History and culture: ‘Harappa has immense potential for a museum’

Finnish expert says interactive displays needed in museums

LAHORE: “Pakistan is very rich in cultural history. Take The Indus Valley Civilisation for instance,” Finnish Museums’ Association Director of Training and Development Leena Tolkia said while speaking exclusively to The Express Tribune.

This, she said, was something Finland did not have. Despite its rich cultural heritage museums in Pakistan do not enjoy a lot of popularity and Tolkia as well as the Museums’ Association of Pakistan, who invited her to the country, feel that this needs to change. “This time we organised a workshop at Lahore Museum and were talking about museology, a theoretical approach to museums, and some practical issues. We also talked about collection management and what kind of values we can connect with museums. For instance museums and their social value, educational value and economic value,” she said.

This is Tolkia’s third trip to the country to train and speak to museum professionals to get things moving. Her most recent visit has been to Harappa where she feels there is immense potential for a museum.

She said in order to get people to visit museums it was important to provide knowledge about the display in a simple and lucid manner. “It is important to make the place more attractive so visitors can get a clear picture of the period and heritage of the time,” Tolkia said. This, she said, could be done using simple techniques like clear labelling, better photography and videos.

Additionally, Tolkia pointed towards interactive displays. “More and more exhibitions give one the possibility of touching objects. That is a very good way of learning about objects. Some want to read and listen while some want to touch to learn better. By doing this you are able to connect with the past,” she said.

She also stressed the need to use the internet and social media to advertise collections and provide information about them. The problem of young people not frequenting museums, Tolkia said, persisted in Finland too, “In Finland, usually visits to museums are organised as part of cultural programmes with schools…. it’s usually teenagers and young adults  who don’t come to museums,” she said.

This, Tolkia said, was not true for all museums. She said photography museums and a technology museum in Helsinki were popular with the young. She spoke of the need to connect museum exhibitions with modern life. “You have to provide some topics which can connect the subject of the museum to the world of young people or to modern times. So try to place these relationships in a contemporary context and how they connect with what the museum has to offer,” Tolkia said.  While Pakistan does not have as many museums as it has the potential for, she said, there was a need to develop displays of existing museums. “There is a need for development projects,” Tolkia said. She said museum professionals were passionate about their work despite all these problems. Tolkia said they were receptive to collaborating with one another to improve the sector. This, she said, was heartening.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 7^th, 2016.