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Lecture ICOM

Re-inventing the museum

How a catastrophe created new opportunities

The bridge in museum TwentseWelle (flickr.com)

© November 2010 Kees van der Meiden / Frans Bevers (TwentseWelle / Opera Amsterdam)

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1. Unbearable lightness of being

13.5.2000: the big explosion (flickr.com)

It is a common phenomenon: disasters are the beginning of improvements. New ideas come

up, the brain is shocked and makes new internal connections. People start thinking out of the

box and miracles can come true.

Why does it work like that?

It is, quoting Milan Kundera, the unbearable lightness of being…

On 13th

May 2000, a fire work factory exploded in Enschede, a city of 156.000 inhabitants in

the east of the Netherlands. A neighborhood was swept away, many people were injured

and 23 people died.

This gigantic shock awoke city management and created a tremendous amount of new

energy and possibilities. In the wake of the disaster the neighborhood was reconstructed

including a new museum and music theatre, built with a budget of 750.000.000 euro.

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2. New Neighborhood

Roombeek, Enschede (flickr.com)

After ten years a new neighborhood has been realized at the site of the disaster, one with a

soul. Made possible because the old and the new inhabitants came together to help choose

an architect, actually they worked to realize their own houses, their homes. In 2008 the

project won a prestigious award for architecture management: The Golden Pyramid. An

important part of this new neighborhood was an old factory rebuilt to house the museum

TwentseWelle.

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3. Merging processes

Finally the investment in art and culture helped to quicken the process of merging the 3

institutions (two small museums and a small regional office for culture) into one new

museum.

There are always two sides of the same coin. As you are probably aware the merging

processes generally fails because of different viewpoints, different cultures and so on.

Often the easiest solution is to recruit all new staff and say goodbye to the greater part of

the old workers. But this is only the easiest and not the most humane solution.

Since 1989 there were plans for merging the two small city museums into one museum. This

was a frustrating period for the museum workers, causing a loss of motivation and energy.

But a lack of continuity on the management level was also one of the biggest problems.

When the museum plans were finally about to be realized, the museum was still unable to

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develop a vision, because of a lack of leadership and clear management. This was

problematic for the building architect and the exhibition designer as well.

How did they deal with it? Frans Bevers, co-director of Opera Designers Amsterdam, who

designed the permanent presentation, explains in the insert on the following pages.

(to be continued on page 14)

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Managing the design

OPERA Amsterdam designed the new permanent exhibition for TwentseWelle. The project had its

start under the name Environ. In this lecture I would like to discuss how we structured the design

process during project.

A designer can have many roles in the realisation of a museum or exhibition often concurrently.

1. The role of facilitator

At The Victoria & Albert Museum in London, OPERA designed for the Ceramic Study Centre

visible storage cases and a study centre. The showcases are designed to accommodate 28.000

ceramic pieces. The centre showcase has a dual function, one of display and also as a

workspace for curators.

For this project OPERA was not involved in the selection of objects or curating the installation.

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2. As Stage Designer.

The design of a museum exhibition more often than not there is a story to be told.This was the

situation in the permanent exhibition at Hampton Court Palace about Young Henry VIII. OPERA

tried to create the right balance between story, atmosphere and the role of the objects within

the exhibition.

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3. Designer as Intermediary.

The role of intermediary is a less visible function in the process. For the National Museum of

Ethnology in Leiden, an important part of our work was facilitating discussions through

visulatisations. The visualizations helped to achieve a common understanding for better for

defining ambitions, possibilities, and consequences - all key for a successful project.

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3. wentseWelle

TwentseWelle is a case study where a mix of all three roles can be found.The site where the

museum stands today was transformed from a desolate, derelict quarter into a beautiful

configuration of buildings following a disaster. This new urban quarter incorporates the

museum into a wider plan containing studios, housing, and workshops.

The task for OPERA as designers of TwensteWelle was to bring three individual museums

together in one coherent plan.

