HANDS-ON NEWSLETTER
Issue 23
April 2008
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Hands On! Europe News
I. News from the president II. News from the conference and submission deadlines III Hands on! Europe information call p. 2 p. 2 p. 2
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News from around the World
Belgium: The big shiver Experience Belgium: Neducational game on art Germany: GLASS MUSEUM WERTHEIM„How to understand and deal with energy“ Italy:EXPLORA the Children’s Museum of Rome ACTIVITIES - SPRING 2008 Italy: No Hands Off! - Children in touch with Bruno Munari Italy: Effects and Affects – Conference in Stockholm Portugal: LISBON ZOO JOINS HANDS-ON! EUROPE! NATIONAL COMMITTEE Portugal: From Portugal with love! p. 3 p.3 p.3 p.4 p.4 p.4 p.4 p.5
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Market Place
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FROM PORTUGAL: 3 TRAVELLING EXHIBITS:
Article
Community Clubs for Cultural Education Dr. Vladimir Boyko p.6
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Hands On! Europe News
I News from the President
One of the conditions of our ICOM status is that 50% of our members must also belong to ICOM. I would therefore like to encourage you, if you are not currently an ICOM member, to visit the website( www.icom.museum) and see for yourself the many advantages of belonging, one of which is free access to museums worldwide. If your institution does not have a membership, individual memberships are available for a very reasonable annual fee. Contact your ICOM National Committee for further information. Another issue which we will be raising with all of you at some point in the future is with regard to our name – as an international ICOM affiliated association with membership spanning the globe we must give consideration to how we make it clear that our reach is well beyond Europe. Our second board meeting of 2008 is being held late in May in Istanbul where we will meet with some key museum representatives involved in children’s provision. A report of the discussions at this meeting and requests for your input on various decisions will be communicated through the next newsletter. Yours sincerely Leigh-Anne Stradeski
Dear Members The Board has been very busy since the conference in Berlin, beginning to plan for the 2009 conference and also discussing our strategic plan for the next few years. As you all know, HO!E celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2008 with the official date of its establishment in Portugal being the 26th March 1998. While some of you may have celebrated this anniversary already, please take this opportunity to celebrate hands-on learning for children at each of your venues anytime throughout the year. Please let us know if you are planning something special to mark the occasion so that we can make a report in our newsletter. Early in January, I received the very exciting news that Hands-On! Europe was successful in its application to become an Affiliated Organisation of ICOM. We have been trying for several years to achieve this status as it provides Children’s Museums with a higher level of credibility within the museums sector and strategically with potential funders. As an Affiliated Organisation, we also have a vote and a voice which enables us to continuously emphasise the importance of children’s museums and provision for children amongst our colleagues.
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II News deadlines
Dear Members,
from
the
conference
and
submission
we are pleased to tell you that the conference proceedings are finally on line.Download it from : hands-on-europe.net/conference2007 You will find all the lectures and news from last conference! We remind you as usual that: during the year members will receive at least three HOE newsletters: Spring Issue, Autumn Issue and Winter Issue. Submission deadlines for ______________________________________________________________________________
articles and information are: 15th April, 15th September and 15th December. If you have proposals and ideas please contact me: newsletter@hands-oneurope.net We are looking forward to continue our discussion in Paris 2009… Best Regards, Petra Zwaka and Elisa Rota Hands On! Europe Board and Staff.
