Visual arts

(Note – I feel quite pleased that I’ve been blogging long enough that I can recycle my old material; almost like a proper journalist)

I’ve been banging on about local vanity project/white elephant the Museum of Bristol for years now. You may recall this was a simple spruce up of the Bristol Industrial Museum, but unfortunately it was overcome by ambition and is now a £10m £18m £22m £27m circa £30m “kulcha” project. Putting the problems of the continually escalating budget and the skimming of staff and money from other local museums to one side, let’s look again at the premise.

Back when the MoB was first announced in its current incarnation (there have been plans to build a museum on the dockside for at least 30 years) it was described as follows:

"The Museum of Bristol will be a flagship museum showing how the history of a major city can be told through the words, memories and objects of ordinary people, as well as the well-known and famous connected with Bristol."

Most cities have a large Museum and Art Gallery, and a number of [small] subsidiary institutions covering topics of local significance, or clearly-defined [large] institutions with national collections. There really is no precedent for a city the size of Bristol spending £30 million on an inwardly looking local social-cultural-historical-something-or-other venue.

The Museum of Bristol is not going to be servicing the national or international tourist market. If people are in the city for a short period of time, their most likely stopping points are the S.S. Great Britain (170,000 visitors a year) and perhaps Blaise Castle Estate. So the 250,000 visitors a year target for the new Museum of Bristol is unlikely to be met. After an initial visit in the first year by half of the local population, about 10-20% of Bristolians (mainly kids dragged along on school trips) will visit it in future years. Even with “free” entry, there’s just not enough footfall to generate big numbers in the Café or Gift Shop.

One could argue that the Museum of Bristol serves a higher purpose and shouldn’t be judged on its ability to draw in crowds, but if you’re taking that line then it’s probably not your £30 million being spent, and you won’t be paying the circa £1.2-£1.6 million annual running costs (including financing charges).

We can’t unbuild the building. We might as well finish it and do something with it. And I suppose we’ve got to open a museum otherwise the government will want their our money back.

So, we need a theme for a Museum that evokes the spirit of Bristol, that isn’t a replica on an existing offering in the cultural heritage market, that positions the institution to draw international visitors, and most importantly of all provides good merchandising and concession opportunities and doesn’t require too much of a start-up cost. Ideally the subject matter should also be flexible enough to draw on existing travelling collections and archives.

Now the theme is a bit tricky. Industrial museums have been done to death, as have most types of transport, militaria and naval & maritime history. Liverpool’s International Museum of Slavery also decisively trumps our “Breaking the Chains/Abolition 200 leftovers”. There’s already a National Museum of Flight. There are loads of Museums of Theatre. Bath have got the Romans sewn up, so there’s no chance of getting a piece of that action. There isn’t much left in the traditional cultural heritage sphere.

But there is something that springs to mind, and the links with Bristol are extremely strong:

Yes, really - a Museum of Graffiti

One of Bristol’s niche exports is Graffiti/Street Art. I can’t say it is my cup of tea, and the Graffiti afficionados don’t like me much either. But the important thing in developing a new offering in the market is to think about what potential customers will want, not your own preferences. Ticking off the reasons why this might work:

1. A Museum of Graffiti would be globally unique. There are some small ad-hoc institutes on the East Coast of the USA, but nothing significant
2. There is a recognisable local Graffiti culture with clear links to Bristol
3. The medium transcends language, thus could be very attractive for non-English speakers
4. There is global interest in Graffiti/Street Art. i.e. him that must not be named.
5. The profit margins on selling hardback books about Graffiti, artwork prints and other branded souvenirs would be considerable
6. There are already existing travelling Graffiti exhibitions, and the exhibition currently on offer at the Royal West of England Academy was well attended. It wouldn’t cost much to build a collection in the first years of operation, particularly if you emphasised contextual authenticity over artifacts. #
7. The current Banksy vs Bristol Museum show is ridiculously popular, and even if it’s no longer street-art per se, it still demonstrates the popular interest in the concept. (Over 200,000 visitors as of the end of July, with queuing times of approximately three hours).
8. Several Street Art works of international note are already within the city, either affixed to authority bricks or obtainable through a bit of negotiation.
9. The new Museum of Bristol is specified to have air conditioned galleries so at least we’ll actually be using them for something sensible.
10. Did I mention that the profit margins on selling hardback books about Graffiti, artwork prints and other branded souvenirs would be considerable?

One might argue that this is a concept for a Gallery rather than a Museum, but a bit of lateral thinking can finesse the difference. Add in a few interactive exhibits for kids using solvent-free aerosols, sponsor a research fellowship or two, a social action programme to increase the self esteem of deprived NEETs, live art demonstrations, history of paint, a diorama about CFCs and the environment, something about links to ethnic art. Hell, chuck a couple of culture wonks with PhDs in Navel Gazing at the brief and I’m sure they can come up with something.

