museum goers and the collections themselves.

Before reading these papers, I did not even know what a curator was or yet alone what really goes on behind the scenes of a museum. I have been to museums before but never really a full in-depth knowledge of the artworks or pieces found there. However, for someone like me with no prior knowledge whatsoever it’s interetsing to see how much I can learn in a musuem about the different objects. But, I’ve found that bridging the gap is very important. In my opinion, I don’t think it would be completely right to have a museum focus on just the objects or to focus on just the people. The reason why I say this is because in focusing on one particular thing I feel would then limit how much information you would actually get across. For example, if the museum focused on simply an object, then what about someone unexperienced like me who walks into the museum and sees the object. Yes, there may be a description but what I want to know is how does the object relate to everything else in the museum? What kind of representation does it give for its time?

On the other hand, let’s say the museum focused on just the people and had to be cautious about what the objects themselves were saying. Well, then that would take away fromt the true value of the object. The object itself has a story which needs to be told hence one of the reasons why it’s been passed down and displayed. So I think it’s important to try and not distort the true story by worrying about the opinions of the people.

I think this kind of relates to the discussion last class where we talked about how embellishments on a chart can be overwhelming and actually redirect the users focus from the true point of the chart. Same goes with musuems. For me, it’s important to find that balance…that point where the user can be entertained and enjoy their experience but at the same time where it doesn’t take away from the real story that the collection is trying to portray.