You leave me alone for 3 days with complete freedom and independence and i will jump back into my greek mythology phase.

Ok no srsly during quarentine and the height of my art journey where i used to draw every waking moment, my muse was Patroclus . (Bc i am a greek-roman mythology nerd since the tender age of THREE). I LITERALLY COULD NOT STOP DRAWING THIS SON OF A BITCH.

What im trying to say is, new art is about to drop sometimes tonight.

Since you posted about it the other day, what are you thoughts on what makes either 1) an ideal museum (the institution) or 2) an ideal museum day (the overall experience)

OH BOY!!!!!!

so 1. an ideal museum contains a lot of engaging materials for various age ranges and knowledge levels, a lot of places will do this in the form of yknow “dress as x historical figure!” “touch here to feel a dinosaurs scales!” all the way through to things like “here is a computer with more in depth information, spend an hour diving deep into the subject why not” which i think is very important no matter what subject is being presented, if you can make the audience engage with the exhibits they will come away remembering more an wanting to come back. SECONDLY a good museum HAS to be transparent about where their collections are from, why they have these pieces, and what benefits it presents having the Real Actual Thing rather than yknow a replica or 3d scanned version. this is esp hard in places like the british museum which as we all know is literally overflowing with items stolen from various people and cultures and countries in the name of Education and Advancement and all those other words for imperialism. it fucking sucks and obviously im under no illusion that they will ever do this (see: the parthenon marbles where they give out actual pamphlets that basically say “hey we know these are controversial but we totally own them legally so :// go cry about it lol”) but i think its. extremely important and actually can provide a better insight into museums themselves and how they operate!! these items being stolen is part of their history and should be discussed bc it provides even more context! actually adding onto that i think more museums should have sections dedicated to things like How X Field Works such as palaeontology, archeology, anthropology etc and give more context for how researchers come to the conclusions that they do! i think academia in general should be more accessible and i know a lot of museums do have talks and ask the x events etc but i think a more permanent space dedicated to this would benefit everyone a lot more. this is all very geared towards like, history museums bc they are my favourites but a lot of what im saying can apply to most kinds of museums. ALSO: big one: digitising their content!! i know a lot of places are doing this and it takes forever but i think it should def be a priority esp considering the state of the world and how yknow. its been a year since museums were a normal thing for most people. digitising content, esp content that isnt normally on view, is really important and makes these things accessible for everyone!!! OH ALSO i didnt mention this at first bc i thought it was a given but im gonna say it: accessibility!!!!! not just in terms of disabled access although that is SO important, but also for people who speak different languages, presenting things in simple terms without too much scientific jargon, having plenty of stops and places to just Sit for a while, etc, is so so so important

ok i rambled on about that way too much and really only skimmed the very surface but like. you know.

AN IDEAL DAY AT THE MUSEUM WITH JAMES is as follows: if its a Big museum we get there before doors open so we can stand in line and be part of the first group to go in (we have breakfast while standing in line outside), we get a map but dont really make A Plan other than “ok this section next” and we move from room to room at our own pace, we dont always have to be within arms reach of one another but if we are going to be separated we have to let each other know and make sure we have our phones to hand so that nobody worries about getting lost. taking pictures is encouraged and so is reading over each others shoulder and sometimes making jokes about something, but in a quiet way because even though museums are Not libraries we are not here to be disruptive!!! usually theres one section im extra excited about and will spend way more time than i should in there. if we have to stop for lunch it is ideally a sandwich or some such consumed in the overpriced cafe inside the museum. if that is not an option then lunch is not an option for me. whoever is with me can feel free to go get lunch elsewhere but i Will be staying in the museum. also not to be self absorbed and vain but whoever is with me better be taking pics of me looking at everything<3 before our visit i will have checked if there are any interesting talks or events happening and i will have noted these down, sometimes i will go but sometimes i realise i have spent too much time in one area and have to speed up to stay on track to make it through the entire building before closing time so i will unfortunately have to skip the talk. if theres anything ive missed i Will force us to come back the next day (or on a later date which i have scheduled into the trip specifically so that we can revisit the museums we really enjoyed or the sections we missed) THERE IS ALWAYS TIME FOR THE GIFT SHOP i will do the penny press thing if there is one available and i Will spend far too much money on something that i found interesting that day but will likely not really look at when i get home. we do not leave the museum until closing time. we go get dinner and discuss all the things we saw and what our favourite parts were. whoever im with likely hates me now but i will continue forcing them to do this with me for the length of the trip and they had been warned about this in advance so really its not my fault

THANK YOU FOR THE MESSAGE im sorry it was so long