Why the Museum Experience Post-COVID Will be Brutal

If there’s ever a time we need museums it’s now. They provide solace, relaxation, fun, conversation, discussion and inspiration. They take us out of the everyday; give us a break from reality. Yet these experiences will be a thing of the past when museums reopen post-COVID-19, at least in the short-term. While the majority of museums globally are still under lockdown, we can look to Europe and Asia to get a glimpse of what to expect as they prepare to re-open retail businesses and museums later this month (May).  A handful of museum leaders within the US have also shared insight giving hints into what we can expect upon reopening.  
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Unfortunately it doesn’t look pretty, in fact it looks brutal—impersonal, restrictive. Not conducive to a fun, engaging or connected experience. Masks will be a given, there’ll be plexiglass barriers between museum staff and visitors, markings on the floor and signs with directions to enforce social distancing and the flow of visitor traffic. In Asian museums temperature checks will be standard.

Image: The Met Museum in NYC, a few days prior to shut down for COVID-19, March 2020.

Museums Opening Soon…
In Belgium, museums have the green light to open on May 19. The Royal Museums of Fine Arts, a collection of six museums in Brussels shared its guidelines:

• Limit number of visitors allowed based on a daily quota 
• Social distancing requirements
• No audio guides 
• Visitors to follow a one-way circuit - no back tracking 
• Face masks to be worn by staff - encouraged for visitors.

​Museums in Germany are able to open now so long as government guidelines for social distancing are followed. Most are making plans to reopen shortly, some have already including a group of museums in the state of Brandenburg. The Brandenburg’s Museum Association published its guidelines: 
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• Install plexiglass shields at ticket counters
• Accept only credit cards; no cash payments
• Frequent cleaning of the space; and a limit of one visitor per 15-square meter (or 161-square-foot) area. 
• No group tours; only provide audio guides if audio devices can be carefully disinfected after each use.

In Beijing, China restrictions are more rigorous. Philip Tinari, director and CEO of the UCCA Center for Contemporary Art shared UCCA’s shared planned guidelines for the museum reopening on May 21 in a podcast on the Art Newspaper. They included mandatory masks, strict social distancing, temperature checks for visitors, and scanning of an app that provides details of a person’s travel history. 

In the United States restrictions will look similar to those of European museums. An article published in the Wall Street Journal on May 2 shared insight based on interviews from museum leaders. Highlights:

• LA County Museum of Art will be taking down wall labels that accompany artworks so visitors won’t “cluster around them”
• San Antonio Art Museum in Texas will install clear plastic panels by admission desks
• Virginia Museum of Art has ordered thousands of face masks to hand out to visitors upon entry
• Crystal Bridges Museum in Arkansas won’t open the museum for several weeks but will allow outdoor walks through its extensive walking trails to encourage “cathartic forest bathing” 
• California Science Center in Los Angeles will implement timed entry to limit number of visitors, have touch-free transactions and instruct all staff and visitors to wear masks. Greeters will wear astronaut helmets over their masks to appear more child-friendly.​

Image: A typical museum experience prior to COVID-19. This type of experience, children touching exhibits, visitors in close proximity, will be a thing of the past for the short term at least. Image: Shutterstock

​The (Brutal) Museum Experience 
Based on the insights shared here, the museum experience doesn’t look at all welcoming, in fact it looks pretty grim. Here’s how I see it:

• Given that most people if not all will be wearing masks, the experience will feel impersonal and cold. Masks are barriers to engagement. You can't talk properly, be heard, or see others expressions. Masks take away a key reasons for visiting a museum—to engage and socialize. 
• Plexiglass screens or other barriers will make the experience impersonal and limit visitor engagement. It will make it difficult for visitors to ask questions or seek help. Part of engaging with people is seeing smiles and facial expressions, even personal contact, that of providing a physical map for instance, contribute to the human connection experience. This will be lost.
• With docent-guided and audio-based tours on hold (for the short term at least) the museum experience will be significantly degraded. Tours deliver enrichment, learning and opportunity for discussion and making connections with people and art. This will be lost.
• Social distancing will be a given. If the museum experience is at all similar to the grocery shopping experience with the signs, arrows and markings on the floors, it will feel militant and directive. This is the antithesis of what museums should deliver-- engaging, interactive experiences that foster connection and inspiration.

As a museum-lover, I’ve missed frequenting museums since the lockdown. I miss the escapism, the feeling of being removed from the real world. I miss the connection. I'll be reluctant to visit museums once they reopen if the experience is anything like the current shopping experience for essentials. I struggle with the face masks, barriers and signs for social distancing—it’s disconcerting. Let’s hope when museums reopen they can overcome the social disconnectedness these barriers create and deliver an experience where people feel welcome, engaged and connected. Time will tell. I hope it will be sooner rather than later. 

​Further Reading:

• Museums in Germany started reopening with strict new safety measures, ​​Daria Harper, April 23, 2020, Artsy.net
• 'There is no fast track back to normal': museums confront economic fallout of the pandemic, Hannah McGivern and Nancy Kenney, April 24, 2020, The Art Newspaper