The Plaque: communication of objects within a museum setting

I'm interested interested in how plaques used within the gallery and museum context aid the communication and delineation of an object, especially objects that have unknown or ambigious function.

Within "Mind in matter:an introduction to material culture theory and method" discusses the delineation of artefact or object via a method of description, deduction and speculation. In reference to the idea of the plaque, I will be looking at the first step of "description," "substantial analysis." Though Prown doesn't explicitly mention the museum plaque, some the information and details she discusses are commonly attributed to these communication devices. Prown notes that substantial analysis consists of physical dimensions, material and articulation of the object who's denotation is dependant on the investor or curator. [1] The quality and quantity of the information becomes more important if the object is a "component part" within a larger collection as it allows contrast and comparison. Specificity in measurement, Prown notes is only advantageous when it is easily graspable, decimal points don't aid in quantification. [2] Material descriptions; what, quantity and where they are on the object, and fabrication and articulation are also noted. [3] Substantial analysis can be said to be a comprehensive, more so than a typical plaque - perhaps more akin to an introduction label, "descriptive physical inventory ." [4]

[1-4] Prown, Jules David. “Mind in Matter: An Introduction to Material Culture Theory and Method.” Winterthur Portfolio 17, no. 1 (1982): 1–19. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1180761.

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How Shall We Label Our Exhibit Today? Applying the Principles of On-Line Publishing to an On-Site Exhibition (2007)

Ross Parry, Mayra Ortiz-Williams and Andrew Sawye

Looking at "The Enduring Label" and "Practice"

• "Words make us think, and our thoughts conjure images," its interesting to think what picture a aftefact plaque/label conjures that the actual object doesn't. Presuming the plaque isn't a introduction label - which has a story about the origin or life of the object.
  

• It's interesting to think that labels are the main factor in a viewer decoding an unfamiliar or unknown object. And, an idea I think is highly presumptuous. A label or plaque obviously offers factual information, but the eyes offer information to help decode an object also. In the absence of an label prior knowledge and visual information could help build an idea of what the object or artefact is. The difference is the meaning of materiality is not confirmed, neither its place of origin or date. It becomes speculative. This is more important in the museum context than the gallery perhaps.. where labels may be reduced to artist, name, material and scale. A level of Interpretation is encouraged in the gallery setting, where as the museum is tied to cataloging history and westernised "facts" and education. In the passage below we see that when labels were purposefully omitted as in 'Unidentified museum objects: Curiosities from the British muesum,' the show became conflated with being infactual. The presence of a label then acts as a reminder of the nature of the context the viewer resides within - an authoritative and educational institution. Here again we see the fundamental difference between the gallery and museum. To me, "doubt" and "un-tethering of meaning" opens up speculation and possibility. There is also a fine balance between too much information that shuts a reading down into overtness - presenting exactly what an about is and what it means - versus a lack of information that shuts a reading down into incomprehensibility.

Parry, R., et al., "How Shall We Label Our Exhibit Today? Applying the Principles of On-Line Publishing to an On-Site Exhibition", in J. Trant and D. Bearman (eds.). Museums and the Web 2007: Proceedings, Toronto: Archives & Museum Informatics, published March 1, 2007 Consulted June 27, 2021. http://www.archimuse.com/mw2007/papers/parry/parry.html

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