ITP 2013: August 14 – Dong Mei

This is my second day at the British Museum. We, under the guide of Dr. Sascha Priewe, went through all the Asia Galleries and watched the Asia study routine.

What interested and impressed me most was the “Hands on desk” program I saw at the China Gallery. There was a volunteer standing behind a desk at the gallery and several objects on the desk. She was explaining a famous Chinese painting “Admonitions Scroll”(this surely has to be a copy because paintings are too fragile to be handled casually.) A bunch of kids were listening to her. It was very interesting.

Hands On desks

Hands On desks

Although I work at a museum, I have never been able to touch our objects with my hands due to the nature of my job, let alone an ordinary visitor. Moreover, museums tend to be too serious and far away from visitors with all the objects in showcases. This is a simple but brilliant idea! It makes the visitors more engaged in learning, rather than just seeing objects through old showcases. I bet it could leave a deep impression on visitors, kids in particular and make the museum more‘easy-going’and friendly place. I definitely will introduce this simple but good idea to our Education Department.