III HandsOn! Europe information call
Dear Members, we please ask you to send us information about your ICOM membership. Are you a ICOM member? Please send me a mail and inform me if you are a ICOM member or not. Deadline: 15 may 2008; contact:newsletter@hands-on-europe.net Thanks for collaboration. Elisa Rota
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News from around the World
other side of darnkness there's always light, he just have to put it on if he wakes up in the middle of the night per ex. On the hand he stitched one of his preferred objects (a litlle game), giving him more (selfconfidence). Seven 'doudous' are now showed in the exhibition "THUIS" (HOME) of Villa Zebra , http://www.villazebra.nl/infosite Joëlle Carpentier for Mrs Kathleen Lippens Musée des Enfants / Kindermuseum Rue du Bourgmestre 15 Burgemeesterstraat Ixelles 1050 Elsene TEL +32 (0)2 640 01 07 FAX +32(0)2 646 80 07 childrenmuseum.brussels@skynet.be www.museedesenfants.be www.kindermuseum.be
Belgium: The big shiver Experience It began with a stage for children from 7 to 12 years old in the Brussels Childrenmuseum, in French & Dutch - Titel of the stage: 'Le grand frisson'- The big shiver Period: July 2007 - Activity: the children started to define their fears (like darkness, thiefs, spiders, to be hurt, talk in public...) From this point they make some 'doudous' or mascots with soft materials, felt.. Each children stitched some personal object(s) on his mascot and gave it a form that remember the fear. In this way the 'doudous' can protect the children form his fear or encourage him/her to overcome the fear. example: a doudou in form of a hand (+/30cm *40cm*10cm): on one side the hand is orange, on the other side it's black This hand remember his owner that on the
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Belgium: new educational game on art Dear members, form Belgium a new game to make children acquainted to art using the resemblances between comics and other forms of art. This game is in Dutch but it might be understandable enough. The game is online: www.dekunstkraker.eu. The game has been developed as one part of the project we had during 3 years in cooperation with Museum Jan Cunen (Netherlands). We were financially supported by the European Union (Interreg). I would love to read opinions regarding the game. Please send opinions to my e-mail address: mati.mommaerts@suskewiske.provant.b e Kindest regards, Mati Mommaerts Executive Director Provincial Childrens Museum Suske & Wiske Belgium
_______________________________________________________________________________ Germany: GLASS MUSEUM WERTHEIM „How to understand and deal with energy“ Energy parcours made by students for students March 11th until October 19th, 2008 Black or white: which hand will first heat up? What is energy? Where does energy come from? What kinds of energy exist? Within the offerings of a four months term covering the combined classes MNT (materials, nature, technics) and EWH (economy, work, health), twenty seven students attending grades 8 and 9 of the secondary school in Urphar/Lindelbach developed an interactive exhibition on the subject „energy“. The principal topics such as sun, wind, water and glass are „highlighted“. At the eighteen stations of the „energy parcours“, by using solar cells and sun collectors, the students can make for example a musical clock sound, a bulb glow, a windmill go round or cars move; they heat up water or generate power with an alternator by using solar energy. By means of information banners, original components, pc presentations and experiments with operating models the students learn to understand the term „energy“ and realize what the sun is able to achieve with the help of glass. “Energy Parcours” for classes grades 3 to 7 Please book in time at the counter of the museum: 09342 6866 Admission fee per student: 2.00 € Time required: approx. 1.5 hours
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Opening hours “Energy Parcours” March 11th – October 2008 Mon 15h-17h, Tues-Thur Fri/Sat/Sun/Holiday 13h-18h
10h-17h,
(upon request outside normal opening hours) Further information please look at www.glasmuseum-wertheim.de
_______________________________________________________________________________ Italy:EXPLORA the Children’s Museum of Rome ACTIVITIES - SPRING 2008 Explora the Children’s Museum of Rome has scheduled several activities related to spring, the incoming season, besides regular activities. “ODOROSA” the interactive exhibition for curious noses gives the opportunity to smell every perfume that reach our nostrils (up to June 15th) “AUT NOT OUT” a portrait exhibition about autistic children (up to June 30th). Special events to get in touch with arts and crafts from different countries, are also taking place such as the “NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY AND CHILDREN'S DAY” in association with the Turkey Embassy (on April 19th), “AFRICAN TOYS” about toys made of recycled materials (on April 20th), “ROBOTIC WORKSHOPS WITH LEGO MINDSTORM” (on April 25th, 26th, 27th), the “BULGARIAN DAY” in association with the Bulgarian Embassy (on april 30th) and the “KODOMO NO HI DAY” the Children Day in Japan in association with Japan Embassy and Japanese Culture Institute(on May 11th). Explora il Museo dei Bambini di Roma Via Flaminia 82 - 00196 ROMA Info 0039 063613776
______________________________________________________________________ Italy: No Hands Off! - Children in touch with Bruno Munari "Forbidden Not to touch. Children in touch with Bruno Munari", the new playful