Balancing Act

Four museum leaders discuss the influence of technology and contemporary culture on exhibitions today.

By James D. Balestrieri

Museums around the world face new challenges and responsibilities. The COVID pandemic that kept the world at home and online accelerated and amplified many of them. Audiences, particularly younger audiences, crave the technological wizardry that comes with digital experiences. Cultures require a say in how they are represented and presented. Underrepresented voices—of women, of people of color, of traditional cultures—are being heard, some for the first time. Simultaneously, museums strive to preserve what separates them from other types of experiences: offering visitors time and space to reflect as they come face-to-face with original artworks and other cultural objects.

Museums are dealing with this new environment at different paces, employing diverse responses and strategies. I posed five questions about the state of museum exhibitions regarding technology and contemporary culture to four museum professionals. These experts—Dr. Thomas Denenberg, John Wilmerding Director and CEO of the Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont; Darrell Beauchamp, Ed.D., Executive Director of the Museum of Western Art in Kerrville, Texas; Liz Jackson, President & CEO of the Briscoe Western Art Museum in San Antonio, Texas; and Christian Waguespack, Head of Curatorial Affairs and Curator of 20th Century Art at the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico—offered unique insights into their specific museums and the industry as a whole.

MEET THE EXPERTS

Dr. Thomas Denenberg
John Wilmerding Director & CEO
Shelburne Museum
Shelburne, VT
shelburnemuseum.org

Darrell Beauchamp, Ed.D.
Executive Director
Museum of Western Art
Kerrville, TX
museumofwesternart.com

Liz Jackson
President & CEO
Briscoe Western Art Museum
San Antonio, TX
briscoemuseum.org

Christian Waguespack
Head of Curatorial Affairs & Curator of 20th Century Art
New Mexico Museum of Art
Santa Fe, NM
nmartmuseum.org

Collections and exhibitions comprise the twin pillars of the traditional museum. In recent years, however, communities have insisted that museums attend to sensitivity and context. In this light, I began with the question: “If I say the word ‘exhibition,’ what does it mean to you today and how has that meaning changed over the past decade or so?”

Denenberg evokes the past, saying, “I came into museum work at the height of the blockbuster exhibition, academic and content-driven by heroic curators. The rest of the staff was collateral. Now, exhibitions are more collaborative and collegial. We work with source communities and share authority. Curators now are like producers in Old Hollywood, bringing people together to create narratives. Hanging paintings and writing wall labels is a thing of the past.” Beauchamp’s reply upheld the individual experience of museum visitors to his Texas institution, explaining, “Although we constantly look for better ways to present our holdings, our museum prides itself on our ability to provide the viewer with a calm and simple space that allows for reflection.”

Citing the Briscoe’s desire for greater visitor involvement, Jackson says, “We look for ways to engage more storytelling narratives as part of our exhibitions. We explore ways for our visitors to actively participate, whether through sharing a personal experience as it relates to the exhibition, or even sketching. Collaboration between museums, artists, collectors and educators has dramatically improved our exhibitions. We rely on co-creation to ensure we adequately and appropriately tell the narratives that need to be told.”

Wonder and education lie at the heart of Wauguespack’s approach. “I consider it a bit old-fashioned,” he begins, “but the core of an exhibition is always original objects. Exhibitions are an encounter with art, a chance for the visitor to engage with an artwork firsthand. A good exhibition should allow opportunities to learn, to expand one’s understanding about the subject matter, stimulating thought and consideration as well as wonder. Both are key, and a balance of the two makes a good exhibition. I have also noticed a shift in tone. Many institutions are becoming less didactic and imperial, instead offering a more conversational take on exhibition interpretation. When this is done well, it can create space for a variety of voices, points of view and interpretations, providing a richer learning experience.”

New, emerging and immersive technologies influence curatorial thinking. For instance, while concepts of conversation, collaboration and connection are integral to the design of the Perry Center for Native American Art at the Shelburne Museum, Denenberg relates these to language and technology. “How we talk about museums has changed,” he says. “We speak of dense immersive experiences rather than buildings, objects, gardens. Culture bearers from many traditions are younger and more digitally oriented. Reciprocity with tribes in Alaska, for example, drives our online presence so curators can let people from those cultures access objects in our collection.”

Beauchamp reminds us that new technologies often go unseen. “At many ‘art’ museums, like ours, technology has been more of a behind-the-scenes phenomenon. Technology has allowed us to do a better job of preserving, lighting and displaying our holdings and the ability to tell better, more complete stories.” Waguespack and Jackson insist on honoring the art and the museum experience even as they explore new technologies. Waguespack observes, “I don’t actually see many earth-shattering shifts. The core values have not changed. Technology just offers a richer variety of roads to explore for reaching my audience.” Jackson echoes this, saying, “At the Briscoe, we have not fully engaged in immersive technologies, but I believe these can transform the environment, potentially fostering deeper engagement. However, it is important that we do not sacrifice the honesty of the art in its purest form.”

