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Revitalizing the ‘old-fashioned’ museum into an engaging
creative space
Cemara Dinda
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta | Wed, June 8 2016 | 09:43 am
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A thousand faces: A collection of wayang and masks is seen in the Basoeki Abdullah
Museum in South Jakarta. (Courtesy of Basoeki Abdullah Museum)
Despite offering low entrance fees, many museums in the country struggle with low
visitor numbers. A recent seminar shed light on how to make museums more appealing
to the public.
The Museum, Art, and Education seminar held at Basoeki Abdullah Museum in West
Cilandak, South Jakarta, induced a creative dialogue on a museum’s true potential in
becoming a collective cultural space.
It posed the simple question of whether a museum was merely a place to exhibit historical
items or if it had the power to serve a greater purpose.
Ali Akbar, a lecturer with the School of Cultural Sciences at the University Of Indonesia
(UI) believes that a museum should follow a progressing world of art and education
without eliminating the basic idea of displaying important items of learning.
However, the fact is that a museum is prone to losing visitors for being too simplistic and
old-fashioned. As a result, a trip to the museum is only a one-time occurrence for many.
“If asked, ‘why don’t you want to go anymore?’ One would say, ‘well, I already know
what’s in there’. This is because there is hardly anything new,” he said.