Exhibition by Muba , is a tribute to the artist's work and is dedicated to youngest kids. (Bruno Munari Association) and Edizioni Corraini, Muba has chosen those themes that are closer to the sensibility, curiosity and need of youngest kids, thereby creating a fascinating playful journey based on discovery, wonder, visual and tactual experiencing and on experimenting and doing. MUBA Via Matteo Bandello 16 20123 Milan Italy www.muba.it info@muba.it muba@muba.it
Aware of the importance of a high quality offer for children aged 2 through 6, for the first time Muba addresses primarily children from nursery and primary school. For this reason, among Munari's wide production, and in cooperation with ABM _______________________________________________________________________________ Italy: Effects and Affects – Conference in Stockholm Silvia Rizzo, President of the International Centre for Creative and Educational Research was invited to attend “Effects & Affects”, the International Conference to be held in Stockholm next June 15-18. Silvia Rizzo will be presenting her experiences and research on colour with reference to the “Human Environment”, with particular focus on colour from primary perception in children, up to the environments where colour is a key recreational-creative component. The material presented also results from the experience and in-depth research with children attending kindergartens run by the Municipality of Genoa. Silvia Rizzo Mail address: Via Mogadiscio 2a/7, 16141 Genoa, Italy Email: Silvia Rizzo, c/o gsonnewa@tin.it Fax 0039 010 585578, Attention Prof. Rizzo
_________________________________________________________________________________________________ areas. With an increasing number of Portugal: LISBON ZOO JOINS HANDSassociated institutions, it constitutes an ON! EUROPE! important network between educators, By Maria Antonieta Costa developing educational programs among their Head of Education Department, Lisbon Zoo, visitors. Portugal Cultural institutions have the potential Hands-on! Europe gathers educators to interact among each other as science, and educational professionals in several
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history and natural history museums, aquariums and zoos, as well as other types of institutions and schools, primarily at the level of the development of educational services. Having full conscience of their patrimony, the institutions increase educational policies that occur under their responsibility. The trend regarding visitors is to intensify the outreach to different sectors of the public as well as to permanent education. In this domain the educational programs for adults, families, and social inclusion constitute emerging campaigns. As they worked, the researchers began to recognise ways their methodologies meshed; the bridges that can be built to plan and execute regular and continuous partnerships, such as the sensibility to preserve and appreciate environmental conservation: Lisbon Zoo is the first Zoo to join Hands-on! Europe Association. In this way the educational mission in zoos among the world can contribute their expertise to assist in developing educational services in other types of institutions. In the Lisbon Zoo we can distinguish the multiform character of activities and educational programs, the new internet design, or the special education newsletter. Or even, in the scope of the EAZA campaign “Amphibian Alert,” the Lisbon Zoo launched a contest to all schools in Portugal. Visiting a reference cultural institution, such as a Zoo, is a global experience and a lesson of life. It is to learn in context and through challenges: according to Piaget, new knowledge comes from the reorganisation of a previous knowledge and every new acquisition, marked as a novelty, is related to what was previously learned. So, the knowledge is the result of the relationship between who knows and what is known. It is from this notion that knowledge, as an active process resulting from the dialectic “subject/object/context”, that we consider a range of important aspects to the conception of educational programs capable of promulgating effective learning especially among young people. Lisbon Zoo must assure that all species that are under our care have also an educational mission. Our animal collection
should act as nature conservation ambassadors and Lisbon Zoo should provide unique experiences of proximity and contact with the animals species. With a large animal collection Lisbon Zoo offers to the public an opportunity to explore and to be emotional involved with the species protection. Lisbon Zoo understands that the activities to be perform must allow the public to learn about the species characteristics and to change public attitudes. Furthermore the public that attend Lisbon Zoo may became nature conservation ambassadors. Educational sessions at the Lisbon Zoo are an unique experience that children, teachers, parents and whoever, will hardly forget! In each session zoo guides, keepers, trainers and educators will surprise the audience with hands full of emotions and exciting experiences. In other words, the Lisbon Zoo educational programmes are certainly a unique offer which not only highlight special interest of the participants as it also stands up for values and attitudes that may change the World into a better place. Along with the Conservation and Research, Education is part of the Zoo’s Mission, and therefore, the Lisbon Zoo educational programmes are totally free of charge for schools. Education policy in Lisbon Zoo gives more and more emphasis to knowledge as an active and shared process of giving meaning to the world around us. Zoos are social spaces that increase the exchange of ideas and promote social awareness. To work at Lisbon Zoo educational department as a promoter of the knowledge construction process, where each visitor is an active agent of his own knowledge, is an important way to make active visitors as well as to implement and conceive new pedagogical-didactic strategies. Author’s contact details: Maria Antonieta Costa, Head of Education Department, Lisbon Zoo, Portugal; tel: 351 217 232 960 e-mail: acosta@zoolisboa.pt
