Museums allow look at the past to inform our future
When you think about museums, what comes to mind? Dinosaurs? Ancient artifacts? Old paintings? Old things, from the past. But in reality, museums are all about the future.
The only reason museums collect things from the past is in the hope that they will be of value in the future, and yet with the Trump administration’s targeted elimination of the Institute for Museum and Library Services and the politicization of the Smithsonian and National Archives, museums are also at risk today.
Rather than just being places that preserve the past for future generations, I believe the true value of museums is to help us live richer, more vibrant, inclusive and tolerant lives in the present and to help us envision even more desirable futures.
Emotions come before thought. Fear, disgust, curiosity, and love are all triggers of engagement. If an object does not engage with our emotions, we are less likely to go deeper. We are less likely to give it a thought. Social media is an unprecedented amplifier of emotion. Emotional posts beget emotional reactions ad infinitum, with very little attempt to go deeper. Museums are different. As a museum experience triggers our emotions, there is more time and space for turning emotion into thinking, empathizing, wondering.
https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/comment-museums-allow-look-at-the-past-to-inform-our-future/