The variety of objects from the three collections is remarkable, as are the stories behind them.

Each museum had its own vision on how to present their particular collections, but a unified

vision and way forward was still without form.

Over the life of the project the design team worked under three different directors. The lack of

continuity made it difficult to create a coherent strategy or idea. The project was ultimately

realized under the direction of Kees van de Meiden, who joined the team in a later stadium.

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To start the design process OPERA was given a drawing made by one of the curators. The

drawing connected the three collections in a layout that had little to with the actual floor plan

of the new museum. The drawing was impressive in its own right, but not of tremendous help

in finding a way forward.

Our advise to the museum team was to re-write the story of the three museums by forming a

new team that consisted of a writer, three curators, and the designers. We were convinced

that creating the story and exploring the potential and quality of the space simultaneously

would deliver a cohesive concept.

It was determined that the main thread through the exhibition should be the interaction

between nature and culture, a universal subject. Such broad subjects can often better be told

by taking specific examples and situations, which are then connected to more general topics.

We felt the best way to present the content was by dividing it into four different presentation

methods.

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The first step was to develop a textual scheme wherein we could combine the content,

storyline and objects into a schematic that delineates the different layers of interpretation

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The permanent exhibition space in the museum has a strictly linear routing, which is defined

by the architecture.In translating the textual scheme to a working situation we saw two

movements; one horizontal (running the length of the building), and the other vertical

(running the width of the building).

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The horizontal movement displays the chronological order of all objects from the collections.

Each collection is treated equally and where only chronology rules.

The vertical movement creates an interpretative layer.

In this way on one side you have the object, next to that the context (people explaining the

objects, the history, the folklore, and the industry), a layer of installations that visualize the

crucial elements from a specific period. And last a series of interactive or audiovisual

installations that addresses such abstract issues as 'time', 'temperature', ‘energy' and ‘religion',

etc. All explained in a playful way on a level everyone can understand.

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4. Summarizing the layers.

1:

Visible storage: A 120 metre long case or open depot where objects from all three museums

are displayed in a chronological order. This can be seen as the backbone of the exhibition.

2: Contextual layer: People, scientists, farmers, workers, etc. tell about the objects on display

from a particular time period.

3. Thematic installations: Installations that evoke the different time periods. These are based

on different media, techniques (3D computer movie, reconstructions, models, collection

pieces)

4: ‘Diorama's': (an old fashioned word, but in this case a series of installations using a large

variety of media) these are used to explain more abstract terms in a surprising and playful way,

on a level that everyone can understand.

© Frans Bevers (founder and together with Lies Willers, director of OPERA Amsterdam)

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(continued from page 5)

4. Brand

Museum TwentseWelle((Theo Betten)

I joined the museum in July 2007, about 10 months before the opening. I stepped into a

moving train, so to say. When the museum was opened in April 2008, there was still a lot of

skepticism among our stakeholders. They associated the new museum with the image they

had from the small, introvert former institutions: old fashioned, no ambition, unable to fulfill

the ambition of the city to attract visitors - you can probably imagine other concerns as well.

What was wrong? In the first place the museum workers complained openly and lacked

energy after the long period since 1989, during which there were numerous go- and no-go-

moments. This was very understandable and would have overcome almost anyone in the

same situation. I have a lot of respect for my colleagues who have had an abundance of

patience and who have supported me in my role as general director.

The second reason was the absence of clear ambitions and that no one could explain the

mission of TwentseWelle. A museum? A centre for heritage? The lack of a vision resulted in

a misty identity and no strong branding for the museum during construction.

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So the first step was to change the vague image of “the museum under construction”.

Immediately I threw out the old logo. It vaguely resembled a swimming pool or worse. I

cajoled my colleagues to see their museum as an enterprise so they would stop airing their

frustrations. It was the beginning of a new period full of enthusiasm, ambition and vision.

