Final Project Development – Part 1
We have 3 weeks to develop presentations to make to the Museum of Chinese in America and Susan Meiselas of Magnum on the Mined in China project following on from our visit a few weeks ago (write-up here). I’m working with Juri and Sara. Here are the notes of our initial discussions this week:
Notes from prelim group discussion Sat 11/14
MoCA
Problem: as museum expands to become a national institution, how do they engage with the local community?
Need to get the community interested
Is the museum intimidating for locals?
What is the relevance to them?
How do they participate and tell their stories?
How about community nights akin to the Tenement Museum’s Tenement Talks
Food as a theme
Local restaurants showcasing
Older people showing traditional recipes
Accessible but not dumbing-down
What about young Chinese Americans at college
Would they be interested in Chinese American clothing designers?
Eg Anna Sui
CW cites Vivienne Westwood show for young members of her friend’s London club to engage younger people
Not so keen to focus on education – they seem to have that covered
Community linking and building is the focus.
Susan Meiselas – Magnum
How do you engage people on a topic they really may not want to hear about
Of interest on this problem: Emma Thompson’s Emma and Eleina’s Exposing the Sex Trade installation, at Washington Square Park at the moment. Example of how to tell a story people really don’t want to hear.
Concept of scale is one way to do this. What if a mine was in the middle of Manhattan, how much of the island would it take up? How many Empire State Buildings or yellow cabs wide is on of these mines?
What is the effect of the mine on us?
What are the stories of the people who work in these mines – need to add the human element, otherwise its just a concept – eg the card of the person given when you visit the Holocaust Museum. Make the numbers real.
Need to clarify what the task is with this project.
Mtg with Nancy 3pm 11/17
In the last class go to MoCA and we’ll talk about the problem set we’ve been given and the solution we’re proposed. 10 – 15 min max pitch, each group will get 30 min total so each presentation will be 12 min + questions. Work on both but option to have one more fleshed out than the other.
MoCA – have a home base, want to future how the place can meet out to the large Chinese American communities. how does the museum enable other groups to take pride and connect, more of an outreach. Eg – show and tell on Chinese New Year, much rider reach. National thing. Museum full of object, website of objects. Tales of my Chinese Grandmother book. Social networking also.
Magnum – How could you put the collection in front of people, used to be in magazines, exploring a different venue, what are other venues to put into investigative reporting to show people – good places, in the nature of broadcast, people are watching narrower channels, Life Mag etc dying out, so how do you put it into the public square and public conversation – put it in the public sphere but letting people have the opt out, ie you didn’t have to have a Life subscription.
Map your presentation to the main theme, scale may be one part of it, or environmental, or the stories of the people working there. Remember they were Chinese photographers – the main part is the photos, we’re trying to make it a 3D experience. How do you turn the photos into an exhibit. Think of it outside a museum at the moment.
