Photo by Lily Reavis ‘21
By Anoushka Kuswaha ’24
Health & Science Writer
In the face of COVID-19, museums have had to adapt to the challenges that the virus presents, like every other institution or business. Museums in Europe and North America were quickly able to create a digital presence for themselves on the internet toward the beginning of the pandemic. In the digital museum era, viewers are able to see a larger showcase of individualism. Many museums highlighted their curators and conservationists, as well as the artists that provide their content. Mount Holyoke’s art museum, for example, is highlighting the input of its students, employees, and alumni.
Currently, the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum (MHCAM) is highlighting the work of alumna Joan Jonas ’58 and artist Bisa Butler, with a spotlight specifically on the museum’s recent acquisition of her portrait quilt, “Broom Jumpers” (2019). The museum, like many of its kind around the globe, has created virtual recreations of its exhibitions. Others currently utilizing the same virtual model include the Musée du Louvre in Paris and the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid.
In addition to the creation of these virtual exhibitions on their websites, museums are using social media to continue their work at this time. Some have created prompts for their followers, the most well known being the Getty Museum’s challenge, which asks self-isolators to recreate one of the many paintings in its collection. Upon the museum’s announcement of this online challenge, bored art enthusiasts flooded social media threads with their own at-home interpretations. In the U.K., self-described “museum-weirdos” are creating and posting videos about their favorite art pieces and museums with the hashtag #MuseumAtHome. Their goal is to keep the love for museums alive while they are not accessible to the public due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Museum of Digital Art in Zürich, Switzerland — this writer’s city of residence — is hosting a variety of classes with creative contributors for all ages through live streaming. Close to Mount Holyoke, the National Museum of African American History and Culture documented and collected artifacts from the current Black Lives Matter protests.
Despite the many inventive ways that museums have gone digital this year, the inaccessibility of technology was made apparent just as quickly as these digital presences became known. The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization’s reports on museums found that only 5 percent of African and Small Island Developing States were able to create and maintain a virtual presence that is comparable to those presented by North American and European museums. In this same report, it is stated that more than 10 percent of museums will never reopen after this period of closure.
Museums are intrinsically linked to scholarly work and the knowledge of diverse cultures, religions, and societies. They spark inspiration and dialogue, as they hold tangible links to the past. In the time of COVID-19, where human volatility and differences are becoming more and more apparent, the knowledge and appreciation of cultures different from one’s own has become even more important.
This year, museums around the world have taken on a second and perhaps more important role as conservationists. Using the internet and social media, museums have begun collecting, documenting, and disseminating information about the virus and its impact on current and future generations. An example of this is the Museum Europäischer Kulturen located in Berlin, Germany. The MEK is using the hashtag #CollectingCorona on social media to collect videos, writings, photos, and art in any language, asking people all around the world how the pandemic has impacted their lives, their jobs, their mental health, and their families. All of this media will be compiled for a future exhibition at the MEK. In Sweden and Norway, a website called Minnen, or “Memories,” has been created for the purpose of collecting stories from around the world that document the human experience with COVID-19.
Museum curators using social media currently have the opportunity to hear firsthand accounts from residents of all corners of the world. A small business owner sends in a poem. An autistic student describes his experience with homeschooling. A schoolboy describes the different social media that he uses throughout the morning and how he prepares his breakfast. A six-year-old girl questions how her mother told her to eat eggs to boost her immune system.
As havens of anthropology, museums are markers for the level of civilization we have achieved as a collective human society. Their work in the time of the coronavirus pandemic serves as a reminder to generations in the present and the future of humanity’s hope, whimsy, courage, hate, and appreciation for the world around us.