What Makes a Brave Museum? Part 1

After a very long break, I've felt the urge to blog again, but felt I had little to add to the many voices that have so eloquently and usefully written about the threats to American democracy--the shuttering of agencies from AID to IMLS and everywhere in between.  Thanks to all of you who have shared perspectives and useful tools (including, but not limited to: many resources from AAM here, this this thoughtful conversation with Devon Akmon, and the American Library Association statement on the proposed elimination of IMLS).

Instead, this is the first in a series about brave museums I've encountered over the last year or two.  What do I mean when I say brave?  They are places that take on challenging histories, with multiple narratives, that encourage visitors to really think about past, present, and future.  They are also places that leap thoughtfully into innovative ways of exhibition development (with, admittedly, a bias of my own against intensive technology).

I'll begin with a museum in Estonia that I visited last fall:  the Vabamu Museum of Occupations and Freedom in Tallinn.  The permanent exhibit looks at during and after the Nazi and Soviet occupations of Estonia but importantly, as the website says, The focus on restoring and preserving freedom is central to Vabamu.  Somewhat reluctantly I took an audio tour, which turned out to be fabulous, tremendously engaging, but also giving you the written text, so you could read if you didn't want to listen.  As you'll see below, I took lots of photos of the text itself, to help me remember!

A key element of the exhibition is testimony from Estonians themselves, who were usually shown full size--so you really met them.  I think of this museum as brave, because it embraces all of the grays of past, present, and future.  For instance:

The exhibit also acknowledges the complexity of remembering Soviet times--that for many, there is also a complicated kind of nostalgia that plays in different ways for different memories.

The exhibit ends with contemporary testimonies and a chance to take a quiz to find out what kind of political person you would be in a newly independent Estonia--and you hear from people that represent all those perspectives.

Today, as I go back and read these texts that I saw last fall,  they have so much resonance in our current place here in the United States.  It's clear that we all have choices to make, but they may all be different.  But we need to be asking these questions!

Special thanks to Martin Vaino,  Curator and Head of Exhibitions who introduced us to the museum's work, and appreciation for this small exhibit on Ukraine, that used a dialogic format to encourage Estonians to reflect on their role in this conflict.  Thanks also to the US Embassy in Estonia who supported my attendance at the ICOM-Exhibition conference and this museum visit.