This change in behavior turned the negative image and expectations people had into

enthusiasm in one-year time. It is always important to know who the players are in your

network and get connected with the expectations of the public and politics. So that’s what

we did. First we described our ambitions and integrated them in our work and controlling

system. Our ambitions were turned into a tool for financial control, management and

leadership. I will list them briefly, for more details check my linkedin page: the power point

document 6ambitions.ppsx

a. You have to make your own brand

b. You should be a source of inspiration and information for students and researchers

c. Be an ingredient of other programs and curriculums!

d. The museum should be an everyday attention drawing phenomenon

e. Don’t complain, be an enterprise!

f. Go outside and look for new unexpected partners to make programs with: be an

innovator

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5. Identity

Museum TwentseWelle, (flickr.com)

The museum gave the impression of an introverted regional museum. We changed this

character into to a museum of the human adventure.

To connect with the public in our own environment, we introduced the idea of the

interactive collection and used social media to reach this goal. This is a project still in

development. Everybody, even the secretary got a web 2.0 course to develop web 3.0-

thinking.

Recently we outlined our identity and use it for internal communication and managing and

external cooperation.

It is based on 6 questions.

1.What do we believe in?

2.How do we look at our professional environment?

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3.What do we want people to realize?

4.What is our unique quality?

5.What are our values?

6. When have we realized our promises?

(See my linkedin page for our identity text)

We organized this from the bottom up, so everybody speaks the same language. It really is a

tool reaching our ambitions, but for self-management as well. All the museum workers are

asked to translate the identity into their own work. This is not easy. To the contrary: it is very

difficult, but very necessary. It is the legitimization of your museum!

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6. Enterprise

Sinfonietta Aurora (???)

In our opinion the museum consists of two enterprises: a cultural and a social one.

The cultural enterprise is the commercial part of the museum: generating income by visitors,

having clients that want to use the museum for inspiring their own company and network,

selling concepts to others, selling the museum expertise to schools and universities and

making deals with commercial partners in a so called “1+1=3 setting”.

As a social enterprise the museum is a tool for social policy. TwentseWelle wants to be part

of integration programs, curriculum for education, and so on. We see that this approach is

beginning to be a success.

Finally, I tell my colleagues and myself they have to enterprise within the borders of our

museum policy. They are encouraged to take initiatives in their network. That’s why I have

let go of the traditional hierarchy. This makes room for individual initiatives from the bottom

to the top of the organization.

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7. Reinventing the museum.

In a way you could say that we have reinvented the museum TwentseWelle. I am convinced

that the approach can help others in the same situation. I would like to offer a fewer pointers

that might be a help.

-We presented the story in the permanent presentation as a universal story and not an

introspective regional one. That is why we call our museum a museum about the human

adventure: We give an image of creativity to man through the ages.

-We stimulated the museum workers to look beyond the borders of the Twente region

without letting go “the couleur locale”.

-We wanted to be unexpected. And that’s what happened. We are continuously told that

people don’t expect a museum like TwentseWelle in a province town like Enschede.

-We introduced the social media possibilities, which gives us the opportunity to flee the

museum building and “bring your museum somewhere else’ in real or digital space.

-We are developing our museum workers as networkers instead of specialists. You can hire

their expertise.

-The way we collect our pieces will be done differently. Not only looking to the past, but to

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the future as well. The first step is realized. Beginning this year fashions will be designed and

produced based on our textile collection. The prototypes will be acquired for the collection

and presented in the permanent exhibition. The product is also available in regional shops in

a special limited edition. This year talented fashion students made the design. We want to

continue with all kinds of products, which have a relation to everyday life.

Summarized:

We introduced a brand and an identity and use it in-and outside. That makes it possible to

connect our identity and our ambitions to everything we do: the financial control, running

museum projects, maintaining the building, personnel performance, and etcetera. We did

this with one goal in mind: That everybody knows exactly what he or she is doing: how

many times he or she invests, in which ambition and in which project, and what his or her

performance should be to make the museum a strong enterprise and a big success.

© Kees van der Meiden. November 2010