It's been a little over a month since Millennial Museum Blast ended, and I'm still thinking about it every day.
If you're not on Instagram, you might have missed this amazing ten-day challenge that my friend Angela, behind @imamusaller started this year (you can also find her here).
We celebrated ten themes about museums, and it was incredible to see the connections made across the globe.
These themes made me think deeply about the effect cultural institutions have had on me, and it was an amazing writing project to write about my love of museums for ten days.
Here are some of my favorites from #MillennialMuseumBlast.
Day 1: Creativity
And what better evokes this theme than the playful Murakami exhibit from the MFA Boston last year! This was a true embodiment of the best a museum exhibition has to offer — a space welcoming people of all ages and backgrounds, sharing museums’ ability to capture whimsy, CREATIVITY, fun, and creating a story about the creation process as you explored the exhibit!
Day 2: Discovery
Mass MoCA is the place where I discovered there was more to the art I thought I knew and more to what I thought of museums. ⠀
Here I learned that contemporary art doesn’t always mean something loud and controversial (though when done properly that can be extremely powerful), it’s something that’s contemplative. Something that helps you understand more about the world around you and more about yourself. Museums help you discover new things and new ways of thinking—in fact their whole purpose has been to share with the world.
Day 3: Comprehension⠀
Four years ago I traveled to London and while walking through the V&A Museum, I looked up and saw this sign — inviting me into this wondrous place filled with curiosities across the ages. ⠀
“All of this belongs to you” ⠀
You. ⠀
Every time you walk into a museum remember this. It is a powerful truth that cultural institutions are for everyone, you and me. ⠀
Day 4: Exchange⠀
Pompeii was quite the center of exchange before Vesuvius erupted in 79AD. It was a center of commerce, where peoples from across the known and accessible world would exchange ideas, textiles, food, and knowledge. Pompeii was an impressive city. And today, it is an incredible historic ruin that still exudes the importance of exchange. Exchange of facts, understanding, and that this place is fascinating to people from all over the world just as it was in ancient times. Museums have ever been a place of cultural exchange, they hold so many answers, but also much curiosity and questions to be shared by us when we go inside them. Have you had a moment of exchange at a museum? ⠀
Day 5: Emotion⠀
The Gardner Museum has always been a very moving place for me. From my first visit — brought by my mom who loves this museum and told me there was nothing else like it in the US — to my most recent visit when the late summer light filled this courtyard. It is an emotional place to visit. Everything about this special home is filled with emotion. Isabella curated this home with care, bringing beauty and knowledge to Boston and for the people of Boston. It is also the place where a painting by my favorite artist, Carlo Crivelli, is housed and where a special exhibition on him helped my research for my thesis at university. ⠀
Where have you found emotion at a museum? ⠀
Day 6: Inspiration
This sculpture in the Louvre inspired me from the moment I turned the corner and saw it. The sight of this 'Winged Victory' just fills you with possibility. ⠀
It is often individual artworks that inspire—a favorite sculpture, an emotional painting, an artifact from an ancient culture—but how inspiring would it be to be the place that houses all these works. Museums are filled with inspiration, and are places that inspire. From their architecture, their welcoming atmosphere, their points of connection, and yes, their collections. ⠀
Day 10: Protection
Oh where would we be without the protection of museums. Yes, they literally protect the collections they house. But that’s barely scratching the surface of what these important places protect. They protect whole cultures, centuries’ worth of knowledge, ideas across time, special moments in history...⠀
They also protect our memories, preserving our time spent within their walls, protecting our love of visits and preserving the future of museums. ⠀
Museums are so much more than organized art on walls—they are protection of human past, present, and future, and they are a protection of us.
You can read all of my #MillennialMuseumBlast posts @themuse.life.
Which of these themes is your favorite?
Hmm it appears like your site ate my first comment (it was extremely
long) so I guess I’ll just sum it up what I wrote and say, I’m thoroughly enjoying your
blog. I too am an aspiring blog blogger but I’m still new to everything.
Do you have any helpful hints for first-time blog writers?
I’d certainly appreciate it.
Find what interests you and figure out how you can consistently share! I think it helps readers to know when they can expect to hear from you.