Technologies of Interpretation: Design and Redesign of the Tahitian Marketplace at the Field Museum of Natural History

Abstract

Museum exhibitions are a special genre of anthro pological communication: one that offers unique creative oppor tunities for the practice of applied anthropology. This paper tells the story of one controversial exhibition and offers some lessons learned from the experience. Museums stand at a criti cal crossroads where innovation and risk taking can lead to a new age of museum participation in popular education and cul tural enrichment. The author encourages museums to abandon the trend towards expensive and time-consuming renovations of outdated permanent exhibitions (they will always be out of date), and to look instead towards new technologies and ap proaches that allow a wider range of educators and artists to create more temporary exhibitions. logical communication. A number of recent com mentaries have noted the potential of museums to perform an important part of the public education to which the discipline of anthropology is committed. I believe that museum exhibitions should be seen as popular media, not as an academic genre, as the audiences are (while overlapping) quite different. Recent controversies have highlighted the problems that arise when museum exhibits are conflated with textbooks, scholarly exegesis, or entertainment centers. The museum exhibit genre shares some features with these devices, but has impor tant, unique qualities to contribute to the business of public education. Consistent with this perspective, I hesitate to write the story of the production of a exhibition as a conference paper/journal article. The exhibit as public education/ popular culture speaks for itself. However, I am now con vinced that this example may provide some illumination for those of us who wonder what the future promise might be for anthropology in museums.