Museums have had to adapt to new roles in their communities. The degree of change is unique, as the varying responses attest. To Denenberg, the role of the Shelburne has evolved rapidly. “Contemporary projects,” he says, “are very different from traditional projects. We recently mounted a show on the supernatural in New England, featuring women and nonbinary artists. It wasn’t juried. It was an invitational, so it didn’t have the politics of the biennials. The invitations came after curators met—many times—with artists in their studios. Such exhibitions look more coherent because they are about how the artists relate to each other. Audiences perceive this intuitively.”

As for public events, Denenberg has crowds of up to 30,000 attending the Shelburne’s concert series and 50,000 attending Winter Lights. He continues, “Ten percent of Vermont’s school children visit us, so we’ve introduced new experiences: engineering on our steamboat; printmaking on our letter press; Morse code at our train station. Things we do in the community now also influence our approach to projects—we provide therapeutic art-making services and offer sensory-friendly days when we mute the lights and sound for those who are neurodiverse. All this demystifies the museum.”

Jackson, Waguespack and Beauchamp express divergent attitudes.

Jackson sees museums as “sanctuaries for imagination and wonder, offering respite from the daily rigors of life,” but acknowledges that they “invite us to learn and reflect on beauty while grappling with narratives that can sometimes be uncomfortable. Increasingly, museums are embracing a more significant role in education, striking a delicate balance…We’re education and entertainment, sharing history, experiences and perspectives to foster fascination, stretch creativity and expand mindsets.”

Waguespack notes these changes, but adds, “The role of the museum has always grown naturally alongside a changing society, and for museums to survive and remain relevant we have to be nimble and responsive to the lived experience, needs and interests of our community. Though the way we talk about our subject matter, who is brought into the conversations, and how stories are framed certainly change with the times, I think the core role of a museum—to educate and to inspire—has remained the same.”

Beauchamp finds great value in tradition, stating, “Many of my colleagues will disagree with me but I don’t think the role of the museum in the community has changed as much as has been reported or as much as some would like. On the positive side of that equation is the fact that museums have always been places for the collection, storage and presentation of objects of importance to the community. The museum has always been a place where the public can gather.  And that should never change. And it hasn’t changed at our museum.”

Museums consider acquisition and context in terms of stewardship and sensitivity. Beauchamp and Waguespack speak to context while Jackson and Denenberg concentrate on recent acquisitions. Beauchamp, for example, responds, “We have always remained aware that certain objects, especially cultural objects, will cause a reaction among various peoples. Our goal is to involve those groups to help us understand how any cultural object helps to provide a bigger part of their historical picture. We strive to involve as many perspectives as possible in the stories we tell.” Waguespack frames his response in this way, “We are mindful about how we interpret our artwork’s content. The major evolution here is the inclusion of community voices and reaching out to source communities for their guidance on how to handle any potentially sensitive material.”

“Over the past four years,” Jackson says, “our board and staff have strongly emphasized representation and diversity within our acquisitions…to authentically reflect the stories encapsulated within what we consider the four pillars of Western art: 1) cowboys and ranching, 2) Native American heritage, 3) landscapes and wildlife, and 4) Latino, Spanish and Tejano experiences.” Denenberg outlined different challenges: “The Shelburne has 39 buildings spread over 45 acres. It’s an exploded diagram of a museum. It’s hard to dial in sometimes, but one area we’ve made a priority is quilts. Another is activating the landscape—audiences like gardens and outdoor spaces—so we are beginning to acquire sculptures, carefully, so we don’t end up with a 1980s sculpture garden.”

Scholarship has also changed, as evidenced in these final thoughts. Denenberg notes the “shift from studies of individual artists to thematic work—for instance, disability studies through American painting.” He adds, “The field is far more sophisticated. African American art was a footnote. No longer. So many voices are being heard.”

For Beauchamp, the shift takes on a different impact at the Museum of Western Art. “Analysis that used to take years,” he says, “can now be developed in a much shorter period. But that shortened timeline has too often also led to a less thoughtful storyline. The focus has turned from an analysis of the object itself to a placement of that object in a ‘cultural’ setting. The goals of art scholarship include more ‘cultural construct’ and less analysis of ‘beauty’ of a work.”

Jackson returns to diversity and underrepresentation. “The most significant changes in scholarship and art history in the Western art genre,” she offers, “would be an increased focus on diversity. Historically, artists depicted stories that their patrons were interested in buying. Those stories were not always inclusive of the true diversity of the American West. As scholars increasingly highlight the contributions of underrepresented groups, including Indigenous artists, women and artists of color, contemporary artists are also more diverse in the stories they share through their art. This shift sets the stage for inclusive narratives that are being played out in our collections and future exhibitions…I would also add that the spiritual significance of Indigenous communities, deservingly so, is more greatly acknowledged.”

Waguespack stresses what he terms the new “diversification of the field” and says, “By that I don’t just mean who is represented and doing the work, but the kinds of questions folks are asking and what new scholars are interested in. It feels to me that there is more room to explore, and less of a sense of everyone working from one dominant point of view, which I find refreshing.”

This story appeared in the December 2024/January 2025 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Subscribe today to read every issue in its entirety.