The Collection promotes Art and Archaeology in Lincolnshire. It is run by Lincolnshire County Council and this purpose built building opened in 2005, alongside the already well- established Usher Gallery which opened in 1927. By the time the new building was finished The Collection had over 2 million objects already collected and is ever increasing. It has become even more popular over the past few years with its visitor numbers increasing by over 50,000 in total.
Visiting The Collection as a member of the public enabled us to examine and discover the space, The main exhibition focuses on the history and archaeological artifacts found in Lincolnshire. It is a very interactive and modern museum that invites people to explore the space with its angular and irregular architecture. Whilst exploring The Collection for the first time, I did not think of myself as a member of the public visiting the museum but as a ‘professional stranger’ to the space. Govan states that “the stranger’s perspective may result in the space itself appearing strange to the spectators as the visiting artist offers up new understandings of the location and practices within the site” (2007, p 122).
There are many differences between The Collection and The Usher Gallery, comparing their architecture, style, shape and most importantly, I think, their atmosphere. The Collection itself is wide and open with plenty of space to walk around, unlike the Usher Gallery which is much smaller in size and enclosed. Although The Collection is much newer in terms of establishment the two styles of the buildings is very different. The Usher Gallery maintains the notion that art galleries are associated with the upper class with its traditional, formal style where as The Collection Museum is much more modern in terms of its architecture and its interactive technology. The atmosphere in the Usher seemed to be more intimidating as it was so quiet and formal unlike The Collection which was noisy due to the café, children’s play area and sound wall.
Eventually we took our research to the café in the museum. Thinking about the observations made from the museum and gallery, we realised how the café was positioned in relation to the main part of the museum, off to the side, not only because people by pass it on the way into The Collection but also the architecture has purposefully separated the café from the rest of the Museum.
So why is our chosen site a museum? At first look a museum already has a lot of things to observe and inform us, how can we use this museum for a performance? What do a museum and performance have in common with each other?
“Performance and archaeology are social practices, or modes of cultural production, and social practice has performative and archaeological dimensions”
“The special practice that is performance operates in a liminal space or heterotopia. Archaeology too is at the edge and in the gaps, working on discard and decay, entrophy and loss. Its topic of the material and ineffable immediacy of the past has given it a special place in constructions of personal and cultural identity”
“It is in these liminal spaces and with these heterogeneous elements that both archaeology and performance work and negotiate identities, of people and things” (Pearson and Shanks, 2001, p53-54).
Works Cited:
Lincolnshire County Council, 2013, The Collection. [online] Available at: http://www.thecollectionmuseum.com/ [Accessed on 28th March 2013]
The Collection, 2012. The Collection Profile Provision Performance 2012-13. Lincoln: The Collection.
Govan, Emma, Helen Nicholson and Katie Normington (2007) Making a Performance: Devising Histories and Contemporary Practices, London: Routledge.
Pearson, Mike and Michael Shanks (2001) Theatre/Archaeology, London: Routledge.