1. The museum is, as it claims to be, "disturbingly informative." For those of us who don't routinely look at livers, tibias or slices of brains, the exhibits are not only visually stimulating, but also packed full of information about medical conditions about which most of us know very little. Better yet, the exhibits manage to be interesting and informative without being text-heavy.
2. The Mutter does something very similar to the Mercer Museum in Doylestown, PA: it attempts to be a "museum of a museum." In other words, the museum looks much like it did at its inception; it self-consciously maintains the same organizational style and explains to the visitor its reasons for so doing. While the Mercer takes this to the extreme (it goes so far as to explain integrated pest management systems and accession numbers), the Mutter does an excellent job of helping the visitor understand how museums work on a deeper level.
3. Although in most cases, the labels found a happy medium between too much and not enough text, there were frequent typos. I found three, and I wasn't looking for them.
4. I'm probably just being picky, but I could have done without the special exhibit "Corporeal Manifestations." Because of space issues at the museum, the exhibit felt like an afterthought, stuck off to the side. Also, the exhibit exit funnels visitors into the gift shop. Normally this is fine, but because of the exhibit layout, one can go through the exhibit, exit through the gift shop, and then have to re-enter the galleries. The route I had to take was slightly confusing, very circuitous and mildly irritating.
On the whole, however, the Mutter provides a great experience. I enjoyed the Museum enough to recommend it to several people today.
Go forth and be disturbed.
No comments:
Post a Comment