______________________________________________________________________ NATIONAL COMMITTEE Portugal: From Portugal with love! On the 26th March the Portuguese National Committee celebrated HO!E's 10th Anniversary with a Seminar on "Museums Touching the Future!" With the following Program: "Hands On! 100 years of Museums Serving Children and Families" by Museu das Crianças - Margarida de Lancastre Education and Conservation Zoo Garden - Antonieta Costa
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Museums in which touching opens doors to Knowledge Natural History Museum - Bruno Ribeiro/ Liliana Povoas Museums with Pedagogical Quality Museum of the Presidency of the Republic / Gabriela Cavaco Museums accessibility Challenge - The Role of Educative Intervention Museum of the Presidency of the Republic - Helena Miranda For our surprise! we had 72 participants coming from many different Institutions, not only museums, and some of them willing to become HO!E's members, and as I think
that this was a very good start, we decided to carry out a 2 Years' Program promoting a HO!E network in Portugal. Since we, the National Committee, started working together, involved in this mission, we became four wonderful good friends, in a "non-stop" program! So, our next step will be in November, the organisation of a National Event for the presentation of "Hands On! Portugal National Committee" Love you all ! Margarida de Lancastre Museu das Crianças Portugal
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Market Place
discoveries, invent, imagine, create and share in a magic of multiple sensations is the enticing suggestion of «Life in full colour». Children 4-12 HELLO, MR. FEAR! This exhibition invites children to learn and accept its own fears as a part of life. Understand that, after all, it is natural do grow up in different manners, at different times; that ideas, imagination and creativity are specific to each one of us, making us unique beings; that good and bad moods can be contagious; that laughing is important for our well-being, and that there is so much to discover. Children 5-12 For hire and sell conditions, please contact: aaha@museucriancas.com.pt www.museudascriancas.eu Telef: +351 213 976 007 Fax: +351 213 909 412
FROM PORTUGAL: 3 TRAVELLING EXHIBITS: TREASURES WITHIN ME (available Sep.08) The goal of this exhibit is to help children to know themselves better, to discover their inner treasures, to accept and like themselves as they are, in order to be at ease with themselves and trust their own abilities. Children aged 5-12 LIFE IN FULL COLOUR Use your five senses to the full, and you will receive more "gifts" from life. Life and the five senses are here lived in an interconnected way. Opening us to the world... Looking at it very carefully... Living it while we discover... Expressing our feelings... These are the only requirements needed for our involvement and understanding of this exhibit. To enrich us through new
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Article
Community Clubs for Cultural Education Dr. Vladimir Boyko ARTIS - The Israeli society for cultural education was established in 2007 by a group of educators and art lovers of various professional backgrounds. As one of the founders, I attended the “Children’s Museums in the 21st Century” conference to learn. This article includes a discussion of ARTIS's concept, questions we pose and some answers stemming from the conference and related events, as well as comments on the conference.
Cultural Education and the ARTIS Approach
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We share the opinion that cultural education is essential for the well-being of contemporary society [1,2], and has to become a part of the personal development and everyday life of every child, of every citizen including those living far from centers of culture. The importance of cultural education for multicultural communities is inarguable - and Israeli society is largely multicultural. About 35% of the population was born abroad [3], and immigrated to Israel from over 100 countries, including Russia, Germany, Poland, Romania, Morocco, Yemen, Ethiopia, Iraq, Iran, Syria, USA, UK, France, Argentina, Hungary, Egypt, Turkey, and South Africa. New immigrants have various cultural backgrounds influenced by their countries of origin. Israeli Arabs, who constitute a quarter of the population, are also culturally subdivided into Muslims, Druze, and Christians [4]. There are many art lovers in Israel and many others who have never visited an art museum, nor intend to do so. We in ARTIS strongly believe that cultural education is essential for elevating the aesthetical, ethical, and moral standards of our society, and we see cultural education as a crucial component in the development of such personal values as: • • • • • • • The ability to recognize and enjoy art and cultural works Creativity and self-expression Knowledge of our country’s and world history, culture, and art Tolerance of cultural diversity Respect toward humanistic and democratic values Critical thinking Social activism
