Gendered Interpretations at the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Vasa Museum
Lead Research Organisation:
Plymouth University
Department Name: Sch of Humanities & Performing Arts
Abstract
This project builds upon the success of a 2-year AHRC-funded research network project, 'Gender, Power and Materiality in Early Modern Europe', which raised awareness of gender in modern museological environments. The network generated a valuable dialogue between 4 university nodes (Plymouth, Lund, Leiden and Western Australia) and curators and research department at the V&A, and practice professionals at Skarhult Castle, Sweden, Museum of London, and Cultural Heritage Leiden, and previously has secured significant funding from the University of Lund and the Swedish Research Council. The follow-on funding would further enhance the existing partnership with the V&A, and allow us to work with a major new international partner, the Vasa Museum, Stockholm, which is reorganising the ways in which they think of gender in relation to their collections and museology practices. Both of the museums as well as Lund University have promised to provide match-funding for the proposed project, and see it as delivering significant wider impact in terms of knowledge exchange.
As a result of workshops over the past two years in collaboration with our non-HEI partners we developed an interpretative methodology for understanding objects, exhibitions and the past through the lens of gender, power and materiality that revealed the ways in which gendered power clusters influenced decision-making in the form and function of objects. A powerful outcome of the network has been a raising of the awareness of gender (which encompasses women and men, femininities and masculinities, sexualities and identities) as an important interpretive category within the museum environment, and the role this can play in generating diverse narratives that have wider societal impact disseminated through curatorial practice, and educational and public programming in its broadest sense, as a way of stimulating changes in behaviour. We are therefore seeking to work with two international beacon institutions in order to integrate gender better into narratives of the past and present.
The project the team (Daybell (PI), Norrhem (International CI), Susan Broomhall, Nadine Akkerman and Jacqueline Van Gent; at the Vasa Mirja Arnshav, Research Co-ordinator and Fred Hocker, Head of Research, and at the V&A, Joanna Norman, Head of Research, Elaine Tierney, Research Fellow, and Assistant Curators Dawn Hoskins and Zorian Clayton) would work with collaborating partners (including a network of Swedish heritage professionals led by Dr Pia Laskar, a Swedish gender historian/researcher) in order to coproduce with museum professionals gendered pathways and interpretation of the collections and permanent exhibitions at the V&A and Vasa.
The project activities will have several strands:
1) To develop gendered interpretative pathways through the permanent exhibitions and collections at the V&A and Vasa by identifying and researching 10-20 objects in each museum.
2) Co-production of public engagement dissemination activities and materials through a range of deliverables, including public talks, dialogue events, education packages, self-guided interpretative materials, podcasts and short film. A key aim of these activities is to reach out to new audiences defined by the partner institutions.
3) Two Knowledge Exchange events in London and Stockholm with the project team and museum practice professionals (curators, cataloguers, conservators, education and outreach and public programming) at the V&A and Vasa, and other non-HEI collaborating institutions. These events have two aims: to coproduce further the gendered pathways and interpretive materials in each institution; and to facilitate knowledge exchange of the conceptual implications of gendered interpretive pathways between international institutions.
4) Working with V&A, Vasa and a network of Swedish museums to produce of model of best practice to disseminate among Swedish museums and generate interntational knowledge exchange.
As a result of workshops over the past two years in collaboration with our non-HEI partners we developed an interpretative methodology for understanding objects, exhibitions and the past through the lens of gender, power and materiality that revealed the ways in which gendered power clusters influenced decision-making in the form and function of objects. A powerful outcome of the network has been a raising of the awareness of gender (which encompasses women and men, femininities and masculinities, sexualities and identities) as an important interpretive category within the museum environment, and the role this can play in generating diverse narratives that have wider societal impact disseminated through curatorial practice, and educational and public programming in its broadest sense, as a way of stimulating changes in behaviour. We are therefore seeking to work with two international beacon institutions in order to integrate gender better into narratives of the past and present.
The project the team (Daybell (PI), Norrhem (International CI), Susan Broomhall, Nadine Akkerman and Jacqueline Van Gent; at the Vasa Mirja Arnshav, Research Co-ordinator and Fred Hocker, Head of Research, and at the V&A, Joanna Norman, Head of Research, Elaine Tierney, Research Fellow, and Assistant Curators Dawn Hoskins and Zorian Clayton) would work with collaborating partners (including a network of Swedish heritage professionals led by Dr Pia Laskar, a Swedish gender historian/researcher) in order to coproduce with museum professionals gendered pathways and interpretation of the collections and permanent exhibitions at the V&A and Vasa.
The project activities will have several strands:
1) To develop gendered interpretative pathways through the permanent exhibitions and collections at the V&A and Vasa by identifying and researching 10-20 objects in each museum.
2) Co-production of public engagement dissemination activities and materials through a range of deliverables, including public talks, dialogue events, education packages, self-guided interpretative materials, podcasts and short film. A key aim of these activities is to reach out to new audiences defined by the partner institutions.
3) Two Knowledge Exchange events in London and Stockholm with the project team and museum practice professionals (curators, cataloguers, conservators, education and outreach and public programming) at the V&A and Vasa, and other non-HEI collaborating institutions. These events have two aims: to coproduce further the gendered pathways and interpretive materials in each institution; and to facilitate knowledge exchange of the conceptual implications of gendered interpretive pathways between international institutions.
4) Working with V&A, Vasa and a network of Swedish museums to produce of model of best practice to disseminate among Swedish museums and generate interntational knowledge exchange.
Planned Impact
We have identified a wide range of non-academic beneficiaries who will derive different kinds of impact generated by this follow-on funding project. These include:
i) Museums and heritage sites in the UK, Sweden and The Netherlands. Each of the three European HEI 'nodes' at Plymouth, Lund and Leiden has identified a series of local partner institutions as end-users for the research deriving from this follow-on funding project with the V&A and Vasa, with whom relationships are already established and which we would like to further develop. In the UK, this will include the Victoria and Albert Museum (Joanna Norman, Head of Research, and Elaine Tierney, Research Fellow, are both members of the project team); in Sweden, the Vasa Museet (Mirja Arnshav, Research Co-ordinator and Fred Hocker, Head of Research are both members of the project team) and Skarhults kulturminne, which hosts the Den Dolda Kvinnomakten ('The Hidden Power of Women') exhibition, and its owner Baroness Alexandra von Schwerin, as well as a network of Swedish State Museums co-ordinated by the Swedish Gender Consultant Dr Pia Laskar, who is a collaborating partner of the project; and in The Netherlands, the Allard Pierson Museum, Amsterdam.
ii) curators, cataloguers, conservators, education and public outreach practitioners and specialists working in the Heritage industries in the UK, Sweden and The Netherlands.
iii) visitors to museums, including the V&A and Vasa, and their target audiences (the Vasa had a record 1.3 million visitors last year, a large proportion of which were international; while the V&A had over 3 million).
iv) educators (teachers and lecturers) and school children and undergraduate students.
v) the Swedish government and Department of Education.
