Contextual Approach

“Contextual Approach” is the idea of viewing objects in a museum with a feel for the object within a more natural environment. Susan Pearce talks about how without having enough surrounding information around the object that its true importance can be lost. If the Declaration of Independence was put in a exhibit that showed what paper from the 1700's compared to the founding of America makes a huge difference. People that would go visit the museum that had a bunch of old paper might not think anything of it. But if it was placed in an exhibit with other significant items from the founding of the nation, everyone would understand how important and significant it is.

For instance when I was at the Toi Gold Mine museum in Japan I walked through the gold mine that had been dug out hundred years ago, inside the mine there were dummies to show the working conditions that the laborers had gone through. Without the dummies being put in the parts where the workers were at I would have never looked at the place in the same way. This museum would have meant very little to me if I had not seen the dummies. When at the museum I got a feel for the daily lives of the people that were there, something I would have not been able to gather from pictures or some other type of description. The contextual approach allows the viewer to take place within the story that the exhibit is trying to portray. Without the contextual approach, the viewer becomes disconnected with the exhibit and is unable to fully understand what they are viewing. Museums will always be need because nothing can replace the context that a museum can create.