Museums need new audiences

Karl Chitham came to Ramp Festival from Lower Hutt where he has been the director of the Dowse Art Museum since January. He has worked as a curator for many years across New Zealand and across art, social history, and craft in Tauranga, Whakatane, Rotorua and Hamilton.

Chitham is on record as saying “Museums and galleries are a way for people to be transported, and to have an experience beyond the everyday. Sometimes, these experiences can blow you away by being challenging or inspiring while others might sometimes be more subtle, but they stay with you for many years.”

Chitham expanded on his ideas about museums during his talk at Ramp.

It is his belief  museums are “more and more” important to fill a growing void in society.

“There is a diminishing of the arts at all levels education, at all levels.”

Chitham said much of the art he  related to had disappeared from the curriculum.

“The problem with a lack of education is that they [the public] find galleries and museums intimidating. [We] need to find art and artwork that walks that line between contemporary art and blockbuster and spectacle.”

Chitham defined ‘blockbuster” as a populist approach to artwork, while “spectacle’ could be seen as something visually appealing and removed from every day expression.

Audience member Lance Jones said afterwards: “I hadn’t thought of galleries like that. May have to reconsider that.”