The ways in which these non-academic end-users will benefit from the impact of research produced by the follow-on funding project is wide-ranging and varied. Potential impacts include:
i) strengthening international relationships between museums, archives and academics in the UK, Sweden and The Netherlands.
ii) developing archival and museology practices as they relate to gender and the ways in which collections are approached, curated, displayed and studied through sharing practices between a range of international scholars working in different academic disciplines (History, Literature and Art History), and curators, archivists and specialists working in the Heritage and Public History industries. In bringing academics and museum experts closer together through collaboration is mutually beneficial, and makes academics more aware of the possibilities museums offer, as well as the constraints they work under.
iii) enhancing the visitor experience through new methods of display, and so developing cultural and social benefits for visitors.
iv) engaging the general public in the UK and Sweden in an aspect of their cultural heritage through various public engagement activities (lectures and public talks), thus contributing to their knowledge, skills and quality of life.
vi) enhancing schools' engagement with museum-based collections, via developing materials in the form of teaching packs repurposing research for use in the classroom, aligned with the National Curriculum.
vii) providing expert knowledge contributing to public policy debates in Sweden (in association with Skarhults kulturminne, and its owner Baroness Alexandra von Schwerin) relating to curriculum change in the teaching of History within Swedish classrooms in order to enhance the study of women in the past.
viii) understanding diversity of experiences contributes to a greater understanding of the world in which we live.
Other beneficiaries such as curators, archivists, conservationists, museum educators, cataloguers and other museum professionals bringing specialist sector knowledge and practices will benefit from as well as contribute to transdisciplinary dialogue and educational practice.
i) Museums and heritage sites in the UK, Sweden and The Netherlands. Each of the three European HEI 'nodes' at Plymouth, Lund and Leiden has identified a series of local partner institutions as end-users for the research deriving from this follow-on funding project with the V&A and Vasa, with whom relationships are already established and which we would like to further develop. In the UK, this will include the Victoria and Albert Museum (Joanna Norman, Head of Research, and Elaine Tierney, Research Fellow, are both members of the project team); in Sweden, the Vasa Museet (Mirja Arnshav, Research Co-ordinator and Fred Hocker, Head of Research are both members of the project team) and Skarhults kulturminne, which hosts the Den Dolda Kvinnomakten ('The Hidden Power of Women') exhibition, and its owner Baroness Alexandra von Schwerin, as well as a network of Swedish State Museums co-ordinated by the Swedish Gender Consultant Dr Pia Laskar, who is a collaborating partner of the project; and in The Netherlands, the Allard Pierson Museum, Amsterdam.
ii) curators, cataloguers, conservators, education and public outreach practitioners and specialists working in the Heritage industries in the UK, Sweden and The Netherlands.
iii) visitors to museums, including the V&A and Vasa, and their target audiences (the Vasa had a record 1.3 million visitors last year, a large proportion of which were international; while the V&A had over 3 million).
iv) educators (teachers and lecturers) and school children and undergraduate students.
v) the Swedish government and Department of Education.
The ways in which these non-academic end-users will benefit from the impact of research produced by the follow-on funding project is wide-ranging and varied. Potential impacts include:
i) strengthening international relationships between museums, archives and academics in the UK, Sweden and The Netherlands.
ii) developing archival and museology practices as they relate to gender and the ways in which collections are approached, curated, displayed and studied through sharing practices between a range of international scholars working in different academic disciplines (History, Literature and Art History), and curators, archivists and specialists working in the Heritage and Public History industries. In bringing academics and museum experts closer together through collaboration is mutually beneficial, and makes academics more aware of the possibilities museums offer, as well as the constraints they work under.
iii) enhancing the visitor experience through new methods of display, and so developing cultural and social benefits for visitors.
iv) engaging the general public in the UK and Sweden in an aspect of their cultural heritage through various public engagement activities (lectures and public talks), thus contributing to their knowledge, skills and quality of life.
vi) enhancing schools' engagement with museum-based collections, via developing materials in the form of teaching packs repurposing research for use in the classroom, aligned with the National Curriculum.
vii) providing expert knowledge contributing to public policy debates in Sweden (in association with Skarhults kulturminne, and its owner Baroness Alexandra von Schwerin) relating to curriculum change in the teaching of History within Swedish classrooms in order to enhance the study of women in the past.
viii) understanding diversity of experiences contributes to a greater understanding of the world in which we live.
Other beneficiaries such as curators, archivists, conservationists, museum educators, cataloguers and other museum professionals bringing specialist sector knowledge and practices will benefit from as well as contribute to transdisciplinary dialogue and educational practice.
| Description | This project applied a gendered interpretative tool to the collections at the Victoria & Albert Museum (London) and the Vasa Museum (Stockholm), with the understanding that objects and their gendered narratives within the museums' collections have been researched across their lifecycle from commission and manufacture to consumption and display in a museum setting. This research has been developed in close co-operation between researchers/curators/museum professionals. It responds to a need for museums to have gender better integrated into narratives of the past and present. Transforming curatorial and curatorial practice is at the heart of this work, and the research seeks to develop best practice guidance on making diverse gendered history more visible in the museum space. The team of researchers, curators and museum professionals have identified and researched a selection of early modern objects and their gendered narratives within the museum's collections. This article uses two hats held at the Vasa and V&A to demonstrate this methodology. Woollen and beaver hats are gendered in terms of their intended wearer; the predominantly female labour of the wool industry; the impact of the beaver skin trade on Native American gender dynamics; and the status of headwear as an index of anxiety about gender nonconformity. An innovative outcome of the research has been a raising of the awareness of gender (which encompasses women and men, femininities and masculinities, sexualities and identities) as an important interpretative category within the museum environment, and the important role this can play in generating diverse narratives that have wider societal impact disseminated through curatorial practice, as well as educational and public programming. |
| Exploitation Route | For a long time and up to recently museums mostly got away with presenting gender-blind exhibitions to an audience that most often did not expect, or perhaps in many cases even did not want, anything else. A need to attract new and wider groups of visitors has increased an interest in seeking to become more relevant to groups who visit museums less frequently, while simultaneously sustaining repeat visits from existing regular visitors. This project is about making museums more relevant and inclusive by revealing the fuller stories behind museum objects. By gendering objects at the V&A and Vasa museums we not only wish to make visible the gendered aspects that made an object meaningful to early modern people, but also to recover the gendered impact and significance of the object in its broadest sense, within and beyond the society it was made for. Moreover, we want to provide a means of diversifying gendered representation within the museum. The implementation of the interpretative methodology has revealed both the possibilities that lay therein - as shown by the case studies above - and the challenges museums face when trying to integrate gender analysis into their existing procedures. One such issue is the burden of a gender-biased organisational history which, for example, is seen in cataloguing and earlier research perspectives. Most cataloguing, as