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The start of something new and the tale of two lost noses......

from Julie Reynolds, Tuesday, November 03, 2009

It is a few days now since the last workshop of the MLA London Exchange Programme. The programme has had some core attendees from the business and the museum, library and archive sector and it was an honour to spend the last workshop with them enjoying the objects of the Henry Wellcome collection, Medicine Man. I’d like to talk about this workshop session, not only because it's the last one, but also because the outcomes of the exercises with the objects in the Henry Wellcome collection were an insightful way to end the exchange programme and illustrate the new beginnings in hand. It's also probably going to be unique in the experience of the Sparknow team in that two syphilitic noses, or indeed absent noses, starred as the subject of a workshop.

The aim of this workshop was to conclude the programme with the following questions, through two exercises: What makes a person a bridge builder, and how can you become one in your own organisation? ; What will stick with you as a result of your participation in this series of workshops? Where do you want to be in a year’s time in your relationship with museums, archives or businesses?

The workshop started with everyone trouping to the Medicine Man exhibition space where Rachel Collins, the Communications Manager at the Wellcome Collection, introduced the collection. She was followed by a Visitor Services Officer who introduced Henry Wellcome as a philanthropist and bridge-builder and talked about how his collection is used today in knowledge transfer ways through medicine, social science, history, research and by contemporary artists. To celebrate the end but looking forward to new beginnings, the Wellcome Collection, the host supporter, donated a framed print of a recent knowledge transfer project in which artist Luke Jerram was commissioned to create a unique gift for those attending the Gala to launch the Wellcome Collection in June 2007. Inspired by marketeer, inventor, entrepreneur, philanthropist and collector, Henry Wellcome, Luke proceeded to create an image of 'luxuriantly moustached' Henry from his invention, invisible ink, which was in fact lemon juice [see picture]. This print was given to a participant through a raffle at the end.

The first exercise was then introduced. Participants were given worksheets with areas to sketch objects from the collection that they felt reflected the following three things: A symbol of knowledge transfer; Something which sheds light on the role of Henry Wellcome as a bridgebuilder; Something which they personally found delightful. Everyone was deeply engaged with these tasks and the thirty minutes allowed for this flew by [see picture]. Once this exercise had been completed we all journeyed back to the meeting room where participants spoke about their choices. An interesting array of choices followed, but they would as the collection is an eclectic mix of strange and curious objects. A pair of glass eyes was chosen to represent bridgebuilding as ‘it was good thinking on Henry Wellcome’s part as he was looking ahead’, an artificial nose was chosen as a delightful object until the participant read that the person who wore the nose didn’t have one as it had dropped off due to syphilis, this made the object even more delightful as people in the group giggled. A torture chair was chosen to represent knowledge transfer, ‘this was still decaying, a nice symbol for what happens to knowledge transfer if we don’t share it with people, it dies’. For Henry as a bridge builder a couple of people chose the early photos where Henry had taken pictures of other cultures, ‘ I chose a photo taken at a Chicago exhibition which showed four white men and five American Indians. This illustrates Henry as a wonderful bridgebuilder. He brought two cultures together. The whole world was taking part in this exhibition. He was showing the parallels between traditional pharmacy and American Indian medicine. A rational thought and a belief thought process. This can be related to today, where it has just been reported that copper bracelets don’t work’. Discussions ensued on how objects can represent ‘fact’ but is this knowledge transfer, and the feeling was if it is attributed to today’s thinking and analysis it is knowledge transfer. Two participants illustrated this through choosing objects that were been drawn and interpreted by children who were in the exhibition undertaking an educational exercise which incorporated them drawing objects, ‘it was hard to choose something, but I chose the mummified body being drawn by schoolchildren. I loved the quality of the display and the labels. It was interesting how medicine owes its debt to dead people but also the immediate dead. It made me think how archives are seen as old and stuffy and you can bring them back to life, good symbolism’; ‘I drew school pupil drawing the acupuncture model, this was a great symbol of learning, of knowledge transfer’.

