This text is part of the special Museums notebook
Beyond an expansion project still under construction, the Montreal museum is positioning itself more than ever as an actor of change calling for reflection on a more just and inclusive society. A mandate that the new director of the McCord, Anne Eschapasse, strives to implement through strong exhibitions reaching more and more people.
Create connection and meaning. When she took up her position at the head of the McCord Stewart Museum just a year ago, Anne Eschapasse immediately emphasized these two essential points. “I like to talk about impact museology,” confides the former deputy director general of the MAC and the National Gallery of Canada. “What we do must have resonance and scope, encourage reflexivity on oneself and on the world, nourish reflection and encourage commitment. »
The first milestones for a museum as an agent of change were laid as soon as the 2022-2027 strategic plan, established by former director Suzanne Sauvage, was adopted. In April 2023, Anne Eschapasse took over, while inheriting the delicate file of expanding the museum. Begun in 2019, the ambitious project was delayed by the pandemic, before suffering the repercussions of an economic and social crisis prompting more austerity.
Crying needs
“Compared to 2019, we are in a very different context linked to inflation, the housing crisis, social acceptability,” she says. We must approach this project with sobriety. This does not call into question the expansion needs, which are tangible. » The integration of the Fashion Museum in 2017 and the Stewart Museum in 2021 has made these developments all the more necessary to improve access to a collection now comprising 2.5 million artifacts.
New, larger rooms will already be opened in September. “In the future, we would like to expand accessibility to our collections to be able to tell a story through a permanent journey,” continues M.me Escape. We have a 500 m room2 dedicated to permanent exhibition Indigenous voices today. But we could go much further to highlight the diversity, vitality and creativity of the communities that make up Montreal and Quebec. »
Objects that carry stories
In its strategic plan, the McCord announced that it wanted to reach 500,000 annual visitors, while our museums are generally struggling to return to their pre-pandemic attendance levels. “We remain on this objective, but it is above all the quality of the experience that we want to maintain,” assures the director. It is important to highlight the polysemous stories that objects carry, as we were able to do with Wampum. Pearls of diplomacy. »
Following on from this flagship exhibition, the social history museum has scheduled a wampum making workshop to introduce young and old to beading during the spring break. “We want to develop the family axis, by creating routes intended for children for our exhibitions,” explains Mme Eschapasse, which has set itself the mission of attracting a wider audience, from a very young age, by relying in particular on the large collection of McCord toys.
A great first
“We also have a collection of costumes without equal in Canada. And it seems fundamental to us to allow young fashion designers to access it. Access to this cultural, historical and artistic heritage must be expanded,” she adds. We will also be able to admire, for the first time, around forty restored outfits from this rich collection, with the event exhibition on costume balls from 1870 to 1927, announced for next fall.
“It will be a unique exhibition looking at the practice of balls at that time and what it represented for theestablishment to choose a costume, enthuses Mme Escape. At the end of the tour, we will have a reflection on the violence of the costume and cultural appropriation with the outfits of “Indians”, as they were called at the time, or the blackface. This illustrates well our museological approach, which is to look at history while having a contemporary critical reflection. »
Exhibitions not to be missed
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