well as previous object research, was done at a time when gender analysis was not considered important, resulting in the existing knowledge being at best limited and at worst misleading or inaccurate. To integrate gender at a museum thus means that one has to start from the beginning. This project has indicated that thorough gender integration is a long-term commitment whose success relies upon the involvement of all departments in a museum, including curators, educators, guides researchers and communicators. It is not just about new research on specific objects, but also about making this new knowledge available through different channels to staff as well as external museum experts and visitors. Besides the obvious need for new research, this also includes labelling objects in new ways to make them searchable, re-writing guide manuals and educational materials, re-writing textual information and re-thinking how the museum communicates its exhibitions to its visitors. In order to make this work in a holistic way, it means that staff from all categories across the museum have to be part of the integration process. This worked very differently in the two museums, because of their differing size and set up. The Vasa is a highly unified museum, which had the benefit of mobilising the entire institution behind the project from the Director to the research team and other departments. Contrastingly, the V&A's vast size necessitated a different approach, working with the research department, specific curatorial teams, and the LGBTQ group, who provided expertise and cross-institutional collaboration. The decision at the Vasa museum to open a temporary exhibition called ´Vasa's Women´ was both a result of a raising awareness of the importance of gender, and a starting point for a more thorough integration process - which is part of this project. Instead of showing the warship Vasa as just a warship - commissioned by the warrior king Gustavus Adolphus and intended to send men into war against other men - a new interest arose to tell a fuller story about the ship and its societal context. Thus the story of the shipyard´s female manager, the many female suppliers of timber, the women who owned iron mills where cannon balls were manufactured, and not least the women who went down with the ship as it sank in 1628. As a result, visitors will in the future not only meet a gendered story about a hat, but also, among others, the gendered histories about a dress, the many wooden figures that decorated the ship, games played on the ship and even the gendered history of the vessel's cannon balls. Research on the V&A's woollen cap and the hat from the Vasa museum reveals the numerous curatorial opportunities offered by a gendered interpretative methodology which studies materiality, production, use, re-use, design and interpretation. Attention to the materiality of textile objects has the potential to transform not just interpretation of individual objects, but interpretation of entire museum collections. Every object with woollen, spun or woven elements has an unacknowledged history of poorly-paid female labour as well as of women involved in trade and distribution of goods; when combined with recent research into the importance of women's labour and investment to the silk industry, this methodology invites a wholesale gendered reassessment of costume collections. In the case of objects containing flax - including embroideries on linen canvas - the working bodies of these women are even more integral: early modern flax-spinning frequently involved the application of saliva to moisten the thread and keep it pliable (Jones and Stallybrass 2000, p. 105), meaning that the bodily traces of early modern women may remain, unseen, in many museum collections. More broadly, given the importance of this female labour to the wool trade, museum objects that were originally purchased or commissioned by medieval or early modern wool-merchants can be said to rely on women's labour; this is also true of historic properties. Alongside this important opportunity to re-evaluate and reveal the centrality of women's work in shaping museum collections, the cases of the cap and the hat also demonstrate the importance of asking questions about what happened when the gendered rules surrounding objects were broken. Gendering objects is not just about making visible gendered conventions or stereotypes whose significance has been forgotten; it is also a much-needed opportunity to diversify our sense of gendered behaviour in the past, and to recover histories which will resonate with trans and gender nonconforming visitors. This group, whose history is still largely absent from museums - and particularly from the representation of pre-twentieth-century history - are still marginalised in contemporary society and thus stand to benefit substantially from museum representation, both in terms of its potential to combat social isolation and in terms of its capacity to undermine politicised claims that trans experience is a recent phenomenon (Heyam 2019, pp. 8-9). Finally, by using the methodological tool museum objects such as the cap and the hat can be placed in a global context. An object itself, the material, or part of it, was sometimes imported and thus offers the large group of visitors from all over the world - at the Vasa no less than 80 percent of all visitors come from abroad - a gendered history involving not only Britain or Sweden. The growing consensus concerning the social agency of museums makes the diversification of gendered interpretation, in terms of both women's history and queer history, an increasingly urgent task; the case studies presented here demonstrate the potential of everyday objects to facilitate this aim. |
| Sectors | Creative Economy,Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Description | For a long time and up to recently museums mostly got away with presenting gender-blind exhibitions to an audience that most often did not expect, or perhaps in many cases even did not want, anything else. A need to attract new and wider groups of visitors has increased an interest in seeking to become more relevant to groups who visit museums less frequently, while simultaneously sustaining repeat visits from existing regular visitors. This project is about making museums more relevant and inclusive by revealing the fuller stories behind museum objects. By gendering objects at the V&A and Vasa museums we not only wish to make visible the gendered aspects that made an object meaningful to early modern people, but also to recover the gendered impact and significance of the object in its broadest sense, within and beyond the society it was made for. Moreover, we want to provide a means of diversifying gendered representation within the museum. The implementation of the interpretative methodology has revealed both the possibilities that lay therein - as shown by the case studies above - and the challenges museums face when trying to integrate gender analysis into their existing procedures. One such issue is the burden of a gender-biased organisational history which, for example, is seen in cataloguing and earlier research perspectives. Most cataloguing, as well as previous object research, was done at a time when gender analysis was not considered important, resulting in the existing knowledge being at best limited and at worst misleading or inaccurate. To integrate gender at a museum thus means that one has to start from the beginning. This project has indicated that thorough gender integration is a long-term commitment whose success relies upon the involvement of all departments in a museum, including curators, educators, guides researchers and communicators. It is not just about new research on specific objects, but also about making this new knowledge available through different channels to staff as well as external museum experts and visitors. Besides the obvious need for new research, this also includes labelling objects in new ways to make them searchable, re-writing guide manuals and educational materials, re-writing textual information and re-thinking how the museum communicates its exhibitions to its visitors. In order to make this work in a holistic way, it means that staff from all categories across the museum have to be part of the integration process. This worked very differently in the two museums, because of their differing size and set up. The Vasa is a highly unified museum, which had the benefit of mobilising the entire institution behind the project from the Director to the research team and other departments. Contrastingly, the V&A's vast size necessitated a different approach, working with the research department, specific curatorial teams, and the LGBTQ group, who provided expertise and cross-institutional collaboration. The decision at the Vasa museum to open a temporary exhibition called ´Vasa's Women´ was both a result of a raising awareness of the importance of gender, and a starting point for a more thorough integration process - which is part of this project. Instead of showing the warship