Technology in the Mindful Museum
Technology in the Arts Conference
University of Waterloo
May 10, 2008

Technology in the Mindful Museum
Tony Hushion Brian Porter
tonyh@rom.on.ca brianp@rom.on.ca

Overview
• The new ROM and its five pillars of identity
• New media and IT development at the ROM
• Museum models and the “Mindful Museum” defined
• Examples of digital media applications
• Technology planning for future galleries
• Lessons learned and opportunities for smaller museums
• Temple, Agora or Coliseum? What is the new ROM?

The New ROM
• A first rank museum of world cultures and natural history
• A powerful agent of public education and research
• A pleasurable agent of social integration in Ontario
• A potent agent of urban renewal in Toronto
• A significant generator of economic activity in Ontario
• A fiscally sound and robust institution
• A leading example of functional governance and workplace
culture

Five Pillars of Identity
ROM is a….
• Civic Destination
• Museum Destination
• Knowledge Destination
• Social Destination
• Virtual Destination

The New ROM
Metrics of success:
• Attendance more than 100 % ahead of last year
• Admissions revenue more than 100 % in same period
• Web site traffic running 30 % ahead of last year
• March Break one of the most successful on record

The New ROM
June 2007
Garfield Weston Exhibition Hall (“Blockbuster” space)
Roloff Beny Gallery (ICC)
October 2007
Sigmund Samuel Gallery of Canada
December 2007
Gallery of the Age of Mammals
James and Louise Temerty Galleries of the Age of
Dinosaurs

The New ROM
February 2008
Sir Christopher Ondaatje South Asian Gallery
Wirth Gallery of the Middle East
April 2008
Patricia Harris Gallery of Textiles & Costume
Ajmera Gallery of Africa, the Americas and Asia-Pacific
December 2008
Teck Cominco Suite of Earth Sciences Galleries
January 2009
Schad Gallery of Biodiversity: Life in Crisis

Feature Exhibitions 2008
China Month (May) at the ROM
• Shanghai historical photographs: Until Oct. 26
• ICC Shanghai Kaleidoscope: Until Nov. 2
Ongoing
• Darwin: Until Aug 4
• Out From Under (Disability): Until July 13

Feature Exhibitions 2008
Opening soon
• Wedgwood: June 7 – July 2009
• Caribana Art Exhibition: July 24 – Aug. 4
• Sobey National Art Award: Aug 30 – Oct 13
• Diamonds: Oct 25 – March 22, 2009
• Ancient Ukraine: Nov 29 – March 22, 2009

Future Exhibitions 2009-2011
• Chinese paintings – January 2009
• Ydessa Hendeles (ICC) – Winter 2009
• Dead Sea Scrolls – 2009
• Terra Cotta Soldiers – 2010 (tentative)
• Season of India – 2010
• Water – 2011
• Season of Africa – 2011

Shanghai Kaleidoscope
“In the two-screen video installation Let’s
Puff (2002), Yang Zhenzhong fashions a wry
visual metaphor for the winds of change that
have swept through China’s cities during the
past decade.”
- Christopher Phillips, Guest Curator
Institute for Contemporary Culture
SK Catalogue, ROM, May 2008

Shanghai Kaleidoscope
“…(a) hyperactive journey through the
non-stop energy of the Next Culture.”
- Gary Michael Dault
Globe & Mail
May 3, 2008

Let’s Puff

Let’s Puff

Shanghai 1860-1949

China Exhibitions
• timely metaphor for this conference
• Shanghai – one of the world’s most frenetic
and fascinating cities – symbolizes new China
• both exhibitions dependent on technology
• SK a combination of various media that
perfectly captures the duality of new and old
which is the city of Shanghai
• historical photographs, many digitized, link
the city’s past with its present
• Travel writer Jan Morris: “raffish excess”

New Media Resources
•Information Technology Services
Web/database/network/systems
•Media Productions
Video/television/multimedia & exhibition/gallery AV
•Publications
Co-publishing/academic/catalogues
•Digital Imaging Centre
Photography/scanning/copying/image licensing
3D imaging unit
•Information Centre
Rights and Reproductions co-ordinator
Digital Media Assets co-ordinator

Ivey Imaging
Centre
Photography
Studio

Digital Sound
Studio
Sound Booth

Web Designer
Programmer
Video editing suites

New ROM Landing Page
• ROM web site is largely a marketing site
• Transactional, not attraction or engagement
• Facilitates ticket purchases, signups, bookings

