This week had Cecile Gravesen come into to speak to us about her work in the exhibition Crafting Narratives. This talk was in relation to our V&A project. Gravesen’s work challenges ideas on museum conservation as her piece allows audiences to handle archeological finds held by the Crafts Council. Gravesen mentions that the museum can in a sense arrest the narrative of an object, once put into a museum the objects story seems to come to an end. She asks the question how many different imbued meanings exist within an object?
I thoroughly enjoyed her talk with, and found it to be quite thought provoking, the way in which objects were being viewed as having a presence. I also thought that had I seen A Play for Handling at a museum I perhaps would not have understood, the work or engaged with it, the way in which I understand the work once the artist has explained their thinking. Which made me think how can viewers at museums really engage with work being displayed? How can museums encourage people to look at things with meaning?
rafiaamin 