Museums as time portals
and how a cultural policy will unlock a superpower
If there is one superpower that people do not know they already have, it is time-traveling. What they do not realize is that the portals are so close for them to activate this.
I tucked these notes somewhere in my journal after stepping out of the Melbourne Museum last month, having just come back from journeying generations through a three-hour museum visit. Back home in the Philippines, museums have always been at the top of the itinerary during short travels, and after, I would always feel like I had already lived multiple lives in these places.
Museums are considered important educational and tourism destinations, preserving and exhibiting historical treasures to provide tangible connections to the past1. They are time portals, and while they hold important relics of the past, coming from a small city on the southern island of my country, I felt like many museums near me remained just as that—in the past.
While transitioning to research and technology is underway for some museums in the capital2, it seems that regional museums lag behind the need to engage visitors more through interactive media. The regional branch of the Philippine National Museum in Butuan City3 offers detailed stories of the Manobo tribe and houses the historic Balangay boat, but it is yet to offer more interactive means by which its visitors, especially young learners, could immerse themselves. It is understandable though, as museums in the country are still moving forward from the closures brought about by the pandemic4, but it is also interesting to note that the only recent policy5 concerning museums in the Philippines was still in 2019 and has since then had to clarify what ‘strengthening’ means aside from changing the name of the national museum.
Aside from funding archeological research, which, by the way, is considerably going well, the country is yet to unravel the beauty of integrating immersive experiences, especially in regional museums. The use of immersive technologies6 such as augmented reality, virtual reality, and holograms will indeed allow visitors to explore and appreciate history even more. Sadly, the previous administration of Duterte did not prioritize7 policies concerning museums aside from making the Presidential Museum accessible to everyone for free and the creation of two museums in his honor: one in his childhood home and one in the high school he attended. How this is a possible use of museums to forward political agendas (or maybe not?) would warrant another blog post.
Today, with a new president who is the son of a late dictator who was known to use cultural aesthetics8 to hide his supposed shenanigans, the Philippines is celebrating the enactment of a creative industry framework9 that encompasses museums. While this may be promising, the country has yet to see concrete plans for strengthening and reinventing its public museums. Wishful thinking, of course, is a more immersive space for historical exploration. Another is about policies protecting these infrastructures against the effects of disasters and climate change, which sadly has no mention in the Philippines' National Framework Strategy for Climate Change10. Adding to that wish list is more appreciation for museum education, especially since the significance of university museums in the Philippines has already slowly declined11.
Funding is what museums need, so said the panelists during the Where did I come from? Origin stories from Museum Educators discussion that I was able to attend last 20 March 2024 at the Australian Center for the Moving Image. They said this while rooting for the new generation of museum enthusiasts to keep their passion and interest, and hoping for more government funding programs that will help keep these burning.
While I have already found out how to unlock a time-traveling ability, I am yet to figure out how to gain a wish-granting power. Here’s to hoping better cultural policies concerning museums in the Philippines, and the world, will help me activate that.
Notes
1 Bawan, O. M. (2022). Redevelopment of Nueva Ecija University of Science and Technology (NEUST) University Museum: an Educational Tourism destination. The QUEST Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Development, 1(1). https://doi.org/10.60008/thequest.v1i1.10
2 Maramara, K. (2022, September 16). Kid-Friendly and interactive museums in Metro Manila - 8List.ph. 8List.ph. Retrieved March 22, 2024, from https://www.8list.ph/kid-friendly-museums-in-metro-manila/
3 Butuan – National Museum. (n.d.). Retrieved March 22, 2024, from https://www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph/our-museums/regional-area-and-site-museums/butuan/
4 Barns, J., & Legaspi, J. (2022, July 26). Museums in the Philippines: Looking forward post-pandemic. BusinessWorld Online. Retrieved March 22, 2024, from https://www.bworldonline.com/special-reports/2022/07/27/463269/museums-in-the-philippines-looking-forward-post-pandemic/
5 Republic Act No. 11333 (26 April 2019). Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines. https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/2019/04/26/republic-act-no-11333/
6 De Pasquale, A. (2023, January 12). A Look Into How Technology is Transforming Museums in 2023 — Hidonix. Hidonix. https://www.hidonix.com/blog/a-look-into-how-technology-is-transforming-museums-in-2023
7 McLaughlin, K. (2017, October 17). Where do they stand?: Filipino museums in the last century. Musings: Master of Museum Studies Blog at the University of Toronto. Retrieved March 22, 2024, from https://musingsmmst.blogspot.com/2017/10/where-do-they-stand-filipino-museums-in.html
8 Espiritu, Talitha. “The Marcos Romance and the Cultural Center of the Philippines: The Melodrama of a Therapeutic Cultural Policy.” Journal of Narrative Theory, vol. 45, no. 1, 2015, pp. 141–62. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44122200. Accessed 22 Mar. 2024.
9Piatos, T. (2024, February 23). BBM fetes creative sector for shaping Pinoy culture. Daily Tribune. Retrieved March 22, 2024, from https://tribune.net.ph/2024/02/23/bbm-fetes-creative-sector-for-shaping-pinoy-culture
10 Labrador, A., Balarbar, R. & Esguerra, E. (2022). Heritage under Siege from Climate Change: Lessons from the Past on Coping with Disasters for Philippine Museums, Archives and Libraries.
11Reyes, Mateo. (2020). Honoring the President of the Sovereign Tagalog Nation: An Institutional Development Research on Promoting the Establishment of Andres Bonifacio's Museum in Tondo, Manila. 10.13140/RG.2.2.17037.56809.