Recently, a copy of the Shanghai Museum Barrier-free Exploration Manual was delivered to the children of the Special Education School in Pudong New Area. The manual is jointly written by museum professional educators and front-line teachers of special education, each cultural relic has an introductory text, a beautiful picture, a two-dimensional code, which is specially designed for deaf and dumb children, after scanning can open a sign language video, sign language teachers take them to "tour" in the museum.
"We have changed a lot of drafts of this manual to get as close as possible to the cognition and feeling of special children." Tang Shifen, secretary of the Party Committee of the Shanghai Museum, said that it is the responsibility of the museum to serve every member of society, protect the cultural rights and interests of special groups, and meet their needs for understanding history and art, and feeling beauty and wisdom.
According to statistics, as of now, there are 149 museums on the record in the city, with a permanent population of more than 24 million in Shanghai, and every 160,000 people have a museum, which is higher than the domestic average. In order to reach a wider range of people, in recent years, Shanghai Museum has actively innovated service forms and contents, provided high-quality public culture and refined focused services, and enhanced the satisfaction and sense of gain of the audience. More importantly, it is important to pay attention to the "blind spots" that are easy to ignore: the elderly, children, special groups, etc., and customize exclusive services for them, so that the museum can become a fairer, warmer and more loving space, vividly interpreting the city's open, innovative and inclusive character.
Put the experience first and make the museum a "favorite" for children
"The so-called 'differentiation' is that in order to expand the number of acceptances, the museum will make a detailed division of the objects from various levels through a comprehensive understanding and analysis of its audience, and at the same time rationally allocate and build the resources owned by the museum to cooperate with various learning projects and strengthen the intensity and breadth of education." Zheng Yi, a professor in the Department of Cultural Relics and Museology at Fudan University, said that the division of labor according to the service object and the nature of the work has resulted in the "audience" no longer being a vague concept, but a complex group composed of many individuals with distinct personalities.
In fact, since its inception, museums have had a preliminary classification, such as history, art, nature and technology. Today, in Shanghai, there are museums in almost all fields of subdivision. It is worth mentioning that many museums have a clear differentiation positioning from the beginning of their establishment. Take the Shanghai Automobile Museum as an example, it is the first professional automobile theme museum in China, and the target audience is car enthusiasts and family audiences. The Shanghai China Maritime Museum, located near Dishui Lake, is China's first state-level maritime museum approved by the State Council, which is intended to carry forward the splendid navigation civilization and fine traditions of the Chinese nation, build an international navigation exchange platform, cultivate young people's love for navigation, and create a cultural atmosphere in Shanghai International Shipping Center.
Studies have shown that 4 to 14 years old is an important stage of a person's intelligent development and personality development, and it is necessary to launch natural education activities suitable for visitors of this age. However, because of the active nature, there are occasional news of children running into museums. The Shanghai Museum of Glass once encountered such a situation - on May 30, 2020, two young spectators in the museum climbed over the fence of the exhibition area and hit the display case while chasing and playing, resulting in the damage of an exhibit based on the Shanghai Disney Castle.
Instead of rejecting children, the museum upgraded the original Children's Glass Museum to an interactive art creative space for children aged 6 to 12, putting the experience first. The exhibition hall does not have a fixed tour line, but a game mission manual begins the journey of exploration. The 26 letters are the core concept of curation, corresponding to the 26 large installations in the exhibition hall, that is, 26 exhibition items. Glassblowing, inlaying, hot melt and glass mosaic collage... Here, children can experience almost all the novel and safe glass creation techniques, watch performances, and even stay overnight in museums. While presenting the historical art of glass, the Children's Museum of Glass hopes to inspire children to think about the future through the glass world and exercise their ability to explore independently in the experience of the museum.
Create an accessible experience that guarantees everyone's right to appreciate beauty
Blind writer Helen Keller wrote in "If You Give Me Three Days of Light" that if she could have normal vision for three days, she would enter the museum the next day. However, for some groups, walking into a museum is not an easy task. For example, for the elderly, making an appointment in advance on a mobile phone is a problem; the visually impaired cannot see cultural relics with their eyes; and the audio explanation provided by the museum is inaudible to the hearing impaired... These problems have become an obstacle for special groups to visit museums.
Affected by the epidemic, after the Shanghai Museum reopened to the public, it was necessary to make an appointment in advance to visit the museum, and the staff found that the smart phones that young people have long been accustomed to are secret rooms for the elderly. Faced with unfamiliar and complex operating systems, they are overwhelmed and afraid. Subsequently, the "on-site reservation service point" was built tens of meters away from the south gate of the museum. "Maybe one day, we will be like these old people, lost in the new world in the future, helping the elderly is also helping the future self." 」 The volunteers said.
In order to better serve special groups, the Shanghai Museum, on the basis of creating a barrier-free museum building space, tries to open up a special area in the special exhibition hall to create a barrier-free exhibition experience. For example, during the "Floating Maple in the Sea: Pacific Art Treasures Exhibition in the Museum of Kei Branly, France", 5 1:1 replicas of cultural relics that can be touched by hand are placed at the entrance of the exhibition hall, and Braille introductions are placed in front of the exhibits, so that blind people can "see" the exhibition by touch. When visually impaired people, encouraged by the docents, bravely reach out their hands and caress every detail of the artwork, they perceive for the first time the material, texture and shape of the artifact. It's a touch they've never had before. The museum also opened a special column on the official micro-blog to record sign language videos for the hearing impaired. In addition, various campus exhibitions and handicraft experience courses have been introduced to special schools in Shanghai to bring the museum to children's side.
"We have been advocating for 'equality in education'. For special children, being able to visit museums like ordinary people is also an 'equality'. Zhang Yu, who has been engaged in special education for ten years, sighed.
"I've heard one of the most touching sayings in special schools: Take 'special' and bravely embrace society." Chen Ning, a staff member of the Shanghai Museum, said, "Our attempt may just be a 'spark of stars', and we hope that more people can pay attention to and care for special children and open a channel for them to understand the world." ”
There is a famous saying in the international museum community: "The museum is not about what it has, but what it does with its useful resources." "Yang Zhigang, director of the Shanghai Museum, believes that creating meaningful experiences for people of different backgrounds and backgrounds, allowing them to see a broader and more beautiful world, and drawing strength from them is the call of the times to the museum." Everyone has the right to appreciate beauty and yearn for a better life. What museum people have to do is to improve the supply capacity of high-quality public cultural products and services, meet the cultural needs of 'diversification, quality and individualization', and make the people more full of spiritual life. ”
Author: Li Ting
Editor: Su Zhan
*Wenhui exclusive manuscript, please indicate the source when reprinting.
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