Abstract Shhh . . . It’s a Secret! was a family-friendly exhibition with a difference. It was curated over the period of a year by 12 children aged 9-11 and staged in the main exhibition galleries of the Wallace Collection. It was the very first time a national museum had run such a sustained project in which school children selected works of art from the internationally renowned main collection, created a theme, and were involved in every aspect of the exhibition. It was primarily their creation, although the Learning Department was on hand to support and guide them throughout the project. It was a very public-facing and therefore comparatively high-risk project, but the children proved that, when trusted, they could deliver something high-quality and amazing. This article will explore what it was like for the institution to cede power to such a young group in their journey from museum novices to expert curators.
The Learning Department proposed this concept after having been given a slot in the exhibition galleries for a family friendly exhibition. It was argued that this plan was an innovative way to create a show that would be truly accessible to this audience.
The Wallace Collection’s director Rosalind Savill responded: “Why did I agree? Because I have such faith in you and the Learning Department, because it sounded a really exciting experiment, because I have a child too and know how much she would have loved such an opportunity, and because I long for more young people to be engaged in a hands-on way with works of art so that in the future we can have a glut of great curators to ensure [that] scholarship, learning and passion for museums survives!”
St. Vincent’s Roman Catholic Primary, a state school, was approached purely because it was the nearest school to the Wallace Collection. Fortunately the school personnel agreed to take part with only a vague outline of the project to go on. They were asked to select 12 pupils from Year 4 and 5, and they chose to select children of varying academic abilities.
All museum departments were to be involved in the exhibition in order to show the children what an exciting place a museum is and the range of skills and experiences of the staff.
The project was a journey of discovery. The only definite aspect was the exhibition opening date. The children would, the museum hoped, take responsibility for all aspects of the exhibition: curating, interpretation, design and finance, while being guided and supported by the museum. The aim was for the children to redisplay the collection, making the artworks more intriguing to a family audience, and to tell the story of the objects using their own voices. The challenge was to strike a balance between maintaining the atmosphere of the collection, retaining its integrity, and presenting a high quality exhibition with interpretation suitable for everyone. The exhibition was a new concept, therefore there was no expertise at the Wallace, or in the wider museum community, to call on.
- Emma Bryant (Emma.Bryant@wallacecollection.org) is education officer, the Wallace Collection, London.
DOI: 10.1111/j.2151-6952.2011.00103.x
© 2011 The California Academy of Sciences
