After receiving the question ‘What does the museum tell you about collections?’ in the envelope given in the seminar, I began to explore the question focusing not only on the artefacts in the museum, but also on the paintings and sculptures in The Usher Gallery and The Collection. The question became a stimulus for an idea of performance text.

Firstly The Collection shows us and tells us what life was like thousands of years ago and therefore provides proof of history in the past, present and future. By showing us what kind of things were used so long ago in every day life has the ability to possibly make us appreciate the things we may take for granted. The museum educates us on what the world was like and gives us the opportunity to acknowledge change.

Whereas the museum can address a whole era, the gallery can distinctively focus on a specific moment. A moment of which an artist has created a piece of work, expressing their emotion and feeling from that specific moment.

Having collections of artefacts to contemporary creations, lead me to begin to ask questions such as, what would a museum of the future show for our lifetime? A car tyre? To show that cars used to roll and not hover (maybe)? Or it could be as simple as a photograph, because photographs may not even exist in the future as it seems technology is becoming the easier and more efficient way to store ‘everything’.

As an experiment I would have contemporary objects such as, a mobile phone, a car tyre, a chair and a pair of glasses, scattered around or sculptured together in the reception area of the museum. I would specifically place the experiment here as within the building the reception area is where I believe represents present day and ‘now’. Customers enter the building and sign in, or look at the souvenirs for themselves in that specific moment, with the thought for present day. However, when they pass the reception, they enter the exhibit with the atmosphere of the past. Therefore I would keep the contemporary objects or sculpture in the reception foyer and experiment with the reactions of the audience. Will they acknowledge the objects or not, will they see the relevance of the site, will they attempt to understand the reason for each specific object.