Exhibitions, Museum Collections and the Environment

Interesting online discussion from Medieval Art Research looking ecology-related museum practices.

Heather Alexis Smith from the Pulitzer Arts Foundation in St Louis talked us through a recent exhibition she had curated “The Nature of Things: Medieval Art and Ecology 1100-1550” which looked at how medieval art objects relate to the natural world. She explained how they looked at how art making affected environments both temporarily and permanently and at how the environment affected the production of art influenced types of work and imagery. The show was arranged by type of environment forest, earth, field and quarries.

Julia Perratore from The Cloisters in New York then discussed measures the museum are taking to aim to be carbon neutral including a recent test geothermal well which has proved to be a viable project. She also talked about work to interpret the collection emphasising environmental issues starting with the Saint-Guilhem-Le-Desert cloister from a Benedictine monastery in France looking at how the decoration of the columns reflect medieval ideas of wilderness.


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