Vasa as just a warship - commissioned by the warrior king Gustavus Adolphus and intended to send men into war against other men - a new interest arose to tell a fuller story about the ship and its societal context. Thus the story of the shipyard´s female manager, the many female suppliers of timber, the women who owned iron mills where cannon balls were manufactured, and not least the women who went down with the ship as it sank in 1628. As a result, visitors will in the future not only meet a gendered story about a hat, but also, among others, the gendered histories about a dress, the many wooden figures that decorated the ship, games played on the ship and even the gendered history of the vessel's cannon balls. Research on the V&A's woollen cap and the hat from the Vasa museum reveals the numerous curatorial opportunities offered by a gendered interpretative methodology which studies materiality, production, use, re-use, design and interpretation. Attention to the materiality of textile objects has the potential to transform not just interpretation of individual objects, but interpretation of entire museum collections. Every object with woollen, spun or woven elements has an unacknowledged history of poorly-paid female labour as well as of women involved in trade and distribution of goods; when combined with recent research into the importance of women's labour and investment to the silk industry, this methodology invites a wholesale gendered reassessment of costume collections. In the case of objects containing flax - including embroideries on linen canvas - the working bodies of these women are even more integral: early modern flax-spinning frequently involved the application of saliva to moisten the thread and keep it pliable (Jones and Stallybrass 2000, p. 105), meaning that the bodily traces of early modern women may remain, unseen, in many museum collections. More broadly, given the importance of this female labour to the wool trade, museum objects that were originally purchased or commissioned by medieval or early modern wool-merchants can be said to rely on women's labour; this is also true of historic properties. Alongside this important opportunity to re-evaluate and reveal the centrality of women's work in shaping museum collections, the cases of the cap and the hat also demonstrate the importance of asking questions about what happened when the gendered rules surrounding objects were broken. Gendering objects is not just about making visible gendered conventions or stereotypes whose significance has been forgotten; it is also a much-needed opportunity to diversify our sense of gendered behaviour in the past, and to recover histories which will resonate with trans and gender nonconforming visitors. This group, whose history is still largely absent from museums - and particularly from the representation of pre-twentieth-century history - are still marginalised in contemporary society and thus stand to benefit substantially from museum representation, both in terms of its potential to combat social isolation and in terms of its capacity to undermine politicised claims that trans experience is a recent phenomenon (Heyam 2019, pp. 8-9). Finally, by using the methodological tool museum objects such as the cap and the hat can be placed in a global context. An object itself, the material, or part of it, was sometimes imported and thus offers the large group of visitors from all over the world - at the Vasa no less than 80 percent of all visitors come from abroad - a gendered history involving not only Britain or Sweden. The growing consensus concerning the social agency of museums makes the diversification of gendered interpretation, in terms of both women's history and queer history, an increasingly urgent task; the case studies presented here demonstrate the potential of everyday objects to facilitate this aim. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2019 |
| Sector | Creative Economy,Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Societal |
| Description | Vasa Museum |
| Organisation | Vasa Museum, Stockholm |
| Country | Sweden |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | This project led to collaborations with museum staff at two major international museums - one existed partner and one new partner - the V&A in London and Vasa Museum in Stockholm, in order to develop new pathways to knowledge exchange that raise gender awareness and influence behavioural change. The project resulted in the following contributions: 1) The coproduce gendered interpretive pathways through the permanent exhibitions and collections at the V&A and Vasa museums by applying a gendered interpretive methodology, which was developed during the network phase of this project based on close study of one object in particular, the early modern glove. During this next phase of funding we extending this form of gender and material analysis to other types of objects throughout the two museums' collections. The research team worked in collaboration with the UK and Swedish RAs (working respectively in English and Swedish languages) and other researchers, curators and museum professionals at the V&A and Vasa to identify and research a selection of 10-20 objects and their gendered narratives within the museum's collections. Research and analysis of these objects in detail used our gendered interpretative methodology, which studies an object's history across its lifecycle from commission and manufacture to consumption and display in a museum setting. This gender-informed research formed the basis of interpretive strategies delivered in different formats throughout each museum. 2) Working closely with Vasa and V&A staff we co-produced public engagement dissemination activities and materials through a range of deliverables, which includes educational materials, public lectures, podcasts. An allied key aim of these activities was to reach out to new audiences defined by the partner institutions, and significantly extend the impact of our research findings to wider general publics. 3) We facilitated knowledge exchange of the conceptual implications of gendered interpretive pathways between international partner institutions by holding two Knowledge Exchange workshops in London and Stockholm with the project team and museum practice professionals (curators, cataloguers, conservators, education and outreach and public programming) at the V&A and Vasa, as well as other non-HEI collaborating institutions. These events allowed us to coproduce further the gendered pathways and interpretive materials in each institution. 4) Dissemination of best practice among Swedish institutions and generate knowledge exchange internationally among collaborating institutions by working with a network of Swedish cultural heritage professionals and gender scholars led by the Swedish gender historian/researcher Pia Laskar at Sweden's National Historical Museums a key partner of the project. Network members were invited to attend the knowledge exchange workshop in Stockholm. |
| Collaborator Contribution | This project led to collaborations with museum staff at two major international museums - one existed partner and one new partner - the V&A in London and Vasa Museum in Stockholm, in order to develop new pathways to knowledge exchange that raise gender awareness and influence behavioural change. The project resulted in the following contributions: 1) The coproduce gendered interpretive pathways through the permanent exhibitions and collections at the V&A and Vasa museums by applying a gendered interpretive methodology, which was developed during the network phase of this project based on close study of one object in particular, the early modern glove. During this next phase of funding we extending this form of gender and material analysis to other types of objects throughout the two museums' collections. The research team worked in collaboration with the UK and Swedish RAs (working respectively in English and Swedish languages) and other researchers, curators and museum professionals at the V&A and Vasa to identify and research a selection of 10-20 objects and their gendered narratives within the museum's collections. Research and analysis of these objects in detail used our gendered interpretative methodology, which studies an object's history across its lifecycle from commission and manufacture to consumption and display in a museum setting. This gender-informed research formed the basis of interpretive strategies delivered in different formats throughout each museum. 2) Working closely with Vasa and V&A staff we co-produced public engagement dissemination activities and materials through a range of deliverables, which includes educational materials, public lectures, podcasts. An allied key aim of these activities was to reach out to new audiences defined by the partner institutions, and significantly extend the impact of our research findings to wider general publics. 3) We facilitated knowledge exchange of the conceptual implications of gendered interpretive pathways between international partner institutions by holding two Knowledge Exchange workshops in London and Stockholm with the project team and museum practice professionals (curators, cataloguers, conservators, education and outreach and public programming) at the V&A and Vasa, as well as other non-HEI collaborating institutions. These events allowed us to coproduce further the gendered pathways and interpretive materials in each institution. 4) Dissemination of best practice among Swedish institutions and generate knowledge exchange internationally among collaborating institutions by working with a network of Swedish cultural heritage professionals and gender scholars led by the Swedish gender historian/researcher Pia Laskar at Sweden's National Historical Museums a key partner of the project. Network members were invited to attend the knowledge exchange workshop in Stockholm. |
