Conversation: What does a museum do?

The national cultural institutions are open to all. Visitors are invited in, they wander through the collections and exhibitions, looking at what they wish, are drawn to individual works of art or objects, read labels and become authors of their own experience of those collections. To the majority of the public, that is what happens in museums and art galleries.

But what do museums do to create that visitor experience? How do they build collections? How do they decide what to exhibit? What work goes into making exhibitions?

What role should the museum play in educating the public and influencing the ways in which the objects are interpreted and understood? And what indeed is the difference between a museum and an art gallery?

In spite of their popularity museums are continually the subject of critique from academics, the media, sections of the public and even some politicians. Would criticisms be less if they knew how difficult the job of the museum is and has been?

Presented by the Centre for Heritage and Museum Studies, ANU School of Archaeology and Anthropology.