Tuesday, March 29, 2016

One day in Hamilton

Number One:  I’m not at all happy with the Waikato Museum.
 

Number Two: Me neither.
 

NO: It’s all very well them storing and showing stuff of historical, scientific, artistic, or cultural interest but, as Gertrude Steam said 'you can be a modem or be a museum, but you can’t be both.'
 

NT: Classic Steam....
 

NO: Thing is, it’s all digital now
 

NT: Ones and zeros ....
 

NO: Visitors want to be entertained.
 

NT: Absolutely.
 

NO: And frankly the word museum doesn't capture the diversity of the venue's collections or the role it plays in the arts community.
 

NT: No capture at all. None… an absence of capture even
 

NO: So what we need to do is something really radical.
 

NT: We could give them more money. Their budget has been frozen for the last five years and ....
 

NO: Don’t be ridiculous.
 

NT: ....or we could give them less money, of course.
 

NO: No. I want something radical, something that will transform the paradigm.
 

NT: We could get rid of that interactive science place. The Jackson Pollock painting game’s a bit tired … not very exiting … (laughs to himself)
 

NO: Hmmmm (thinks hard) …radical… rad-i-cal… (thinks harder). I know! We’ll change the name.
 

And that is what they are going to do.