This is the least worst approach I can think of to stem the flow of cash from the MoB project, and actually achieve some sort of positive outcome.

[Much of the above is recycled from a previous post. I thought it was a bit speculative, but the Banksy vs Bristol Museum show has rather demonstrate my point for me. One can’t argue with success (photo via BBC)]

Local Visit Bristol [Tourist Board] spokesman Feisal Khalif, reckons the “legacy of Banksy” will keep people coming back to Bristol in future years. But I’m sceptical that “come for the pop-art, stay for the steam ship” is a plausible message.

As an avowed philistine, I shan’t bother extending the discussion on “what is art”. Banksy is filling the niche formerly occupied by Andy Warhol; he brokers and manages the creation of arresting images, sculpture and installations. Whether this makes him as much a publicist as an artist is irrelevant; the brand sells. So Bristol would be wise to do a deal with the man and trade his popularity for centre stage in the new “Museum” and finesse things with the Quango funds to keep them happy. We might even make some of that £30 million back.

Current Minister of State for Employment and Welfare Reform in the Department for Work and Pensions, and Minister for the South West Jim Knight MP is in town today. No doubt he’ll be telling his 900 Facebook friends about it.

At the last meeting of the Full Council of the City of Bristol, Cllr Geoff Gollop (C) put forward some questions about the Museum of Bristol (see here), with a few supplementary queries in the Council chamber.

SITREP: A land developer – Umberslade - was supposed to provide £1.5m of capital funding to beautify the roads and landscape around the Museum of Bristol. Their building programme has tanked with the economy, so there will be no money forthcoming any time soon. Also the project needs £2m of charitable donations to meet its budget. The Council is underwriting both of these figures or rather you, the council taxpayer, are underwriting them for a total of £3.5m (potentially about £15 on every council tax bill). After it has been built, this museum will cost more than a £1 million quid a year to run.

As with most Full Council business, video is available:

In his answers in chamber, Cllr Simon Cook, Executive Member for Leisure & Culture and fellow supporting artist, explained that he will be going cap in hand to the South West Regional Development Agency to replace the £1.5m from Umberslade, and hawking sponsorships and trusteeships around the city to get some additional charitable pledges.

Cllr Cook was most scathing about headlines in the Evening Post which were “undermining the project” and saying that “costs were spiralling out of control”. His contention is that these are “nonsense”. And yet the budget started at £18 million and is now somewhere north of £25 million. If that isn’t spiralling then what would you call it? [Note - back in 1998 refurbishing the Industrial Museum was only supposed to cost £150,000.]

Further he said, that suggestions that the Museum of Bristol will be a “great, white elephant” are undermining the project, irritating him and worrying the Heritage Lottery Fund. We should all support this project more apparently and “get behind our cultural infrastructure projects.” We are apparently obliged to look forward to it and accentuate the positive things it will bring to the city.

And a personal dig – he reckons I should stop making “foolish freedom of information enquiries”, as I’m only doing it to boost my electoral chances. (P.S. Barlow for Redland. Vote Early, Vote Often)

Oh, where to begin?

Let’s start off with a remark for Cllr Cook, paraphrasing Samuel Johnson:

Civic Pride is the last refuge of scoundrels.

Just as an exercise, (the thespians will like this) close your eyes and visualise yourself standing in a space called “The Museum of Bristol”. Now open your eyes. What do you see?

Think carefully about what you can see in your imaginary eye, and ask yourself whether it is already available at the City Museum & Art Gallery, The Red Lodge, Blaise Castle & Estate, The Georgian House, The S.S. Great Britain, The Kingswood Heritage Museum, the Royal West of England Academy Gallery, Bristol Cathedral, The Suspension Bridge, Cabot Tower, Wesley’s Chapel, Ashton Court, or even the soon-to-depart Empire & Commonwealth Museum.

Back when the MoB was first announced in its current incarnation (although there have been plans to build a museum on the dockside for at least 30 years) it was described as follows:

"The Museum of Bristol will be a flagship museum showing how the history of a major city can be told through the words, memories and objects of ordinary people, as well as the well-known and famous connected with Bristol."

Can you name one other city in the UK that has a similar institution? That is, not a city museum, but a museum about the city. I could only think of one – the Museum of London. Sure, Bristol is better than London, but like it or not the Big Smoke does have some good collections to display and they get just under half of all foreign visitors to the country.

Looking at the other major cities in the UK:

Does anyone see a theme developing here? The only other major city outside London with a comparable institution to the Museum of Bristol is Liverpool.

The “Museum of Liverpool” is due to open in 2010/11, funded by a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £11m, in a newly built landmark building on the waterfront, “will showcase popular culture while tackling social, historical and contemporary issues”. A key attraction is a railway coach. Sound familiar? The MoL is costing £72 million, though, and they reckon they’ll get 750,000 visitors.

