Hannah Williams explains why personal photography may be the key to engagement for museums and other arts venues.
Two of the USA’s major music festivals have decided to ban selfie sticks this year to prevent stick-wielding gig-goers from blocking the view of others. They join London’s National Gallery and other museums such as New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Château de Versailles, and many others around the world.
In museums, bans have been made on pragmatic grounds to ensure the safety of collections. And fair enough. Sticks are dangerous things to be waving around near fragile works of art, so why should selfie sticks be any different?
But this selfie stick controversy has revealed something else. Debates around the ban suggest that the selfie itself has prompted the latest manifestation of the museum’s age-old “us and them” divide: between those who use museum collections “properly” (for education or cultural self-improvement) and those who use them “incorrectly” (for mere distraction or entertainment)... Keep reading on The Conversation
Two of the USA’s major music festivals have decided to ban selfie sticks this year to prevent stick-wielding gig-goers from blocking the view of others. They join London’s National Gallery and other museums such as New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Château de Versailles, and many others around the world.
In museums, bans have been made on pragmatic grounds to ensure the safety of collections. And fair enough. Sticks are dangerous things to be waving around near fragile works of art, so why should selfie sticks be any different?
But this selfie stick controversy has revealed something else. Debates around the ban suggest that the selfie itself has prompted the latest manifestation of the museum’s age-old “us and them” divide: between those who use museum collections “properly” (for education or cultural self-improvement) and those who use them “incorrectly” (for mere distraction or entertainment)... Keep reading on The Conversation