Students envisage alternative futures
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INNOVATION students have organised an exhibition exploring the Falconer Museum called 'Future Heritage'.
The group from the Glasgow School of Art's Altyre campus worked alongside the Friends of Falconer, to investigate the future of the Victorian-era building - the event details their key findings.
Innovation and design student, Lina Wilckens, believes the museum is under threat from closure after over 150 years on Tolbooth Street.
She said: "Last October, the Gazette pointed out "the Falconer Museum is under threat, as spelt out in Moray Council's budget blueprint for 2020/21, which states that £82,000 per year could be saved by closing the only remaining local authority-run museum in the region".
"We got involved during a time where the Falconer Museum is internally debating its future and saw an opportunity to investigate how the museum may re-invent itself and create a sustainable future where it sits at the centre of the community once again.
"There is enormous potential in the museum's history, collection, connections and the expertise of the staff, that is currently not being explored."
Future Falconer developed as part of a 10-week elective course at The GSA's MDES programme. Run by Dr George Jaramillo, students Jonas Gentle, Lina Wilckens, Zhicheng Xu and Min Zhou, investigated the future of heritage both theoretically, and practically, using the Falconer Museum as a case study.
The course's aim was to critically examine the role of that heritage plays in contemporary and future societies, particularly the role of the museum today and in the future.
The investigation entailed theoretical seminars/lectures and study visits to a number of museums in northern Scotland including the Elgin Museum and Timespan in Helmsdale.
Ms Wilckens said: "Our work used design innovation methods to include the Friends of the Falconer in re-imagining possible futures for the museum through workshops and engagements.
"The different educational and professional backgrounds of each student came together to form a suite of relevant expertise and ideas, that created food for thought and a dynamic and challenging process. We focussed on helping the museum and the community to visualise a future for the Falconer and to facilitate a critical discourse around what a museum is and could be."
Key findings include founder Hugh Falconer's discoveries being exhibited in larger establishments with more (cultural) capital, such as the Natural History Museum in London.
Ms Wilckens said: "The Falconer has an amazing opportunity to re-connect to Hugh Falconer's legacy, translating his joy of discovery to a sense of curiosity and intrigue in the way it presents itself and its collection today. The potential to draw in the community, as well as people from further afield, is huge if the museum manages to make the existing ideas a reality."
Showcase Future Falconer invites the community to take part in the process of developing a modern, dynamic space, that honours the past whilst pushing the boundaries of what a museum can be.
The opening is on Friday, May 17 at 6pm. Activities and refreshments will be provided.
"The exhibition offers tangible proposals that we would like to develop further with everyone's input," finished Ms Wilckens.
"In a time where the museum has been limited in what it can do and show, together with the Friends of the Falconer, we were able to liberate the museum from its constraints for a number of days, to illustrate its potential as a creative and community-driven space. The exhibition will offer multiple ways for visitors to engage, leave their feedback and participate in creative activities, which we also hope to see more of in the future.
"The Falconer is here to stay."