| Impact | This project led to collaborations with museum staff at two major international museums - one existed partner and one new partner - the V&A in London and Vasa Museum in Stockholm, in order to develop new pathways to knowledge exchange that raise gender awareness and influence behavioural change. The project resulted in the following contributions: 1) The coproduce gendered interpretive pathways through the permanent exhibitions and collections at the V&A and Vasa museums by applying a gendered interpretive methodology, which was developed during the network phase of this project based on close study of one object in particular, the early modern glove. During this next phase of funding we extending this form of gender and material analysis to other types of objects throughout the two museums' collections. The research team worked in collaboration with the UK and Swedish RAs (working respectively in English and Swedish languages) and other researchers, curators and museum professionals at the V&A and Vasa to identify and research a selection of 10-20 objects and their gendered narratives within the museum's collections. Research and analysis of these objects in detail used our gendered interpretative methodology, which studies an object's history across its lifecycle from commission and manufacture to consumption and display in a museum setting. This gender-informed research formed the basis of interpretive strategies delivered in different formats throughout each museum. 2) Working closely with Vasa and V&A staff we co-produced public engagement dissemination activities and materials through a range of deliverables, which includes educational materials, public lectures, podcasts. An allied key aim of these activities was to reach out to new audiences defined by the partner institutions, and significantly extend the impact of our research findings to wider general publics. 3) We facilitated knowledge exchange of the conceptual implications of gendered interpretive pathways between international partner institutions by holding two Knowledge Exchange workshops in London and Stockholm with the project team and museum practice professionals (curators, cataloguers, conservators, education and outreach and public programming) at the V&A and Vasa, as well as other non-HEI collaborating institutions. These events allowed us to coproduce further the gendered pathways and interpretive materials in each institution. 4) Dissemination of best practice among Swedish institutions and generate knowledge exchange internationally among collaborating institutions by working with a network of Swedish cultural heritage professionals and gender scholars led by the Swedish gender historian/researcher Pia Laskar at Sweden's National Historical Museums a key partner of the project. Network members were invited to attend the knowledge exchange workshop in Stockholm. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | Victoria and Albert Museum |
| Organisation | Victoria and Albert Museum |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | This project led to collaborations with museum staff at two major international museums - one existed partner and one new partner - the V&A in London and Vasa Museum in Stockholm, in order to develop new pathways to knowledge exchange that raise gender awareness and influence behavioural change. The project resulted in the following contributions: 1) The coproduce gendered interpretive pathways through the permanent exhibitions and collections at the V&A and Vasa museums by applying a gendered interpretive methodology, which was developed during the network phase of this project based on close study of one object in particular, the early modern glove. During this next phase of funding we extending this form of gender and material analysis to other types of objects throughout the two museums' collections. The research team worked in collaboration with the UK and Swedish RAs (working respectively in English and Swedish languages) and other researchers, curators and museum professionals at the V&A and Vasa to identify and research a selection of 10-20 objects and their gendered narratives within the museum's collections. Research and analysis of these objects in detail used our gendered interpretative methodology, which studies an object's history across its lifecycle from commission and manufacture to consumption and display in a museum setting. This gender-informed research formed the basis of interpretive strategies delivered in different formats throughout each museum. 2) Working closely with Vasa and V&A staff we co-produced public engagement dissemination activities and materials through a range of deliverables, which includes educational materials, public lectures, podcasts. An allied key aim of these activities was to reach out to new audiences defined by the partner institutions, and significantly extend the impact of our research findings to wider general publics. 3) We facilitated knowledge exchange of the conceptual implications of gendered interpretive pathways between international partner institutions by holding two Knowledge Exchange workshops in London and Stockholm with the project team and museum practice professionals (curators, cataloguers, conservators, education and outreach and public programming) at the V&A and Vasa, as well as other non-HEI collaborating institutions. These events allowed us to coproduce further the gendered pathways and interpretive materials in each institution. 4) Dissemination of best practice among Swedish institutions and generate knowledge exchange internationally among collaborating institutions by working with a network of Swedish cultural heritage professionals and gender scholars led by the Swedish gender historian/researcher Pia Laskar at Sweden's National Historical Museums a key partner of the project. Network members were invited to attend the knowledge exchange workshop in Stockholm. |
| Collaborator Contribution | This project led to collaborations with museum staff at two major international museums - one existed partner and one new partner - the V&A in London and Vasa Museum in Stockholm, in order to develop new pathways to knowledge exchange that raise gender awareness and influence behavioural change. The project resulted in the following contributions: 1) The coproduce gendered interpretive pathways through the permanent exhibitions and collections at the V&A and Vasa museums by applying a gendered interpretive methodology, which was developed during the network phase of this project based on close study of one object in particular, the early modern glove. During this next phase of funding we extending this form of gender and material analysis to other types of objects throughout the two museums' collections. The research team worked in collaboration with the UK and Swedish RAs (working respectively in English and Swedish languages) and other researchers, curators and museum professionals at the V&A and Vasa to identify and research a selection of 10-20 objects and their gendered narratives within the museum's collections. Research and analysis of these objects in detail used our gendered interpretative methodology, which studies an object's history across its lifecycle from commission and manufacture to consumption and display in a museum setting. This gender-informed research formed the basis of interpretive strategies delivered in different formats throughout each museum. 2) Working closely with Vasa and V&A staff we co-produced public engagement dissemination activities and materials through a range of deliverables, which includes educational materials, public lectures, podcasts. An allied key aim of these activities was to reach out to new audiences defined by the partner institutions, and significantly extend the impact of our research findings to wider general publics. 3) We facilitated knowledge exchange of the conceptual implications of gendered interpretive pathways between international partner institutions by holding two Knowledge Exchange workshops in London and Stockholm with the project team and museum practice professionals (curators, cataloguers, conservators, education and outreach and public programming) at the V&A and Vasa, as well as other non-HEI collaborating institutions. These events allowed us to coproduce further the gendered pathways and interpretive materials in each institution. 4) Dissemination of best practice among Swedish institutions and generate knowledge exchange internationally among collaborating institutions by working with a network of Swedish cultural heritage professionals and gender scholars led by the Swedish gender historian/researcher Pia Laskar at Sweden's National Historical Museums a key partner of the project. Network members were invited to attend the knowledge exchange workshop in Stockholm. |
