All tagged context

Handling Textiles: Rebuilding Object Lives in Museums

Textiles are imbued with the multifaceted and complex values, beliefs, and ideals of the cultures in which they were produced and consumed. They have been used as clothing, shelter, and ornament, and are often remade and repurposed throughout their ‘lives’, constantly acquiring new layers of meaning along the way. As such, they are ideal media for museums attempting to widen their audience reach and more effectively represent world history and culture. How can museums rebuild the stories and lives of textiles in exhibits? This essay explores the possibility of building connections between visitors and textiles through multisensory engagement and, in doing so, suggests the remaking of the museum experience.

On Context

David Morgan offers us a thought-piece on the idea of ‘context’, a concept integral to The Jugaad Project. He notes that artifacts do not carry their meanings within themselves, though they may bear the traces of their contexts, of the settings from which time, history, and events have withdrawn them. The task of scholarly study is to re-situate artifacts within the settings that we find underlie their interpretation.