We established the ARTIS society as a non-profit organization that aspires to become a new venue for cultural education based on the following principles: 1. 2. 3. To provide cultural education via art and music To deliver ARTIS services through a network of galleries easily accessible to the public, located next to residential areas, schools, kindergartens, shopping malls, and leisure centers To build a collection of educational exhibitions to introduce Israeli and world art and cultural treasures - both past and present - to the young generation, while touching upon such subjects as science, nature, religion, language, ethnography, history, literature, and theater To design the exhibitions in a way that enables them to travel constantly between the galleries To procure high-quality replicas, reproductions, photographs, and multimedia copies of artifacts whenever original works are not available for display To associate each exhibition with a variety of educational and cultural events To prepare multilingual multimedia learning products, educational brochures and games for each exhibition To keep admission to all ARTIS exhibitions free Excellence and topmost professional quality is the sine qua non of all ARTIS exhibitions, cultural events, publications and educational materials
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10. ARTIS members and sponsors contribute to keeping cultural education traditions alive for present and future generations
ARTIS Galleries
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Each ARTIS gallery will consist of an exhibition area with a small stage for chamber concerts and performances, an ArtClass for visitors’ creative activities, a multimedia center, a reading room, an ArtShop, and an ArtCafe. Each exhibition will be associated with an exhibition show, learning programs and workshops for children of different ages and for adults. Learning programs for children and organized visits by kindergartens and schools to ARTIS galleries will be conducted in cooperation with their management and municipal education departments. Our exhibition shows will impart knowledge to children in an attractive way, with teams staging a type of interactive storytelling theater performance. An impressive example of such a presentation is the “Bombay” exhibition at the Tropenmuseum junior museum in Amsterdam, which I had the pleasure of seeing [5]. Our vision is to turn ARTIS galleries into community culture clubs - places for relaxation and enjoyment, where youth meet seniors and art lovers meet professionals, where visitors exchange knowledge, ideas, feelings and emotions; places where daily problems are left behind, and the mind is filled with thoughts about art, the greatness of human creativity, scientific achievements, history and the secrets of nature.
How To Involve People Who Never Visited an Art Museum Before? Free admission. Admission to ARTIS galleries should be free of charge, just like public libraries, places of worship, and malls. Free admission gives visitors the feeling of friendliness, which is particularly important when dealing with people who rarely come in contact with cultural institutions. Free admission will simplify their first contact with visual art: Let them go in, and we will do our best to offer them attractive and instructive entertainment. Some of them may come back.... Free admission does not necessarily mean that a visitor will never spend money in the gallery. ARTIS plans to build a solid and reliable financial basis for its cultural education activities. Although the primary source of financial support is expected to come from philanthropy, we plan to conduct numerous business activities aimed at raising a significant part of our budget. Shopping at ArtStore. The fact is that shopping is one of the most exciting forms of entertainment people engage in nowadays. So, let us present them the option of shopping at ArtStore in an unusual and unique atmosphere. Guests will have to pass the exhibition hall in order to get to the store, thus giving us the opportunity to grab his/her attention. ArtStore will offer a variety of products – all inspired by the goal of cultural education, such as educational gifts and games for children, souvenirs, presents, art books, recorded music and movies, multimedia presentations, home design products, reproductions and original artifacts. ArtCafe and evening entertainment. ArtCafe will function as a sandwich and coffee bar during daytime and turn into a wine and gourmet café in the evening, which will host live programs such as chamber classical music and jazz concerts, theater and dance performances, and private parties. Thus, we expect to attract new visitors and to provide another source of income to support ARTIS's primary activities. Keeping gallery visits continuously interesting and attention-grabbing. The exhibition is supposed to stay in each gallery for a number of weeks/months, depending on the size of the community. Its duration should be long enough to enable visits by kindergarten and school children. The idea is to constantly keep the gallery attractive so that individuals may make several visits during the same exhibition. To this end, we plan to stage lively and dynamic exhibitions, filled with music, moving images, and interactive tools. We intend to change the multimedia content daily so as to offer repeat visitors new impressions at every visit.
