I studied museum visitor perceptions in four historic and world-class natural history museums: the Natural History Museum (London), the Horniman Museum (London), the National Museums of Kenya (Nairobi), and the American Museum of Natural History (New York City).
In this article, I'd like to share with you wisdoms from two journeys the doctoral and post-doctoral work I conducted researching museum visitor perceptions of human evolution (1996 2004, 2004 2006) and how that has informed the work I've done educating extant hominids visiting the museum about human evolution (from 2006 present).
The work, entitled Museum of Contemporary African Art, questions the nature of a museum and Western perceptions of African art.
Prior to visiting the museum, all my perceptions of iron lungs came from old, grainy videos of the polio epidemic.
"Part of the purpose of the museum was to change perception," Natalia Goldchteine told me.
Visiting a museum can change our perception of the world, making us notice new aspects of reality and allowing us to encounter a different reality.
Still, the perception that the museum is staging a show of works that are largely for sale will no doubt cause some raised eyebrows.
I know there are significant financing and installation challenges posed by surveys, but in the long term it's all about the perception of the museum, one that can be progressive, relevant and home to a world-class permanent collection.
But beyond leisure and entertainment, our perception of a museum, and its moral value, still has to do with our desire for sacred space, even if we are reluctant to put it that way.
After Mr. Brand took over the Getty Museum, and Mr. Wood, the former longtime director of the Art Institute of Chicago, was named to run the Getty Trust at the end of 2006, the perception in the museum world was that the Getty has begun healing from its wounds.
