Cantor Art Museum
The Cantor Art Museum may boast the world's second largest collection of Rodin sculptures, but its learning design is hardly promethean.
With few exceptions, Cantor conforms to the norm for museum spaces. Admittedly, the esthetics of the building and its exhibit areas are befitting of Cantor's world-class collection.
The space is designd to direct traffic flow around the art. Subtle lines on the floor indicate boundaries past which visitors should not stray. This maximizes protection of the art while minimizing barriers to viewing.
My son risks the ire of the Cantor Gestapo by rolling just past the line.
Brief text explanations are usually available near the art at adult eye-level.
This approach assumes a degree of english literacy, a universal learning style (i.e. reading), and minimum height of museum visitors.
In what is perhaps the most popular exhibit room at Cantor, the art is presented with minimal interpretation.
The Thinker ponders how to improve the learning space
Signs are minimal and the information desk - not staffed as seen in the picture below - offers general museum information rather than details specific to this exhibit.
Cantor did offer seating for visitors near art presumably to allow for lengthier appreciation of the various works.
Two students complete a school assignment by answering simple questions about the exhibit.
Other seating is avaialble for visitors. This seating and the surrounding space does not add anything to the learning experience however.
The exhibits did not encourage full visitor engagement with the art. Most pieces were shielded beneath glass.
Or were elevated on pedestals to discourage touching.
There was only one obvious exception to this approach. In the lobby, a sculpture of a horse was displayed with the standard surrounding 'do not touch' subtle line.
Not only was there an explanation of the origins of the piece at the side, but there was also a sample of the material that visitors were encouraged to interact with.
As long as you're over five feet tall, this is an opportunity to touch the constituent material of the sculpture.
Because I visited Cantor with my son, I was struck by the lack of learning opportunities for children. Admittedly, at six months there isn't much he'd be able to learn and retain about the intricacies of post-modernist expression but, for the older children in attendance, I realized their parents had a heavy education if the time was not to be wasted.
In fact, the environment was completely child-unfriendly. My view was biased by an incident I had with a guard who suggested that I could not feed my child from a baby bottle in the museum. I was asked to leave.
Dan Gilbert Great post here, thanks for sharing and thanks for showing. I especially appreciate your attention to detail and choosing to capture it with pictures. I too like the contrast of the 'horse' being so interactive and so inviting with so much explanation and everything else in there being cold. Given that it is indeed a traditional museum perhaps our goal as designers can be to design learning into that space. Are there tools, guides, or other resources that visitors could use to make better sense of the space and the things inside it? Thanks for putting this up here.
Sun Sun I too was disappointed with the lack of learning opportunities for children in fine arts museums like this one. No doubt, the target audience is not children, but those interested in fine arts might have children whom they need to take along with them. Wouldn't it be nice if there is an educational corner where children can have some meaningful interactions with the arts too? Jerome Bruner said something like any subject matter can be taught to anyone of any age; it is a matter of bringing down the linchpin ideas to a level digestible for younger audience.
Dahwun I remember going to the Cantors Art Museum when it was on Stanford Community day. It was so different from the normal days of exhibition. There were a lot of activities that resemble the ones you would see in the Children's museum such as paper craft desks, Chinese calligraphy desk, coloring sheets with information about some art pieces in the museum. My daughter was thrilled... But when I visited the museum on a normal day, it just wasn't as lively. All the visitors were browsing through the art which seemed like less of a time for reflection. Of course, I saw less children as well... I like the way you describe it as we are following you inside the museum. Nice observations...! :)