| Impact | This project led to collaborations with museum staff at two major international museums - one existed partner and one new partner - the V&A in London and Vasa Museum in Stockholm, in order to develop new pathways to knowledge exchange that raise gender awareness and influence behavioural change. The project resulted in the following contributions: 1) The coproduce gendered interpretive pathways through the permanent exhibitions and collections at the V&A and Vasa museums by applying a gendered interpretive methodology, which was developed during the network phase of this project based on close study of one object in particular, the early modern glove. During this next phase of funding we extending this form of gender and material analysis to other types of objects throughout the two museums' collections. The research team worked in collaboration with the UK and Swedish RAs (working respectively in English and Swedish languages) and other researchers, curators and museum professionals at the V&A and Vasa to identify and research a selection of 10-20 objects and their gendered narratives within the museum's collections. Research and analysis of these objects in detail used our gendered interpretative methodology, which studies an object's history across its lifecycle from commission and manufacture to consumption and display in a museum setting. This gender-informed research formed the basis of interpretive strategies delivered in different formats throughout each museum. 2) Working closely with Vasa and V&A staff we co-produced public engagement dissemination activities and materials through a range of deliverables, which includes educational materials, public lectures, podcasts. An allied key aim of these activities was to reach out to new audiences defined by the partner institutions, and significantly extend the impact of our research findings to wider general publics. 3) We facilitated knowledge exchange of the conceptual implications of gendered interpretive pathways between international partner institutions by holding two Knowledge Exchange workshops in London and Stockholm with the project team and museum practice professionals (curators, cataloguers, conservators, education and outreach and public programming) at the V&A and Vasa, as well as other non-HEI collaborating institutions. These events allowed us to coproduce further the gendered pathways and interpretive materials in each institution. 4) Dissemination of best practice among Swedish institutions and generate knowledge exchange internationally among collaborating institutions by working with a network of Swedish cultural heritage professionals and gender scholars led by the Swedish gender historian/researcher Pia Laskar at Sweden's National Historical Museums a key partner of the project. Network members were invited to attend the knowledge exchange workshop in Stockholm. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | 10/10/19: Kit Heyam delivered a tour, 'Gendering the V&A's Early Modern Collections' (see webpage here) as part of the V&A's weekly programme of 'In Focus' tours. This tour covered the same objects as the above tour for Digital Design Weekend |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | 10/10/19: Kit Heyam delivered a tour, 'Gendering the V&A's Early Modern Collections' (see webpage here) as part of the V&A's weekly programme of 'In Focus' tours. This tour covered the same objects as the above tour for Digital Design Weekend, and again circulated the 'gender trail' leaflet. 10 people attended. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | 12/4/19: Kit Heyam Meeting with Marc Barto to discuss contributing to the V&A's 'Digital Design Weekend' in September, whose theme this year is 'Heritage and Identity in the Digital Age'. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | 12/4/19: Kit Heyam Meeting with Marc Barto to discuss contributing to the V&A's 'Digital Design Weekend' in September, whose theme this year is 'Heritage and Identity in the Digital Age'. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | 12/4/19: Kit Heyam Meeting with Rachel Broomhead from English Heritage LGBTQ working group. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | 12/4/19: Kit Heyam Meeting with Rachel Broomhead from English Heritage LGBTQ working group. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | 12/6/19: Published article on Swedish Genus & Kulturarv (http://www.genusarv.se/making-gender-visible-in-museums-a-new-approach/) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | 12/6/19: Kit Heyam Published article on Swedish Genus & Kulturarv (http://www.genusarv.se/making-gender-visible-in-museums-a-new-approach/) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | 16/10/19: Kit Heyam delivered a talk, 'Invisible Women: Uncovering Gendered History in the V&A's Early Modern Collections' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | 16/10/19: Kit Heyam delivered a talk, 'Invisible Women: Uncovering Gendered History in the V&A's Early Modern Collections', as part of the V&A's weekly programme of 'Lunchtime Lectures'. This talk covered objects that could not be visited on the tour due to their placement in hard-to-see cases, and focused mainly on women's history. Questions asked included some evidence of impact: One V&A 'Female Voices' tour guide told me she would include information from the talk in her subsequent tours: she was particularly struck by my observation that much of the wealth of medieval and early modern England, which enabled men to purchase or commission decorative objects like the ones held by the V&A, was drawn from the wool trade, which relied on female labour. One visitor asked me what I thought museums should be doing to make women's history more visible; I responded by emphasising the multiple routes to gendering collections and by plugging our forthcoming 'how-to' guide. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | 16/5/19: Kit Heyam Meeting with Edwina Ehrmann and Sonnet Stanfill to discuss application of project methodology to reinterpretation of the V&A's permanent fashion galleries. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | 16/5/19: Kit Heyam Meeting with Edwina Ehrmann and Sonnet Stanfill to discuss application of project methodology to reinterpretation of the V&A's permanent fashion galleries. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | 17/5/19: Kit Heyam Invited panellist at 'Gender History in a Non-Binary World' workshop for postgraduate students, Birkbeck. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | 17/5/19: Kit Heyam Invited panellist at 'Gender History in a Non-Binary World' workshop for postgraduate students, Birkbeck. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | 19/3/19: Kit Heyam Meeting with Diana Roberts about Royal College of Music concert |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | 19/3/19: Kit Heyam Meeting with Diana Roberts about Royal College of Music concert about the composition of a piece of music based on the project's research. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | 19/3/19: Kit Heyam Meeting with Jenna Mason about Friday Late |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | 19/3/19: Kit Heyam Meeting with Jenna Mason about Friday Late |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | 22/10/19: Kit Heyam Delivered transgender awareness training for V&A curatorial and interpretation staff |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | 22/10/19: kit Heyam Delivered transgender awareness training for V&A curatorial and interpretation staff - mostly staff working on the reinterpretation of Gallery 40, the V&A's permanent fashion gallery. Discussion included ways of gendering objects and creating trans visibility in exhibitions without any obvious gendered aspects. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | 22/11/19: Concert by Jaclyn Rosenfeld, trans female cellist, with a programme inspired by the project. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | 22/11: Concert by Jaclyn Rosenfeld, trans female cellist, with a programme inspired by the project. Part of the V&A and Royal College of Music's regular programme of Friday evening public concerts. Approx. 