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A multimedia room will offer the exhibition multilingual version for self-review, additional materials related to the exhibition subject, and educational games. A reading room will offer a collection of art books related to the current exhibition. To enjoy good art books in a quiet atmosphere will be yet another goal of repeat visits to the gallery. ArtClass activities. Exhibition-related learning programs will include hands-on activities provided in the ArtClass. We plan to start with the idea inspired by the National Gallery's “Take One Picture” project: “Each year the Gallery focuses on one painting from the collection to inspire cross-curricular work in primary classrooms. During a one-day Continuing Professional Development course at the Gallery teachers are given a print of a painting. The challenge is then for schools to use the image imaginatively in the classroom, both as a stimulus for artwork, and for work in more unexpected curriculum areas” [6]. ArtClass will also offer meetings with artists, workshops, and various types of creative work in a real art studio. There may be a charge for some of these activities. A constantly updated selection of the best visitors’ work will be on display and may be used as a source of ARTIS products. Initial focus on small children. Although ARTIS is designed to serve all ages, children will be our initial focus. We plan to start with kids aged 4 to 5. The idea is based on the successful campaign to protect Israel's wild flowers conducted many years ago, which was initially launched by kindergartens and eventually won the hearts and minds of the adult population. We have to be patient and understand that our educational efforts cannot immediately bring visible results. It may take many years, just like it takes dozens of years for a small acorn to grow into a robust pine tree. Having said that, we will not use a childish approach in our work with small children. On the contrary, we will address them as adults, mixing knowledge with fun. We aim to integrate them into the adult world, to prepare them for big museums, to endow them with a gift for the rest of their lives - the great gift of love and appreciation of art and culture. Choosing the Exhibition Subject Each ARTIS exhibition will aim to deliver a strong and meaningful educational message, to offer enjoyment and fun, and to inspire curiosity and creativity. “Strong and meaningful” means that we will clearly define our position and that we will talk about our cultural, ethical and social values, friendship and family, dignity and honor, social rights and obligations, justice and mutual aid, humanity and democracy, science and nature, and love of our common home. We intend to introduce our visitors to Israel's cultural and historical heritage and to impart knowledge about our people and country, as well as about other peoples living on our planet, their traditions and culture. In choosing exhibition subjects, we plan to widely implement the idea discussed by Nick Baylis at the conference - “studying the life stories of many much admired individuals, […] patterns in the principles, strategies, skills and experiences […] that have helped them to be exceptionally successful in one or more arenas of their adult life... tell stories about lives and cultures… stories about how other folks have tried to live life well” [7].
Can Replicas Be Used for Educational Purposes? Many museum professionals with whom we discussed our intention to display replicas at our educational exhibitions were critical of the notion, and argued that “replicas cannot be compared with the original works and are not art works.” There is no question that an original work of art is better than a replica. However, the choice we have is to ignore world art treasures or use high-quality replicas, photographs and multimedia presentations to discuss these works in our exhibitions. We think it is essential to introduce children to the world’s masterpieces, which can be seen in the best museums around the world. We cannot bring our audiences to the Louvre, MoMA or the National Gallery, nor will we be able to display the original works of Michelangelo, El Greco or Magritte in ARTIS traveling exhibitions. Replicas, reproductions and photographs are the only option available to us.
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These will be properly marked, and will provide visitors with information about the museums and collections where the original works can be seen. At the talking circle I attended in the conference, one speaker told us about an exhibition entitled “Life and Death” that his museum had mounted to explain to children that life is not always rosy and has its dark sides. The exhibits included paintings of coffins as a visual comment on how human life ends. Asking “what is next” and being answered “nothing,” the six-year-old kids often started crying - not a bad thing in such cases, as a participating psychologist confirmed. I asked why shouldn't children instead be told that there is a variety of answers provided by different cultures, and, as an example, to talk to them about the Egyptian pyramids - a great educational subject. The response was something along the lines of “…because our museum collection does not include Egyptian art”. If the rule is that a museum educational program should be limited to artworks included in its collection, then the ARTIS approach - an approach that is free of such taboos - has its advantages! We can choose exhibits of any style and form to convey our educational concept in the best possible way, since our primary goal is education. Just before the conference I visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and noted that the exhibition on ancient Egyptian architecture contained high-quality, colorful, life-size photographs of wall paintings in tombs. An exhibition of Lorenzo Ghiberti’s three narrative relief panels also included a life-size photography of the door of the Baptistery of San Giovanni. Another impressive example comes from Delft, where a new Vermeer Center displays the masterful re-creations of all 36 of the Master’s works scattered around the world. Although none of the original works is on display, visitors get an unprecedented chance to see all of Vermeer’s works in one exhibition and to learn about his life in 17th century Holland [8]. ARTIS galleries are not going to replace art museums. On the contrary, they will pique interest to museum collections where unique original art works are on display. After learning about the art works in ARTIS galleries, visitors will gain the ability to recognize and enjoy art displayed in museums in Israel and around the word.
