“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
“If I am to speak for ten minutes, I need a week for preparation; if fifteen minutes, three days; if half an hour, two days; if an hour, I am ready now.” – Woodrow Wilson
Kolumba is probably the most beautiful and thoughtful museum experience in the world. At least, the world I have seen. The museum is built on top of, and integrated with, the remains of the former St. Columba church, in Cologne. The intensely minimalistic interior with concrete floors, walls and ceilings and an occasional wooden detail goes well with perhaps the most austere exhibition design imaginable. Everything, absolutely everything is in perfect balance, and nothing can be taken away. Sometimes it feels even the visitor is part of the design.
I just finished reading Resonateby Nancy Duarte. The book’s promise is bold. According to Dan Post in the introduction, when “applied with passion and purpose, the concepts in this book will accelerate your career trajectory or propel your social cause.” And the book delivers, thankfully.
Resonate is about composing engaging presentations that transform audiences. It provides hands-on advice and compelling case studies to change the 45-minute PowerPoint-dominated ordeals you repeatedly have to sit through into life-altering experiences.
Apart from the inevitable Jobs and Reagan examples, quite some of the case studies are about cultural icons, such as the 2008 TED talk by conductor Benjamin Zander. Watch it if you haven’t already, its message is becoming ever more relevant.
I love London. And, after the recent unsettling events, I would like to take a moment to focus on the city’s finer side: its cultural institutions and its arts. In times like these, I think, London deserves a pat on the back for being an encouraging and inspirational example.
London manages to show how culture can be relevant to (local) communities, socially engaged and at the same time straightforward about its monetary value. It does so in its landmark institutions like Tate and the National Theatre, and in its local initiatives that can be found virtually around every corner. And, by doing so, it provides a sneak preview of what the future of cultural institutions all over the world should be; institutions that connect and engage, within society, without going bankrupt.
One of my favourite places in London is the Camden Arts Centre. Just off the dirty Finchley Road its green garden and quiet café with free Wifi are a resort to parents with children, expat students and the like. The building is welcoming, the coffee is good, the shop well stocked. High quality exhibitions are combined with educational activities, regular evening events and family activities. Yet, that doesn’t make it any different from the many other arts centres all around London. What makes it great is that it is my arts centre. It’s local. Only ten minutes away on foot. And, it really is local. It feels like the local café or shop where I am known and welcome. (It is often the local café and shop.)
Hugh MacLeod of Gapingvoid wrote a book with a title that immediately put it at the top of my reading list: Evil Plans, having fun on the road to world domination. Maybe world domination is predominantly a manly hobby, but I guess it’s on everybody’s mind once every while. Mr. MacLeod’s book is for the (small) entrepreneur, but most of its lessons fit culture neatly. In fact, I believe we’re halfway there, if not closer. This post, thus, only repeats what we already know, and details some of the steps on the road to world domination we could take.
“It’s not what you make, its what you believe in” (p. 15)
As cultural institutions we’re competing for people’s time. It’s either a visit to a museum, or watching television, or a drink with friends. We’re not something extra; we’re something else. Culture (the stuff in our heads and habits, not the expositions and stuff) however, is always there, even when you’re watching television or having a drink with friends. You can add art to anything. Make stuff with a reason and believe in the greatness of what you do, and culture can be in the hearts of people, even long after they saw your flyer or exposition.
Tell a story that’s about your audience as much as it’s about you
Personalisation of expositions, making them meaningful to our visitors… Like in the Humanity House in The Hague, where you become part of the experience and they address you by name, so you feel it’s about you. This is an easy one; many of us are doing this already.
Last week I was invited by Museum Rotterdam to the festive launch of a magazine that concludes the first phase of the amazing outreach and participatory project the city as a muse. The event – in a circus tent in a rundown part of town – was in many ways un-museum-like and (therefore?) I enjoyed it a lot.
After a recent shift in direction, which included removing “Historical” from its name, Museum Rotterdam tries to be a museum for all people in the city. The city as a muse is a project that searches for inspirational developments and initiatives among the people of Rotterdam and tries to connect this with the museum. The first phase of the project aimed at a group of women (‘De Vrouwen van de Velden’) who’ve organised themselves to jointly cope with the drastic changes in their neighbourhood.
The women are mothers, of varied cultural backgrounds, poor and extremely creative. Once a week they have breakfast together to discuss and organize. The urban curator of Museum Rotterdam joined them for a couple of months and conducted interviews, photo sessions and other activities to discover as much as possible about the lives of the women. The final product of this intensive cooperation is not an exposition, but a magazine like the modern glossies.
The women in the magazine represent themselves, but also a growing group of people in Rotterdam (and cities all over the world). It’s a compelling story of Rotterdam AD 2011.