50 people attended. I gave a short introduction explaining the project's aims and findings. Jaclyn applied the project's methodology to selecting a programme of classical music, and gave short introductions to each piece explaining this. Her research covered: Anna Magdalena Bach, JS Bach's second wife: v influential in disseminating Bach's music as a copyist, and particularly central in the preservation of his cello suites, which don't survive in Bach's hand; until Anna's copies were discovered they only existed in dodgy c19th editions found in a Barcelona second-hand bookshop. Nadezhda von Mack: Tchaikovsky's most important patron and dedicatee, who described herself as masculine rather than feminine in the way she related to people. Patron and composer were given equal billing in c19th Russia. Compared classical music, where composer/musician as people are erased in favour of their music, to pop music where musician's identity is central. Pointed out that it's effectively illegal in Russia today to name Tchaikovsky's sexuality. Invited us to consider Tchaikovsky, as we listened to her play his music, as "not just a composer that happened to be gay, but a gay composer". Stravinsky's Pulcinella ballet: link to Pulcinella mask researched as part of project. Ballet very much "straightens out" the queer aspects of commedia dell'arte. Nadia Boulanger: composer whose own work is largely unknown but who taught Aaron Copland, Philip Glass, Stravinsky's son, Quincy Jones, among other well-known male composers. She applied to win a prestigious French music prize, the Prix de Rome, 4 times but didn't win; but she then encouraged her younger sister Lili to apply, and she became the first woman to win it. Nadia was much harsher on her female pupils than her male ones, thought to be because she believed they had less time to become proficient musicians before they inevitably gave up music to become wives and mothers. Two visitors commented that they thought this methodology should be applied to an entire programme of classical music concerts. Several said they were going to visit the Pulcinella mask and think about its gendered aspects. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | 24/6: Kit Heyam Interview for Radio New Zealand's 'Nights' show |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | 24/6: Kit Heyam Interview for Radio New Zealand's 'Nights' show about the project |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | 25/6/19: Kit Heyam Delivered 'Work in Progress' seminar to V&A staff. Attended by curators, research staff, interpretation staff and tour guides. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | 25/6/19: Kit Heyam Delivered 'Work in Progress' seminar to V&A staff. Attended by curators, research staff, interpretation staff and tour guides. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | 28/6/19: Kit Heyam Presented on 'Hidden female labour in the Armada Portrait' at 'Splendour: Adornment, Bodies, Gender' event at Queen's House Museum |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | 28/6/19: Kit Heyam Presented on 'Hidden female labour in the Armada Portrait' at 'Splendour: Adornment, Bodies, Gender' event at Queen's House Museum |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Developed 'gender trail' leaflet for V&A Friday Late |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Developed 'gender trail' leaflet for V&A Friday Late. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Digital Design Weekend |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | As part of the V&A's digital design weekend, we ran a workshop (in collaboration with V&A staff and the LGBTQ research group at the museum) that focussed on the gendered nature of objects, as a way of engaging audience members with the concepts of gender and sexuality. 1: 'Rainbow Plaques' drop-in activity, inviting members of the public to make cardboard plaques marking either places with significance to their own LGBTQ history, or objects in the museum whose LGBTQ history they feel should be more visible. As part of this, we communicated about the project by using our objects as examples of items with hidden LGBTQ history. The activity was run on Saturday 21/9 by me and Tom Butler (LGBTQ volunteer tour guide); and on Sunday 22/9 by Alice Power (co-chair of V&A LGBTQ staff network) and Emma Bell, Jack Shoulder and Claire Chu (LGBTQ volunteer tour guides). 2: Tour of gender history in the V&A's early modern objects. This tour communicated the project's findings about 6 objects (the cap, boxwood comb, glove, Oxburgh Hangings, antimony cup and Pulcinella mask) to 10 people. I also circulated the 'gender trail' leaflet mentioned above. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Friday Night Late Event at the Victoria and Albert Museum |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | As part of the V&A's Friday Night Late series, which brings an enormous audience of 1000s into the museum, we ran a workshop (in collaboration with V&A staff and the LGBTQ research group at the museum) that focussed on the gendered nature of objects, as a way of engaging audience members with the concepts of gender and sexuality. Short talk about project and Oxburgh Hangings (embroidery panel by Mary Queen of Scots and Bess of Hardwick) followed by feminist embroidery workshop run by artist Sarah-Joy Ford and distribution of 'gender trail' leaflet giving more information on project findings. 60 people attended (maximum possible for workshop). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | In Focus Tour at the V&A |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | As part of the project a special tour was designed and led by Kit Heyam, postdoctoral researcher on the project, looking at gendered objects within the V&A museum to an audience of around 50. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Kit Heyam13/2: Delivered talk, 'Trans and non-binary history and acceptance' (not solely focused on project, but including raising awareness of project methodology), at York St John University. Part of York LGBT History Month programme. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | 13/2/19: Kit Heyam Delivered talk, 'Trans and non-binary history and acceptance' (not solely focused on project, but including raising awareness of project methodology), at York St John University. Part of York LGBT History Month programme. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Knowledge Exchange Workshop at the V&A |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Workshop 2: Gendered Interpretations of the V&A and Vasa Museums, Victorian & Albert Museum, London, 12 and 13 September 2019. This second workshop while a progress report of current work, is intended to be more about interpretations than objects, which was the core of the first workshop, and the focus is on the V&A collections, as well as best practice and next steps. 11 September - arrival in London (conference accommodation: Princes Gardens (part of imperial College, London). Thursday 12 September - Seminar Room 1, Sackler Learning Centre 9.00-9.30: Arrival, welcome and introductions - Arrival at Secretariat Gate at 9.00am; Claudia will pick up external guests 9.30-10.30: Updates on the projects (James Daybell and Kit Heyam, University of Plymouth Svante Norrhem, Lund University, and Anna Maria Forssberg, Vasa Museum) 10.30-10.50: Coffee --- Benugo 10.50-12.20: Gallery Tour at V&A (Kit Heyam) - 11.20: introduction to the British Galleries by Nick Humphrey (Curator Furniture, Textiles & Fashion). - 11.40: M&R introduction by Michaela Zoschg, Curator of Medieval Art & Design Buffet Lunch: 12.20-13.00 - Seminar Room 1 - Sandwiches from PRET Lunchtime Lecture 13.00-14.00, Hochhauser Auditorium The Vasa Museum in Stockholm Chair: Joanna Norman, V&A Fred Hocker, Head of Research the Vasa Museum, 'General introduction to the history of the Vasa ship and the museum Anna Maria Forssberg, Researcher the Vasa Museum, 'Gendering Vasa' Anna Silwerulv, Research Assistant the Vasa Museum, 'Trousers or Skirt? Gender perspectives on the textile collection of Vasa', 14.15-16.30: Embedding Gendered and LGBTQ Interpretations in Museums, Seminar Room 1 14.15-15.00: Objects/curation (speakers 10 mins each followed by 10 mins discussion after each one) [Chair: James Daybell, University of Plymouth] • Case study from forthcoming 'Fashioning Masculinity' exhibition at the V&A (Rosalind McKever and Claire Wilcox V&A) • 'LGBTQ Working Group: Interpreting Objects at the V&A' Zorian Clayton and Alice Power, V&A 15.00-15.30: Tea, Seminar Room 1 15.30-16.30: Tours, education and outreach (speakers 10 mins each, followed by 20 mins discussion after both) [chair for session: Alice Power] • Case studies from the Vasa: Siri Beer Boman, Event Manager, on gender and the public programme; Maria Dalhed Persson, Assistant Head of Visitor Experience and Education unit, gender and the schools programme at the Vasa. • LGBTQ tour guides - who is going to talk? Dan or Eva or Katerina? • Learning Programmes Staff at V&A - Lisa Galvin or Leanne 16.30-18.30: Consolidation/Best [chair: Joanna Norman] Pia Laskar, 'Gendering Swedish Museums, Best Practice', a talk based on her research on gender and state museums in Sweden. To be followed by a discussion around best practice. Example points for discussion: • How can we/should we go about embedding gendered/queer interpretations in every aspect of the museum? • String of Five-minute talks • What represents good practice? How, in a practical sense, was that achieved, and how could we replicate it? • For non-London-based museums: what do you see as the opportunities/challenges here? If we were writing an advisory document/designing a toolkit to help you do this, what would you want to see in it? 19:00: Dinner - Da Mario Restaurant - Table for 20 people is booked (CH). 