AAM ANNUAL MEETING THOUGHT LEADER SESSION

The Museum Group proudly sponsored

Dr. Sherry Turkle
Founder and Director of the MIT Initiative
on Technology and Self

Dr. Turkle spoke on
Evocative Objects and the Museum Experience
as part of the Thought Leadership sessions at the American Association of Museum’s Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, Friday May 1, 2009

Museums are engaged in the presentation of evocative objects, objects that bring together thought and feeling, passions and intellects.  Dr. Turkle says, “We think with the objects we love and we love the objects we think with. Understanding the dynamics of evocative objects helps us to better understand the nature of the curatorial enterprise.”

Dr. Turkle’s explored these ideas by:

• Talking about how she got interested in objects, museums, and the role of "objects-to-think-with" in the enterprise of museums.

• Presenting a set of ideas, some from the psychodynamic tradition (transitional objects, transformational objects), and some from anthropology (the power of bricolage, or tinkering) that present new views on what makes objects evocative.

• Presenting two case studies of people who used confrontations with art to think through and work through larger issues. These cases break down the boundaries between art and science and raise the question of what happens to an object when it is brought into digital space. A question of crucial interest to curators—What is gained and what is lost?

For more on Dr. Sherry Turkle click here