The Museum of London, a City Museum as Narrative Exhibition

Abstract

From temples of sacred objects to repositories of colonial trophies and from monuments of civility to spaces for self-expression, the shape and the appeal of museums through history has been fashioned to hold particular collections of objects. Moreover the museums have been also designed to adapt to particular display techniques appropriate for a particular collection. In the last century, a period of structural reinvention in the design and shaping of the exhibitions, the museum making is challenging, creative, and complex. The ‘new museum making’ includes emotive exhibitions within communicative buildings in order to create ‘narrative experiences’ which integrate objects, spaces, and audience. Considering the recent developments in museums and exhibition design to adapt them to contemporary digital age, the museum professionals have increasingly inserted multimedia in the exhibitions. The paper, through diverse examples, aims to provide an overview of interpretative tools, their historical precedent uses, and their roles in generating interaction and interactivity today.