Museum Review: Between Two Worlds

Between Two Worlds: Folk Artists Reflect on the Immigrant Experience is housed in the Gallery of Conscience at the International Folk Art Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Founded in 1953, the museum claims the world’s largest collection of Folk Art from cultures around the world. Founder Florence Dibell Bartlett, held that folk art was one way to encourage understanding among cultures. That began a long history of bringing diverse people together around the art. The Gallery of Conscience within the museum was dedicated in 2010 to promote conversation about current issues as they relate to the survival of folk art. While the mission seems to limit the scope to art, a look at the history of topics addressed at the gallery belies that limitation. Empowerment of women, survival in natural disasters, art from Japanese internment camps, and HIV/Aids certainly apply beyond the arts as does the current exhibit. Here too the intention is to prompt reflection and more public conversation, this time about the immigration experience.

In a space about the size of one of the Mulvane galleries, the exhibit juxtaposes immigration related folk art with ways for the visitor to contribute. The community has been involved from the onset. Taking what is called a "laboratory" approach to the exhibit design the public was invited to collaborate even prior to the opening. Contributions were made in decisions of content and even the name. Not a one time event, the public's contribution has continued as can be seen by messages and comments. The museum curators have labeled this "A Participatory Cultural Experience."

To orient the visitor to the laboratory process a chart is posted on the outside wall of the gallery so that the visitor has a sense of “how it works”. There is also a map of the world populated with dots recording the country of origin of the visitors. This map shows the great diversity of the people that have visited the exhibit and it, along with the participatory chart, sets the stage for what is to follow.

Once inside the gallery the art itself is emotional, especially after learning a little of the artist’s stories, then there are the powerful questions. One display asks the question “If you had to leave your home and could only bring what you could carry, what would it be?”. Although we, in tornado country, have probably pondered this question, it is not the same as people desperate enough to risk death, to be packed into trucks and boats, to escape the poverty and violence. Answers to what to bring are heartrending: family photos, sacred religious items, favorite food, spiderman costumes, and above all, pets.

In another area the question "What is your families immigration story?" is asked. The answers are as diverse as the dots on the map outside the exhibit: Russia, over the Bering Strait, enslaved from Africa. We all have a story, as shown in the answers to these questions.

The interactive elements of this exhibit epitomize Nina Simon recommendations in her book The Participatory Museum and on her website Museums 2.0. Using Youtube as an example Simon describes categories of interactive participation. Some, the creators, are willing to individually contribute their thoughts, experiences, and opinions. At the other end of the scale is the spectator who is not interested in any interaction. In between are the critics, the collectors and the joiners. Not only does the willingness to participate vary by visitor, for a visitors it could vary day by day, if not moment by moment. Between Two Worlds provides a place for everyone. Contributions to the questions can be made on the notecards and in the notebook (in the tour look for other ways of contribution), or the replies can be read and/or critiqued. Or the replies can be collected as was done with my camera for this project. Also, the design of the interactive stations was simple and inexpensive. Note cards, a notebook, paper plates and a magnetic board were used. All are inexpensive and easy to use.

"Instructional scaffolding" which provides guidance to the educational experience, is a term Simon uses. As she explains, the question "What do you think?" lacks structure and is daunting to the audience. This kind of open-ended question would be too hard to answer and discourages participation. It is like the common and polite question "How are you?" in which the correct and expected answer is "Fine" which conveys very little if any information. In "Between Two Worlds" specific questions are used to solicit detailed information, that is guidance or "instructional scaffolding" is effectively used. The method applies as well to the non-creator, who while not willing to post a public answer, is certainly answering the question internally.

Simon describes a participatory cultural institution as one a valuable and compelling experience where visitors can create, share and connect with each other around content. In my limited examination (a half-day visit), Simon’s definition was met. The staff had considered the contribution visitors could make and designed the exhibit to facilitate their input.

Join me on a tour of the exhibit to see how this was done.

The Participatory Process is introduced on the wall outside the Gallery of Conscience:

Alongside the statement of purpose and method is the first invitation to participate, a call for the visitor to identify their place of origin.

Take a look at the diversity of the people who have walked through these doors. Not only do we see clusters of origins, we might also be seeing some license being taken with geographic accuracy.

Proceeding with an idea of the great range of the personal histories of previous visitors, the first question asked is:

This emotional display, with the very important items in ones life and the handwritten notes makes one ask "What would I bring?". Following we see just some of the responses.

While every family is different, every family has a story about the journey to today. Some of the visitors recorded theirs in the notebook. Notice the variety in just this small sample:

"Welcome?/Unwelcome?" is a question we all ask. Responses are on Post-it notes and Twitter.

Many times the question is not of welcome or unwelcome but of survival which is addressed by a poetry wall:

Then the visitor is invited to participate with poetry of their own using words on a magnetic board.

Not to be forgotten is the food traditions that have come with immigration. Appropriately, paper plates are used to collect all manners of cuisine.