The next session was a reflective piece which used a series of structured exercises to reflect on learning, plan future actions and evaluate the resources gathered through participation in the programme. Each person was asked to think about actions and planning that they have taken from the programme and from this where could they see themselves in a day in the life in 2010. Contributions to the group from this were left open and the outcomes were a fantastic insight on how much the programme has helped people think of knowledge transfer, and bridge building and take this back to their organisations. People could contribute their plans to the group if they wanted to.

Finally, the session was concluded with participants talking about the objects each had brought along to represent what they have thought about the programme. This followed from the first session where they were asked to bring an object to represent themselves and the start of their journey. Here the story of the false nose continues. A picture of a false nose from the museum’s collection was chosen; 'I chose an artificial nose and glasses – Doctor made this for a lady with syphilis, whose nose had dropped off. After a while, her husband told her he preferred her without her artificial nose, so the patient gave it back to her doctor and then it ended up in our collection. The programme brings different people together, enabling them to see their own potential. Sarah Marhurter from the University of the Arts, London brought along some grown chillies in a brown paper bag ‘My chilli seeds (original object brought along to the first workshop) have grown. But my chillies are various shapes and sizes, some unexpected, some colourful and all hot and spicy ingredients for whatever comes next’; Selina Skipwith’s, (Fleming Collection), object was the Scottish Art News magazine; ‘I brought a copy of our magazine which acts as knowledge transfer. These sessions have made me think about other ways we should be doing knowledge transfer at our institution’; Ian Pape’s (FONDA) object was the London Underground Tube Map without the Thames, ‘6 months ago at the London Transport Museum my first object was a guide to London from the 1920’s. It contained a map of the underground pre-dating the one still used. This version from 2009 credits Henry Beck!’. One of the most poignant objects to me was one participant placing her full sketchbook in the circle of objects, ‘my sketchbook is full, I will use this as a professional tool from now on’, this was the perfect end to the session, as this participant had initially found using the sketchbook, which was introduced at the beginning instead of a notebook, quite hard, but over the sessions and through exercises and talks about the concept of using a sketchbook for work practices, now uses it fully, quite literally.

In three hours, this workshop tapped into important discourse around bridge building and knowledge transfer through the effective use of objects. One participant at the workshop shared that he had been to the meeting rooms at the Wellcome Collection before but hadn’t seen the collection or explored. So come on organisations, instead of organising meetings that are in sterile environments, think out of the box and utilise collections and objects in meetings to open up dialogue in an environment which evokes safety, level pegging, and openness. Sarah Marhuter talked about how the exchange programme assisted with scheduling an important staff meeting; 'We recently used the venue of the Imperial War Museum as a place of peace, to bring together a merging department and give colleagues the chance to meet and network. We sent them on a treasure hunt around the museum in small groups – most of them loved it and had lively conversations with colleagues they hadn’t previously known'. As can be seen from the blog of the workshop on 22 September at UCL Museums and Collections and the last workshop held at the Wellcome Collection, the imaginative use of objects in exercises is a unique one that evokes emotion and contact with other human beings, there is the space for reflection, to listen to others and to learn from others, a perfect environment for effective knowledge transfer.

Next steps. The programme will develop into the ownership of the participants. This KTP website will be used a log and evidence base of the learning throughout the programme, so please keep browsing. We will carry on posting blogs and will upload narrative stories and newsletters. A new Ning open source website will be created so that all the participants can keep in contact with each other, discuss relevant topics, arrange review meetings and develop on the seeds that the programme has created. Please do keep browsing this website and contact Ellen Collins, Research and Policy Officer at MLA London [ellen.collins@mlalondon.org.uk] or any of the Sparknow team; Victoria Ward [victoria.ward@sparknow.net], Fiona Hoppe [fiona.hoppe@sparknow.net], Julie Reynolds [julie.reynolds@sparknow.net] with any feedback or questions.