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MUSEOLOGICAL VOYEURISM: A VISIT TO DEPOT, BOIJMANS VAN BEUNINGEN, ROTTERDAMDENISE POLLINI2023-09-10
A room dedicated to the "collection highlights" shows the artworks in the "glass easels", whose inspiration, which comes from the work of the Italian-Brazilian architect Lina Bo Bardi, is assumed and explicitly referred to in a video documenting a technical visit to the Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP), in Brazil – in which initially the glass easels were presented at the end of the 1960s. Videos spread across the building often focus on staff figures, such as, for example, the security guard Renzo van Riemsdij: graduated in music, Renzo works as a sound engineer in his own studio during the day and as a security guard at Depot Bojimans at night. Bearing in mind that the museum experience is oriented mainly towards the experience of seeing, here, the visual contact with the artwork acquires another layer, a voyeuristic layer: the experience of “seeing behind” the artworks – and peeking the work that is done around it – and cast a glimpse through a gap, a window, an angle is everywhere, and everything collaborates with an experience of ultimate scrutiny of the artwork. And, with that, an irresistible intimacy is promoted, in which stands the voyeuristic accent. In the case of the paintings, such feeling is reinforced by the exposed view of the labels from the back of the paintings´ frames. At one point, I found myself scrupulously observing these labels that were placed on the back of the frames of the artworks every time they participated in a tour for a new exhibition. It felt like reading the biography of that specific work of art.
@ Denise Pollini
So, in the Depot, the experience of the artwork is not just itself, but also what is done with it: in the conservation laboratories, around its own security demands and, what we could call “the engine of the Museum” is hence, exposed to the visitor – in a quite spectacular way. It can be stated that a new era in the realm of the museological experience opens with this building – which is reported to be the world's first art storage facility open to the public – for the reason that even the negative expression, often attributed to Museums and their collections as dead inventories with little lighting and recluse from the public's eyes, calls for a revision here. Whether you like this proposal or not, the fact is that the collection here is indeed in motion, in a kind of symbolic transit, as it is visited and experienced by the visitors. If the personality of a museum is, to a large extent, defined by its collection, it is worth reflecting here on what will be the relationship between the Depot and the future Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, which is closed for renovation. High expectations are natural both from the ambitious scope of the Depot, as from the words on the Museum's website that refer to a “future-proof museum that is expected to open in 2029” [1]. Another necessary reflection will be on how such a structure will age. How will the experience of the building relate to visitors once the freshness of pungent novelty has passed? Will people return to the Depot to rediscover their favorite artworks? Or will the return be primarily to re-experience this very particular intimacy with the work of art? (So, the whole experience of seeing the artworks in such a close relationship…). With my analysis, I do not want to assert that the voyeurism provided by the building (and the way in which the works of art are displayed in it) is in itself detrimental. Even taking into account the clear spectacularization offered by the experience. What is evident in the Depot is that this is indeed a new relationship between visitors and the artworks (and one that is here to stay). It is not a Museum; definitely, it is another thing much more in transit, in a state of transition, as if we were witnessing an ongoing shift happening in real time before our eyes. But everything indicates that this will be an experience that will become a new trend among European and North American Museums. But what interests me most is what kind of relationship this building is projecting into the future of the Museums and what kind of Museum will be born from this new relationship initiated by the Depot. Bearing in mind my conviction that Museums are meeting places: of people, of senses, of paths, what seems relevant here is to think to what extent this building, and everything that is made of it, contributes to the Museum institution becoming a more inclusive, more porous and truer undertaking. Not being a Museum does not exempt the Depot from the social responsibility that a Museum is subject to. Time will show us what this whole endeavor will do with this responsibility.
Denise Pollini
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Notes
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