ICOM UK has invited international curators to reflect on their experience of lockdown on their museum, their practice and their audience. Catherine McDermott talks to Eileen Ondusye Musandi, Head of the Exhibitions Section under the Directorate of Antiquities, Sites and Monuments, National Museums of Kenya.
Eileen could you tell ICOM UK members a little about your role and work?
I support the Exhibitions team to deliver on its core function of disseminating information to the public. The Exhibitions Section links with the various departments that provide research and objects for the exhibitions. I also work closely with the Education and Public programmes sections in delivering and interpreting public programmes for the museum. I joined the Museum in 2006 when it was undergoing tremendous refurbishment and participated in the development of the permanent exhibitions at the Nairobi National Museum. Since then, I have been involved in setting up and maintaining exhibitions in regional museums that make up the National Museums of Kenya. We also shared skills with colleagues in Ethiopia towards the refurbishment of the permanent history exhibition at the National Museum of Ethiopia. More recently, I have been involved in advising and organising the establishment of private sector exhibitions and museums within Kenya.
How have institutions and staff been dealing with lockdown in Kenya?
EOM: The National Museums of Kenya is a network of over 25 Museums, monuments and sites spread across the country. I am based at the Nairobi National Museum, and our city has been on lockdown since 6 April 2020. Additionally, there is a dusk to dawn curfew in place. Our museums were closed to the public from mid-March. Most of our staff alternate between working at home and at work, in shifts. Working hours are reduced to enable staff to get back home before the curfew sets in. Security of our collection is top priority and access to the galleries is restricted to the staff working within. Our live exhibits are taken care of daily by staff on a rotation basis. Installation of sanitising points, water and soap for washing hands was done. Wearing of facemasks is mandatory. Physical meetings are restricted to a maximum of five people. Most meetings and communications take place online.
Some staff members are not able to access their workplaces because they live outside the lockdown areas. An area within our city is quarantined off and some staff members are affected.
How is your practice continuing to develop through this situation?
As the exhibitions department, we are actively involved in condition assessment and conservation of the artefacts within the galleries. We are also assessing our exhibitions in line with the new health guidelines such as restricting hands-on activities. Our museum has also taken this opportunity to undertake repair and refurbishment on the infrastructure such as lighting and painting. We are supervising and advising the contractor through this. We are also planning and collecting for a future exhibition about Covid-19 and its effects.
The Kenya Government initiated a project to cushion vulnerable artists against the adverse effects of Covid-19. Our institution was tasked on this project, to coordinate the painting of 39 murals countrywide involving 450 artists. We are using our regional museums and artists’ database to carry out this exercise, which will end in July. We also plan to develop an online exhibition about it.
Our affiliated institution, the Institute of Primate Research, has been mandated to carry out research and as a testing centre on Covid -19.
Have things been developing with your online programme?
We have increased our online activities such as online Education programmes, zoom meetings, online curator’s forum, collecting objects and stories for an exhibition about Covid-19, online and mobile transfers of money.
After the pandemic is under control what changes would you like to see?
Firstly, we need to put online/digital resources to greater use alongside traditional physical resources, such as virtual exhibitions and online programmes, social media, online meetings and webinars.
Explore alternatives or how to use hands-on aids safely. Greater use of IT technology e.g. barcodes, texts, audio guides, self-guiding in museums.
The museum to be used as a means of educating the public about Covid-19 and as relaxation and breakaway points for the public. Another change I would like to see is the pre-planning and pre-booking of visits to the museums by visitors, especially the schools which are our biggest audience. We should also enhance our outreach programmes and plan for any future eventuality.
Eileen has worked as a Curator at the Nairobi Gallery, Karen Blixen Museum and at the Nairobi National Museum, from 2011 till 2015. She furthered her training in education programmes by taking part in the British Museum’s Getty East Africa Programme, from 2013-2014. She feels strongly that the experiences at the British Museum’s ITP International Training Programme in 2008 gave her invaluable development experience.
