DESIGNER FILE 39 39
Far Left Unfired terraccotta vessels in India
Above and left Celebrating The Human Touch at The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, and deliberate crinkled panels at the same exhibition
survived centuries and require care. But what if we approached this more holistically? Could we mix things up and disrupt the barriers, make all artworks visible behind nearly invisible non-reflective glass? Could we create spaces where boundaries dissolve and where visitors know everything is touchable, accepting that change will follow? Might we trust that people, when offered closeness, will respond with care? Te Sainsbury Centre in Norwich embodies this philosophy, where they are experimenting with treating artworks as living entities rather than untouchable relics, inviting visitors into deeper, sometimes physical encounters. With Henry Moore’s Mother and Child sculpture, for instance, visitors are invited to hug it. Te museum questions whether the life cycle of artworks should be artificially preserved, or whether objects, just like us, should be allowed to age, wear and die. People have been thinking about this for
decades. Nina Simon’s Te Participatory Museum advocates transforming museums from passive repositories into active spaces where visitors contribute, interact, and co-create meaning. Tis model challenges the sterile ‘Look but don’t touch’ dynamic, making museums vibrant cultural hubs. It acknowledges that meaning doesn’t reside solely in the object, but in the relationship between the object and the person encountering it. At the newly opened V&A East, it’s quietly
thrilling to stand beside objects that feel almost unguarded, unmediated by ropes or thick glass. Tere’s a generosity at play here, a willingness to trust the visitor. Te curatorial
PHOTO: GARETH GARDNER
PHOTO: GARETH GARDNER
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