What I learned from applying Tina Seelig's Observation Lab to three museums

1. +
Paying Attention @ Museums
Rainey Tisdale, Crash Course in Creativity
Assignment 2
I’m a museum curator, so I adapted
this assignment and observed
museums, not stores. Here’s what I
learned:

2. +
Nelson Museum of Art and History
• This is a great building in a
great location but it looks so
closed from the outside--it’s
hard to tell what’s in there.
• Once you walk in, the gift
shop dominates your view.
Instead, there should be big,
interesting objects in the
foyer to convey “museum.”

3. +
Nelson Museum of Art and History
The art is on the first floor, in two
temporary exhibition galleries. The
history is on the second floor, in a
permanent exhibition. The art and
history need to be integrated to give
people a reason to see both.

4. +
University of British Columbia
Museum of Anthropology
This museum has a stunning,
world-class collection, with a
series of enormous totem
poles you can see as you
walk in. The collection sells
itself.

5. +
University of British Columbia
Museum of Anthropology
This museum has
absolutely no street
presence—it relies on
the reputation of its
collection to draw
people in. A large,
interesting piece of
public art would really
make a statement on
the street.

6. +
Museum of Vancouver
This museum is tucked
away in a public park,
off the main
thoroughfare. People
have to want to go
there. Although once
you make your way
into the park, the
building is so weird that
you want to investigate
it.

7. +
Museum of Vancouver
Like the Nelson Museum, MOV
needs big, interesting objects
in the atrium. It has the room
for them.
This is a museum in transition. There are
some really great spaces, with interesting
exhibitions, and then there are dead
spaces like this hallway, that look a little
forgotten. The museum needs to find
cheap, creative ways to add visual
interest in the dead areas—murals or
blown up photographs.

8. +
In General:
• Museum lighting is bad—the ceiling is covered in
infrastructure, and the lights blind you if you look
up—it’s like peeking behind the curtain of the
exhibition. This is an area begging for innovation.
• Maybe these museums should consider playing
interesting music in the atrium that contributes to
the tone of the museum?
• These museums were filled with women—both
staff and visitors.
• Although it’s practical, institutional carpeting is not
much fun.