Museum and Gallery experience report
When we initially had to decide where to do our work placement, the choice was obvious for me, I decided the first day when we had the introduction and Barbara showed the placement offer from the Ashmolean museum in Oxford as an example, that I wanted to go to the Ashmolean museum for my work placement. The placement as Junior technician seemed perfect for me because of many reasons:
- The project that the Ashmolean Museum is going trough is very similar to a project that might soon start in my hometown
- I like physical demanding jobs, where you have to use your body as well as your mind
- The Asmolean Museum has a well renown collection and reputation in the world
This was reflected in my goal for the placement:
- Get a work experience in a foreign country
- Get a good reference
- Have a good time
With out saying too much I can revile that, the placement turned out to be all of the above and more.
The Ashmolean Museum
The Ashmolean museum is one of the oldest public museums in the world; it has an impressive collection of objects – archaeological as well as Art objects. The museum is currently closed as it is undergoing a major refurbishment. The museum is expanding their exhibition space, office and storage facilities.
The project is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and by local contributors.
The project aims to give the Asmolean museum ‘a world-class building to match its world-class collections’ (museum website). The museum also experiments with new methods in displaying and interpretation of their collection. So what is a Junior technicians place in all of this?
The Placement
On the First day of “work” a person from the staff of the Ashmolean museum gave us a small tour, so that we could see the situation with our own eyes. The situation was that the museum was still very much a building site, with workers, builders, curatorial staff ect. Working along side each other.
We also got a small introduction to what we were supposed to do the next two months.
Second day we had a handling session with the museums conservators and some of the collections keepers. We where thought how to handle objects according to the standards of the Ashmolean Museum. After these introductory days the real work begun.
Working as a Junior technician
Because of the building situation, it often seemed difficult for the staff to find anything for all of us (we were eight interns) to do at as installation technicians, but luckily there were lots of things to be done elsewhere in the museum. So instead of doing one placement I think of my placement as many placements and experiences in one, as I did:
· Installation,
· Packing
· Documentation
· Moving, arranging new storages
· Filled out loan forms for a new temporary exhibition
· Worked in the development office
· General office work
· Health and safety
· Exhibition design – for example Looking at display layouts to decide which objects need a mount.
Installation
Working with the installation team was probably the part of my placement I enjoyed the most, even though it involved a lot of standing around and observing the staff, I think I learned a lot.
First of all I learned that installing and building a new museum at the same time involves a lot of cleaning, preparation and coordination. The building has to be done, the casings have to be finished and made correct, the objects have to be retrieved and mounts have to be made. All of the things mentioned have to be in place for the installation team to actually install some objects. The reality is that they seldom are, sometimes there is a mount missing or the case is missing a door ect. But that’s just how it is when you are undergoing a major development as the Ashmolean. Another thing we learned was that’ installation teams are basically "Curators whores" as they move from curator to curator to install their objects’ (comment from a member of the team). Which is basically true, I have decided that I very much like the term! the fact that you don’t get to decide where the objects goes is probably is the only downside with being an installation technician, you just have to do as you told. But with that in mind you do have your say in some matters; for example do many keepers (curators) ask for you opinion about the layout.
Installing is great, you have to think logic and sometimes figure out solutions to installation problems. You get to use power tools and handle amazing objects – like Picassos, roman glass and Bronze Age axes.
Packing, Handling and Moving
The team of interns helped with the packing and moving of many objects including coins and ceramics, it was a nice experience to use the things we have learned in Leicester in a real working experience.
Documentation
Documentation is a major part of installing objects as it is important to keep track of object in a moving situation. It was not always the funniest task, but often the most important.
Working at the office
Working off the main site helping out the different departments was a mixed experience, off cause not all tasks are equally exciting and challenging, but I enjoyed feeling useful. And some off the jobs I really enjoyed:
· Health and Safety gave us an assignment to rewrite and make their emergency response plans, so that they would become more accessible to the staff and public.
· Looking at display layouts to determinant if objects need mounts, turned out to be an interesting task as well as a good learning opportunity
Outcome of my placement
There are many positive outcomes from my placement at the Ashmolean museum; first of all I became absolutely sure that I want to pursue a museum career. I discovered that all though I very much enjoy almost all aspects of museum jobs, I need to have a job were I can be a bit physical active. That’s why the job as installation technician fitted me perfectly.
In my future career I’m hopefully going to work with exhibition design or digital media (or even both), helping to make collections more accessible.
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