The role
Heritage student and Twitter user @mt_ris asked Hugo Chapman, keeper of prints and drawings at the British Museum: does a curator manage or curate the collections that are not on display?
Yes, a curator is responsible for the whole of his or her collection, whether it is on display or not. #AskACurator
— British Museum (@britishmuseum) September 16, 2015
George Vasey, curator at the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, asked: to whom does the curator hold the most amount of responsibility? The artist, audience, institution or funder? The Giovanni and Marella Agnelli Picture Gallery in Turin replied:
.@GeorgeVasey to all of them! Listen to the public, work at your best for the artist and respect your institution's mission #AskACurator
— Pinacoteca Agnelli (@PinAgnelli) September 16, 2015
Exhibitions curator at Serpentine Galleries, Emma Enderby, offered some advice for any wannabe curators following the discussion:
@Mary0de @SerpentineUK #AskACurator keep going! Do internships, volunteer, make contacts and do your own projects outside of institutions
— Emma Enderby (@emenderby) September 16, 2015
The Wiener Library’s digital curator revealed the best and worst aspects of the job:
@Katy_Heritage As Digital Curator, the best bits: innovation, interconnectivity, inclusion. Worst bits: costs, time, patience. #AskACurator
— The Wiener Library (@wienerlibrary) September 16, 2015
Historic Royal Palaces offered this advice on work experience placements:
@CarolineT1813 Local museums can give you a range of experience. If your university has a museum, that's a good idea too. #AskACurator
— HistoricRoyalPalaces (@HRP_palaces) September 16, 2015
Collections
In response to a question about how much of its collection is online, London’s Natural History Museum revealed this fascinating stat:
@MarDixon 2,833,668 specimens are now online, but with 80 million in the collection, we have quite a long way to go #AskACurator
— NaturalHistoryMuseum (@NHM_London) September 16, 2015
In answer to a question about which is the funniest object in its collection, the Mind Museum, based in the Philippines, revealed that visiting kids just love touching dinosaur poo (don’t we all?):
We vote the Dino Poop Fossil. Kids love touching it! @jennifuchs @naturmusee @mauritshuis @MuseumofGlass #AskACurator pic.twitter.com/rVnXiAWSPR
— themindmuseum (@themindmuseum) September 16, 2015
The Rijksmuseum in The Netherlands offered visitors this tip for making the most out of the objects and artefacts you see on your travels:
@DavidDmshepherd @britishmuseum My tip: try to describe the object you are looking at to yourself, you'll see so much more #AskACurator
— Rijksmuseum (@rijksmuseum) September 17, 2014
Megan Sweeney asked: is it better to attract mass audiences through gimmicks or have fewer, more intellectually curious visitors?
The Dinosaur Journey Museum replied:
@msweeney74 @AskACurator Need balance. Too high brow & risk too few visitors to pay bills. All flash & no substance = carnival side show.
— Dinosaur Journey (@DinosaurJourney) September 16, 2015
Bonus extras
One National Gallery curator revealed the following, in response to a question about how best to clean grime off an oil on canvas:
MW: Saliva on a cotton swab is often the first step: right pH, temperature & perhaps enzymatic content #AskACurator https://t.co/E9EExlJs9Z
— National Gallery (@NationalGallery) September 16, 2015
Here’s what two curators said when asked whether they listen to music while they work:
@RibeKunstmuseum @AskACurator #AskACurator pic.twitter.com/7p20pDzXBT
— CincyMuseum (@CincyMuseum) September 16, 2015
@RibeKunstmuseum @AskACurator I edit/type to Trance (fast & furious) and colour chart plants to the Corsican I Muvrini (soothing).
— Yvette Harvey (@WSYherbarium) September 16, 2015
Of course, the only real reason anyone was following the hashtag was to find out the answer to the following question, posed by @AbeforeE: who can consume the most cake – curators, archivists or librarians?
@AbeforeE Entomology curators. piles of them (cakes that is) everyday. 11am and 3:30pm. Dont expect emails to be answered then #AskACurator
— Erica McAlister (@flygirlNHM) September 16, 2015
Follow #AskACurator on Twitter here
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