New ROM Home Page

ROM Page on Facebook

The Museum as the new Agora
“Our societies have become segmented and
particularized in a world of increasing mobility
and technological change…in this context,
we need new shared space – places of
encounter – a new Commons – a new Agora.
Museums are capable of contributing to this
because…they can engage diverse interests
on their own terms.”
- William Thorsell, ROM Director and CEO
Address to the Empire Club
Toronto, May 3, 2007

Museum Models
1. Mausoleum – traditional view as a repository.
– also “temple” model where objects are sacred
2. Machine – productive, place where you
learned how to be modern – transformation
3. Metaphor – for our larger life – arena of
socialbility, ie. the Agora
4. Mall – drained and devoted to pleasure –an
attraction

The Mindful Museum
“The ‘mindful museum’….. should first of all be
mindful in being primarily about the objects it
contains...
- Adam Gopnik, Writer & Social Commentator
Eva Holtby Lecture on Contemporary Culture
Institute for Contemporary Culture, ROM, Oct. 13, 2006

Adam Gopnik

The New ROM
Charles Pachter’s Canada
Projection in Chen Crystal Court
Digital Art Installation
Oct 2007-Feb 2008

Charles Pachter

Digital Signage

Traditional Recognition

Digital Donor Wall

Digital Donor Wall

Digital Donor Wall

Education – Digital Gallery

Education – Digital Gallery

The New ROM
James and Louise Temerty Galleries
of the Age of Dinosaurs
Gallery of the Age of Mammals

The New ROM
Sir Christopher Ondaatje
South Asian Gallery

The New ROM
Daphne Cockwell Gallery of Canada:
First Peoples

First Peoples – Paul Kane

First Peoples Theatre

The New ROM
Patricia Harris
Gallery of Textiles & Costume

The New ROM
Teck Cominco Suite of Earth
Sciences Galleries
Opening December 2008

TC Earth Science Galleries
• 6,900 sq-ft gallery
• showcases more than 2,300 minerals and
meteorites – 25 glass cases – 52 flat screens
• e-labelling – current RFP for delivery solution
• Canadian Mining Hall of Fame Gallery –
interactive video wall showcasing biographies
and personal stories of inductees
• development of Earth Sciences module for
Digital Gallery

“Mock-up Wall”

Specimen Digitization

The New ROM
Schad Gallery of Biodiversity:
Life in Crisis
Opening January 2009

Schad Gallery of Biodiversity

Schad Gallery of Biodiversity
• 10,000 sq-ft gallery – 1,000 + specimens
• three major themes: Life is … Diverse …
Interrelated… In Crisis
• live and recorded video and multi-media displays
to focus on global eco-systems such as coral reef,
rainforest and the tundra
• animal-borne imaging examples
• Earth Rangers studio – state-of-the-art space for
digital and live programming on latest scientific
research and relevant issues
• presents social networking web opportunity

The New ROM
Iconic Objects

Iconic Objects
• new marketing campaign to highlight “must-
see” star pieces in the collection
• always ‘in-market’ approach
• interpretive plan calls for production and
installation of short video sequences
highlighting importance/significance of pieces
• delivery through flat screens at each location
• respectful of Gopnik’s ‘mindful museum’…..
mindful in being mostly about its objects.

Maitreya Paradise Wall painting

Figure of nude blue female

Sekmet

Earl of Pembroke Armour

Ming Tomb

Barosaurus

Death of General Wolfe

Lessons Learned
• enhanced accessibility – audio tours
• evening and weekend IT support
• remote monitoring & updating
• hire for specific skill sets
• donor intervention – how much?
• avoid technology for the sake of technology
• allow time for R & D
• test, test, test …

What Can Small Museums Do?
• seek curatorial support (test the waters)
• talk to visitors (measure the “groundswell”)
• do a POST assessment:
• People (visitors – enhancing their experience)
• Objectives (goals?)
• Strategy (providing context, more engagement?)
• Technology (solution)
• involve prospective donors
• develop digital assets – collection images
• consult other cultural organizations
• think big but start small – baby steps

Temple, Agora or Coliseum?
• where is the ROM in this trio?
• new book Bold Visions on the ROM’s architecture:
novelty of crystal suggests “bread and circus” aura
but it is not a site for passive entertainment
artifacts are generally not given a theatre setting
• technology plays a role in providing context and
interpretation but is not pervasive – it is a facilitator

Last Word
“What looks like an attraction a.k.a coliseum,
on the exterior, is a temple inside. The ROM
(remains) a place for the enjoyable
contemplation of artifacts and specimens.
- Kelvin Brown, author of Bold Visions
The Architecture of the Royal Ontario Museum
ROM, December 2007