A slate board artifact (L) and Bytown iPhone creation (R) are on display at the Bytown Museum from now until March 31. They are part of the Rebranding Bytown exhibit by artist Michele Provost.
Upon viewing the new exhibition at the Bytown museum, visitors may wonder if they’re in a quirky gift shop.
“Rebranding Bytown” is the name of Michele Provost’s witty critique of museum boutiques, which opened at the community heritage museum at the end of October.
The local artist’s rebranding campaign intentionally ignores notable historic events and focuses on objects that represent Ottawa residents who have been forgotten by the passing of time, such as imagery from embroidered pillow cases, old children’s toys and old board games.
She has used these historical artifacts, entirely for their visual appeal, to create handmade versions of commercial objects, including T-shirts, backpacks, playing cards, key chains and mugs. Each object displays an image of an artifact found in the museum’s collection.
“(Provost) has taken a very interesting approach to her artwork, challenging all museums and art galleries to truly think through their mandate,” says Robin Etherington, the museum’s executive director.
“The question is, how do we sell museums without selling out?”
Using her artistic talents, Provost critiques the role commerce plays in the operation of a local history museum by taking often overlooked artifacts and displaying them as if they are mass-produced museum merchandise, complete with a brand logo.
A popular piece among the museum staff is Provost’s take on a 19th-century slate board. In the Victorian era, students used slate boards and chalk to write with. Provost draws the same picture using chalk on the slate board, as she displays on the packaging of a 21st-century iPad.
“Provost asks us to imagine what happens when a museum’s need to generate revenue triggers a marketing campaign that gets out of hand and distorts the image of the museum entirely,” curator Judith Parker said at the exhibition’s opening reception.
Provost said she wanted to draw attention to the fact that cultural institutions are often forced to function as a business. Rather than funding art and artists, much of a museum budget goes towards hiring consultants and graphic artists and selling merchandise.
“I’ve played a bit of a trick to try to make people think about what culture is, how it should be protected and if cultural institutions have to fit into this commercial mode to sell, sell, sell.”
“Could it be that our aim is other than financial?” she added.
Provost says she hopes the exhibit will bring attention to the idea that people often get more excited about the boutiques in galleries and museums, rather than the art and the history.
“You think that you’re walking into a boutique at the exhibit and that’s normal,” Provost explains.
“But as you’re looking, everything is nailed down, there are tags everywhere but no prices, and there are no shop attendants. It’s destabilizing.”