How to make museums more attractive

By Yenni Kwok

JAKARTA (JP): The city's museums are poor. The problem has nothing to do with the value of artifacts they store, but the poor quality of displays, poor funding and poor human resources.

And, above all, poor public interest. Most people in Jakarta prefer spending their Sunday afternoons wandering through shopping malls over visiting one of the 41 museums in the area.

Old museums are clearly losing out to the vibrant and flashy malls. What to do? Campaign against the threat to higher cultural and historical learning posed by the malls? Shun the shopping emporiums outright?

Embrace them instead, according to art critic Amir Sidharta, Jakarta Museum director Adji Damais and art lover Pia Alisjahbana, speakers at the recent Discussion on Museums at the Museum of Fine Arts and Ceramic in West Jakarta.

The local museums should adopt the mall concept, in what Amir termed "mall-ization", what he defined as grouping several number museums into a cohesive unit.

"As a tenant of a mall, each museum can contribute something to the mall," Amir said. The museums can benefit one another without competing, and patrons could visit them all when they wished.

In Jakarta, there are already examples of "mall-ization", he added. In Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (TMII), dozens of museums group are clustered together. Because TMII has good promotion, the complex, like a mall, attracts visitors, Amir said.

The concept can be applied to museums located near each other and sharing similar characteristics.

Jakarta Kota, the older part of the city, has many old buildings and museums but each functions independently. The Museum of Fine Arts and the neighboring Puppet Museum should collaborate and have joint activities, he suggested.

Amir said mall-ization can also be adopted by the museums located at a distance from one another through forming a consortium.

A consortium would be made up of museums that share the same theme; for example, the money museum, bank museum or money- printing museum could belong to one consortium.

The consortium could hold joint promotions, with members sharing promotional fees to cut costs.

"Each museum needs to become a small mall," Amir said, adding that this included providing a full range of services.

After a few hours of walking and looking at artifacts, visitors would cherish the refuge of a cafe or a gift shop.

Adji agreed with Amir's mall concept. "Museum visitors should feel comfortable. The place should be beautiful," he said.

There lies the challenge. Visit any museum, and its appearance smacks more of a neglected antique warehouse than a sophisticated gallery.

Objects are thrown together, cluttering the limited space. No stylish curating touch is to be found. Information is often limited to mere names and dates of the exhibits.

"Most people still see museums as a storage for artifacts," Amir said.

The task to upgrade the display falls on the curators' shoulders. "A museum can be interesting, depending on how the curators display the artifacts," said Pia, who also heads the Indonesia Textile Society.

For her, regular and permanent displays are not enough. Museums should have temporary, special theme exhibitions to attract frequent visitors.

Pia said organizers needed at least three years to prepare this kind of exhibition, spanning the idea stage to the realization.

Special exhibitions are rarities in Indonesian museums, and Pia faulted the preparation. "In Indonesia, there is never a well-prepared exhibition."

A few days before Amir introduced his mall-ization concept or before Pia suggested special theme exhibitions, the city administration had already planned a series of exhibitions at six museums later this month.

Starting Sept. 25, Ceramic Museum will hold the Majapahit Ceramics exhibition. On the same day, it will also open its cafe, Kafe Museum, in the museum's right wing.

Nevertheless, it is doubtful special theme exhibitions can change the sad status of Jakarta's museums.

Even permanent exhibitions are not accompanied by good presentations. Museum tour guides are often uninspired or uninterested.

Pia suggested that college students majoring in anthropology or archeology can earn extra money working as museum guides.

But can the museums afford them? It is no secret that Jakarta's museums wage a continual struggle over funding.

The cenotaph and epitaph museum has not been renovated for more than 20 years. Two years ago, the city government provided funding sufficient only for minor repairs, such as painting the fences and buildings around the museum.

It appears likely that local museums will have to endure more years of hardship before they resemble bustling scenes from a mall.