Victoria and Albert Museum

The museum that I felt was most worthwhile to visit was the V&A. Our first walking tour encouraged me to take the time to go and see how Prince Albert's dream had developed. Exhibitions at the V&A are missionally defined as showcases of creativity, art, performance, and design. Every room I walked into was gorgeous. There were so many beautiful things on exhibit that I enjoyed simply standing in rooms and absorbing my surroundings. Exhibit halls are curated based on geography, time period, or subject matter. My favorite areas featured sculpture and funerary art. There were also interactive elements like when I had the chance to try on a hoop skirt!  

While wandering through the museum, my travel buddies and I reflected on our class visits and discussed how best to visit a museum. We each agreed that it is often difficult to retain the information that we have read or seen in a museum after our visit. This is indicative of the different types of users that visit museums and what they need. A tourist needs a different museum experience than a researcher. Tourists might just enjoy walking through a museum in order to check it off their bucket list or get a cool photo. A researcher should likely approach a museum with specific research questions in mind and locate the exhibit areas that seem to promise the most answers. For other users that want to learn and absorb, but don not have a specific goal in mind, it might be best for them to select one or two topics of interest upon arrival and then concentrate their time on displays about those topics. In that way, they have more of a chance to retain what they learned and form a memorable experience. Museum professionals should be conscientious of what types of users might visit their location. Exhibit design and programming should be developed to address a diverse array of user needs so that everyone can find a way to enjoy their time at the museum. 

Relevant links:

https://www.vam.ac.uk/