About the Conference It was great to meet people dedicated to children's cultural education. The conference program promised interesting lectures by experts, professional discussions in seven attractive talking circles, and visits to children’s museums - something I had not done in the 20th century. Coming from high-tech, I had participated in many professional forums, but this was the first time I attended a “Hands On Europe” conference. It was different, and sometimes surprising…
Speeches. Although the speeches were interesting and touched upon important topics, most of them were read from prepared papers. Eyes down… emotions off…monotonous voice… Moreover, those of them delivered in German were unfortunately lost on many of the international participants. The majority of lectures were made with NO visual aids, nor were the topics discussed and conclusions on display. The language was mostly bookish, academic, and dry, triggering childhood memories of how we used to dislike museum guides when they used obscure and pompous words rather than everyday language. A good contrast was the lecture of Paul M.L. van Vijmen [9], who delivered a clear message accompanied with a visual presentation, and who was all-smiles and spoke freely and emotionally, therefore prompting an immediate response and being well remembered. Conference materials. Another unpleasant surprise was that copies of the speeches were NOT made available, while the abstracts were so laconic as to make it impossible to recall any details or conclusions of the speeches. Even today, none of the speeches is available for review. For a future conference I propose to distribute copies of speeches in digital form during the conference as is done in similar events.
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Talking circles and discussions. The talking circles promised discussions of attractive and useful issues. I selected and planned to participate in at least five of them. However, the conference program limited each participant to only one talking circle, thus missing six others - an absolute majority. Many important and interesting questions were raised, but no answers were provided! By the way, although asking questions seemed to be the popular format in this forum, too many were left unanswered. For example, half the abstract of one lecture consists of questions like, “What if knowledge expires faster and faster? What if time horizons are shortened in the life-plan? What do they mean for institutionalized education?” Unfortunately, answers to these questions eluded me. Moreover, I had the feeling that participants avoided making critical comments. As a result, the formal discussions were weak and never controversial. This is a pity, since one of the major objectives of cultural education is to develop critical thinking. Including the questions to be discussed in the preconference materials and providing a list of envisioned (and alternative) answers to each one of them might help organize more energetic and fruitful exchanges of opinion. Museum visits. The visits to children museums were helpful and interesting, as they presented a variety of examples of what can be done for children's education in a museum. However, although these visits provoked impressions and many critical comments - a perfect subject for discussion - such discussions were not scheduled in the conference program and did not take place. Social events and informal part. Informal contacts always constitute a valuable part of such gatherings. However, the participants were dispersed in accommodations throughout Berlin and the program did not leave much time for informal meetings and talks. I would suggest holding the formal part and the social events of a future conference in the hotel where the majority of participants are staying. This hotel need not be located in a city center. A remote location may even be preferable since it would less distract participants from the conference events and would facilitate social interaction. Conclusion In this article I present ideas, but not yet any experience, since ARTIS is still at the beginning of the road. We are devoting a great deal of attention to the design stage, because we know full well the extent to which it will influence the success of the project. And, an important part of this preliminary stage is learning from the experience of other people and cultural institutions, both positive and negative. We would greatly appreciate any feedback and comments to this article.
References: 1. Conference Report. European Specialist Conference “Promoting Cultural Education in Europe. A Contribution to Participation, Innovation and Quality” Graz, 8-10 June 2006 Pamela Rosenberg. The need of cultural education. The abstract of the lecture, 6th Conference of Hands On! Europe. Children’s museums in the 21st century, Berlin 2007. Marta Kruger. Country Profile Israel: Balancing Demographics in the Jewish State. The Migration Information Source. July 2005. www.migrationinformation.org Israel in Figures 2007. Central Bureau of Statistics. http://www1.cbs.gov.il/publications/isr_in_n07e.pdf Liesbet Ruben, Babbette van Ogtrop. Ster in der stand. Tropenmuseum junior. KIT Publishers, Amsterdam, 2006 About take One Picture. The National Gallery. http://www.takeonepicture.org/about/index.html Nick Baylis. Closing Speech. The abstract of the lecture, 6th Conference of Hands On! Europe. Children’s museums in the 21st century, Berlin 2007. Jeroen Bergmans. Light Show. A new Vermeer museum in Delft gives art lovers the whole picture. The Time magazine, August 13, 2007
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Paul M.L. Van Vlijmen. Museum, education and entertainment. The abstract of the lecture, 6th Conference of Hands On! Europe. Children’s museums in the 21st century, Berlin 2007.
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