13 September [Svante Norrhem/James Svante] - conference calling for Sue and Jacqueline... 9.00-12.00 - Writing Workshop 1: writing up best practice [Chairs: James Daybell and Svante Norrhem] 12.00-13.00 - Buffet Lunch 13.00-16.00 - Ways forward, future funding and collaboration [Chairs: James Daybell and Svante Norrhem]. Departure |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Knowledge Exchange Workshop at the Vasa Museum |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Workshop 6-7 May 2019: Gendered Interpretations at the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Vasa Museum, Room Franzén, Vasa museum Monday 6 May 13.00-13.15 Introduction of participants 13.15-13.30 Introduction of project 13.30-14.30 Presentations by Kit Heyam and James Daybell 14.30-15.00 Break 15.00-16.00 Presentations by Anna Maria Forssberg and Anna Silwerulv 16.00-17.00 Visit to the museum Evening (Optional) Ferry ride to Slussen and Dinner at Kvarnen (participants pay for themselves) Tuesday 7 May 9.00-10.00 Presentation of how replicas from the collection are used in learning programmes for schools and families by Maria Dalhed Persson and Emilie Börefelt 10.00-10.15 Break 10.15-11.15 Presentations by Emma Severinsson and Svante Norrhem 11.15-11.45 Presentation by Fred Hocker 11.45-12.45 Lunch 12.45-13.15 Alice Power (LGBTQ group at the V&A) 13.15-13.45 Rosalind McKever (Masculinities Exhibition at V&A 2021) 13.45-15.00 Discussion on continued work on objects and implementation at the V&A and Vasa museum 15.00-15.30 Break 15.30-16.30 Summing up. Planning 16.30-18.00 Break Evening Public lectures and mingle in A2 18.00 Lisa Månsson welcome talk 18.05 Talk by Kit Heyam: 'Gendering the Museum: Wearing the Wrong Hat in Early Modern Europe' 18.30 Talk by Anna Maria Forssberg and Emma Severinsson: "Gendering Vasa: sculptures and textiles in a new light" 18.50 Mingle 19.30 Talk by Susan Broomhall: 'Sex at Sea: Gender and the East India Companies' |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Meeting with Leanne Manfredi and Faunsia Tucker (Community Learning, V&A) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Meeting with Leanne Manfredi and Faunsia Tucker (Community Learning, V&A) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Meeting with public engagement team at V&A |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | 4/2/19: Contact made about public engagement at V&A with: Karl Finn Graham (In Focus tours) Jenna Mason (Friday Lates) Simon Dodi (Lunchtime Lectures) Diana Roberts (Royal College of Music Friday evening concerts) Jenny Phelan (Learning Academy) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Paper delivered at annual and national conference for Swedish museums has this year the theme "Collaboration". The project will be presented by Anna Maria Forssberg and Kit Heyam at a session on April 28 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Vårmöte 27-29 April 2020 http://www.delegia.com/app/netattm/attendee/Page/92465 This annual and national conference for Swedish museums has this year the theme "Collaboration". The project will be presented by Anna Maria Forssberg and Kit Heyam at a session on April 28 Abstract (only in Swedish although the presentation will be in English) Att tolka genus på Vasamuseet och Victoria & Albert - ett samarbetsprojekt | Vasamuseet Hur kan man forska fram fler berättelser som speglar eller problematiserar genus och sexualitet i museernas samlingar? Och hur för man ut kunskapen? Sedan 2018 samarbetar forskare och personal från Lunds universitet, universitetet i Plymouth, Victoria & Albert Museum i London och Vasamuseet i projektet Gendered Interpretations. Metoden går ut på att välja ut ett antal föremål ur museernas samlingar och skriva föremålsbiografier med utgångspunkt från frågor om genus. Två intensiva workshoppar har hållits i Stockholm respektive London med alla deltagande institutioner samt en internationell expertgrupp. De valda föremålen representerar många olika tidsepoker, materialtyper och samhällsklasser och tillsammans bidrar de till att synliggöra människor som ofta glöms bort i historieskrivningen. I detta föredrag berättar vi om projektets resultat och framtida tillämpningar och om de utmaningar och fördelar det innebär att samarbeta över institutions- och landsgränser. Föreläsning. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Public Talk at Vasa Museum by James Daybell, 'Gendering the V&A Museum' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Public Talk at Vasa Museum by James Daybell, 'Gendering the V&A Museum' |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Public Talk at Vasa Museum by Susan Broomhall: 'Sex at Sea: Gender and the East India Companies' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Public Talk at Vasa Museum by Susan Broomhall: 'Sex at Sea: Gender and the East India Companies' |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Public Talk at the Vasa Museum by Anna Maria Forssberg and Emma Severinsson: "Gendering Vasa: sculptures and textiles in a new light" |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Public Talk at the Vasa Museum by Anna Maria Forssberg and Emma Severinsson: "Gendering Vasa: sculptures and textiles in a new light" |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Public Talk at the Vasa Museum by Kit Heyam: 'Gendering the Museum: Wearing the Wrong Hat in Early Modern Europe' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Talk by Kit Heyam: 'Gendering the Museum: Wearing the Wrong Hat in Early Modern Europe' |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Public Talk by Kit Heyam at V&A 'Looking for Trans History at the V&A', 23/2/19 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Public Talk by Kit Heyam at V&A 'Looking for Trans History at the V&A', 23/2/19 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Series of Podcasts on the project released through Histories of the Unexpected |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A series of podcasts on the V&A, Vasa and findings of the project were made and released on the Histories of the Unexpected podcast, which reaches a global audience in more than 150 countries. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Svante Norrhem presented a paper titled 'Gendered Interpretations at the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Vasa Museum' at a conference at Gothenburg |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | 1. International annual gender conference - G19 - in Gothenburg 7-9 October 2019 https://genus.gu.se/english/news/g-conferences/g19 Svante Norrhem presented a paper titled Gendered Interpretations at the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Vasa Museum Abstract This presentation develops from a two-year AHRC-funded research network project, 'Gender, Power and Materiality in Early Modern Europe, 1400-1800' which generated a valuable dialogue between the four university nodes (University of Plymouth, Lund University, Leiden University, and University of Western Australia) and curators and research department at the V&A museum, which has identified a series of follow-on activities that have potential for significant wider impact. It is intended that the follow-on project will further enhance the partnership with the V&A, but also develop a new partnership with the Vasa Museum. As a result of a series of workshops over the past two years in dialogue with our partners we have developed an interpretative tool for understanding objects, exhibitions and the past through the lens of gender, power and materiality. The follow-on project seeks to engage with museum staff to coproduce gendered pathways and interpretation of the collections in both institutions. In this presentation we will 1) introduce the interpretive tool and how the research team will work in collaboration with the UK and Swedish RAs and other researchers, curators and museum professionals at the Vasa and V&A. We have identified and are currently analyzing a selection of 20-40 objects and their gendered narratives within the museum's collections. These will be analyzed in detail using our gendered interpretative too that studies an object's history across its lifecycle from commission and manufacture to consumption and display in a museum setting. 2) Discuss how this may be applied in museum practice through coproducing interpretative pathways through the permanent exhibitions and collections.This gender-informed research will form the basis of interpretive strategies delivered in different formats throughout the museums. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |