a frame around them, so an art person might think, “Oh, is this a painting?” But that display is also historical, about actual local creeks. So people can enter through whatever language is recognizable to them. Nadja: A lot of camp groups came in yesterday, and the kids were in the labs, drawing, doing the animation studio. Then they moved to the next room, with the habitat cases, and they kind of naturally slowed down, taking in the stuffed animals and the little scenarios. Then they moseyed over to the Shasta area and plopped down on the beanbag chairs and watched videos. René: At the old museum, pre-renovation, each of the galleries
was very rigidly organized. The art and history wings were arranged from past to present, and natural sciences was structured as a walk across California, from the ocean to the eastern Sierras. Now the galleries are organized around a number of different themes. You don’t have to go on some kind of forced death march. You can put together your own customized experience, and it’s satisfying, and rich. Then you come again and have a different customized experience. Although it’s also true that people seek structure in a museum. A pattern they can figure out.
Old and New Favorites Glance: Does each of you have a favorite part of the new wing? René: For me, it’s the rocking chairs in the Ahwahnee Lodge
display. Bear with me while I geek out for a moment. I just love
Sea-creature-shaped beanbags are part of the total-immersion experience of the Cordell Bank reef audiovisual installation
the story. Basically, the Ahwahnee Lodge is an important historical site that relates to much bigger stories, like how Yosemite didn’t become a reservoir. How it was saved, and then used and experienced by people. The initial thought was, “How do we re-create those rocking chairs?” and then we discovered that the company that makes them still exists! So we bought new ones to evoke a historical moment. And they’re comfortable! It’s a way to interact with history, in the present, through your rear end. While you’re sitting, you can visually and physically survey the natural sciences gallery and connect the past with the present. Glance: Is stuff like this known only to the staff? I don’t think
it’s articulated in the signage, and I find myself wondering about things like that constantly as I walk through. Also, for instance, I wonder: Should there be an artist’s name on each taxidermy diorama? I kind of think there should be. Or at least some indication of what has been manipulated for the display. René: Well, everything is heavily curated. It’s not like we threw
a net into the wilderness, brought it back, and heaved whatever we caught into a diorama. Nadja: We have a visible prep lab, where people will be able to watch a taxidermist at work. Jenny: There was some worry that live taxidermy would really
bother people. But they are totally fascinated. Glance: I’m remembering a curator’s desk that was set up in
the Mark Dion show a few years ago.