Overview

Despite the fact that we have a range of senses with which to perceive the world around us, museums and other cultural institutions have traditionally used sight as the main way to convey information. In everyday life, though, we use touch constantly in conjunction with sight. Why, then, does it play so small a role in the study and enjoyment of museum objects? Contributors to this volume explore how the sense of touch can be utilized in cultural institutions to facilitate understanding and learning.

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9781598743043

Table of Contents

Reviews

This collection of essays looks at not only the past and present of touch in museums, but also the future as new pathways are discussed through both tactical and virtual developments. As museums tiptoe carefully into a world where fuller access and transparency are the battle cries, The Power of Touch blazes forward into this arena. Though the ideas presented may be polemical, they are all certainly thought- and discussion- provoking and a conscientious reader may find plenty of reasons to change their stance on touch in a museum context. - -Katherine Weikert, Portland Art Museum and Registrars' Quarterly

""This collection of essays looks at not only the past and present of touch in museums, but also the future as new pathways are discussed through both tactical and virtual developments. As museums tiptoe carefully into a world where fuller access and transparency are the battle cries, The Power of Touch blazes forward into this arena. Though the ideas presented may be polemical, they are all certainly thought- and discussion- provoking and a conscientious reader may find plenty of reasons to change their stance on touch in a museum context. - -Katherine Weikert, Portland Art Museum and Registrars' Quarterly

Author Information

Elizabeth Pye is Senior Lecturer at the University College London Institute of Archaeology. She coordinates the Institute's Heritage Studies Research Group and its masters program in conservation. She is editor of Caring for the Past: Issues in Conservation for Archaeology and Museums (2000)

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