Other than that, most cities have a large Museum and Art Gallery, and a number of subsidiary institutions covering topics of local significance, or clearly-defined institutions with national collections.

Like it or not, the new Museum of Bristol is not going to be servicing the national or international tourist market. If people are in the city for a short period of time, their most likely stopping points are the S.S. Great Britain and perhaps Blaise Castle Estate. So the 250,000 visitors a year target for the new Museum of Bristol is just absurd. More likely, after an initial visit in the first year by maybe half of all Bristolians, about 10-20% of the population of the city (mainly kids dragged along on school trips) will visit it in future years. Even with free entry, there’s just not enough footfall to generate big numbers in the Cafe or Gift Shop.

But, since the new Museum of Bristol will be subsidised by Renaissance in the Regions funds (your money), Heritage Lottery funds (your money) and Council Tax (your money) then the people running it don’t actually need to worry about providing something people want to visit. They don’t have to worry about finding a market or covering their costs. They’re All Right Jack. 

Solutions?

No doubt some people are thinking that all I do is carp on about the problems, when I should be thinking positively. So I’ll try to offer a way to reduce the depth of the money pit.

First point – we can’t unbuild the building. We might as well finish it and do something with it. And I suppose we’ve got to open a museum otherwise the HLF and MLA will get all snippy and want our money back.

So, we need a theme for a Museum that evokes the spirit of Bristol, that isn’t a replica on an existing offering in the cultural heritage market, that positions the institution to draw international visitors, and most importantly of all provides good merchandising and concession opportunities and doesn’t require too much of a start-up cost. Ideally the subject matter should also be flexible enough to draw on existing travelling collections and archives.

Now the theme is a bit tricky. Industrial museums have been done to death, as have most types of transport, militaria and naval & maritime history. Liverpool’s International Museum of Slavery also decisively trumps our “Breaking the Chains/Abolition 200 leftovers”. There’s already a National Museum of Flight. There are loads of Museums of Theatre. Bath have got the Romans sewed up, so there’s no chance of getting a piece of that action. There isn’t much left in the traditional cultural heritage sphere.

But there is something that springs to mind. And it irritates me intensely to offer this, but it’s a cultural theme that does achieve the above objectives:

A Museum of Graffiti

Like it or not, one of Bristol’s niche exports is Graffiti/Street Art. I can’t say it is my cup of tea, and the Graffiti afficionados don’t like me much either. But the important thing in developing a new offering in the market is to think about what potential customers will want, not your own preferences. Ticking off the reasons why this might work:

1. A Museum of Graffiti would be globally unique. There are some small ad-hoc institutes on the East Coast of the USA, but nothing significant
2. There is a recognisable local Graffiti culture with clear links to Bristol
3. The medium transcends language, thus could be very attractive for non-English speakers
4. There is global interest in Graffiti/Street Art. i.e. him that must not be named.
5. The profit margins on selling hardback books about Graffiti, artwork prints and other branded souvenirs would be considerable
6. There are already existing travelling Graffiti exhibitions, and the exhibition currently on offer at the Royal West of England Academy was well attended. It wouldn’t cost much to build a collection in the first years of operation, particularly if you emphasised contextual authenticity over artifacts.
7. Several Street Art works of international note are already within the city, either affixed to authority bricks or obtainable through a bit of negotiation.
8. The new Museum of Bristol is specified to have air conditioned galleries so at least we’ll actually be using them for something sensible.
9. Did I mention that the profit margins on selling hardback books about Graffiti, artwork prints and other branded souvenirs would be considerable?

One might argue that this is a concept for a Gallery rather than a Museum, but a bit of lateral thinking can finesse the difference. Add in a few interactive exhibits for kids using solvent-free aerosols, sponsor a research fellowship or two, a social action programme to increase the self esteem of deprived NEETs, live art demonstrations, history of paint, a diorama about CFCs and the environment, something about links to ethnic art. Hell, chuck a couple of culture wonks with PhDs in Navel Gazing at the brief and I’m sure they can come up with something.

This is the least worst approach I can think of to stem the flow of cash, and actually achieve some sort of positive outcome. Please don’t tell anyone I thought of it.

Predictions

Plunging ahead with this project in its current form is just mad. There’s no evidence to suggest that a museum with the proposed socia-cultural urban historico-whatever agenda will attract new visitors to the city or serve any useful purpose other than to cannibalise visits from other, established attractions. The argument that it will regenerate the dockside needs a bit more explanation for me, as a I don’t see what’s in the middle between “build museum” and “regeneration”. So I contend that we are in fact going to be left with – rounding up – a £30 million pound white elephant.

No doubt I’ll be writing more about this project, and if the HLF don’t like that, they can bog off and take the ill-gotten proceeds of their regressive “hope tax” - collected from the poor and the desperate – with them. (I really don’t understand what Major & Co. were thinking when they introduced the National Lottery; it’s almost as bad as Thatcher’s National Curriculum)