During this first day of Museomix 2013, six museums open their doors way earlier their usual opening hours. They have to welcome the museomixers from 8 a.m.. After they received their badge and their toolkit, the participants are invited to share the breakfast. With pastries and coffee, museomixers are reflecting on their wishes and their expectations. Everybody introduces and speaks about his/her professional profile and one can see one another’s skills. Let us not forget that the power of Museomix lays in the melting of various savoir-faire inside a broad, various and trans-disciplinary community : art historians, engineers, community managers, designers, coders, cultural intermediaries, web masters, etc.
The little hands of the ESAA Duperré are creating badges for Museomix in Paris
Once all of the participants have reached the premises, the Museomix week-end can begin in every museum : welcome message, presentation of the schedule, the teams and the reception center. Jean Guibal, head of the Musée Dauphinois, “declares the first – and surely not the last – #museomix of Grenoble open“. Samuel Bausson, co-founder of Museomix, explains at the Château des Ducs de Bretagne – Museum of history in Nantes -, that they want “to leave the Britannica museum to reach the Wikipedia museum“.
First plenary session at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs.
After the welcome message, museomixers discover the scenery they are going to evolve in during the next 54 hours. Curators and lecturers are there to guide them through the museographic spaces and show them the different premises at their disposal. Indeed, as Olivier Gabet, head of the Arts Décoratifs, had wished, Museomix must put the light on the permanent collections when the public is more inclined to visiting temporary exhibitions.
During the analysis of the votes by the organizers, the volunteers of the Techlabs introduce themselves to the museomixers. In front of a curious and attentive audience, they describe the material they brought with them : laser cutter, 3D printer, kinect, sewing-machine, servomotors, etc. The photography of the FabLab of Québec is quite impressive. At the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, there are tons of questions for the members of the Blackboxe as well as for the those of the Petit FabLab de Paris, meaning Museomix is running behind.
The FabLab of La Casemate at the Musée dauphinois in Grenoble.
Around lunchtime, the teams are created : 48 groups (10 in Paris, 8 in Grenoble, 7 in Nantes, 6 in Lens, 7 in Shropshire, 10 in Québec) are studying to fancy prototypes. In the meantime, the lunch break is getting closer and a healthy break is very much welcomed especially when “museomiam” and “museofood” hashtags are growing on the social networks.
At the same time, our friends in Québec are roaring to go while waiting for their teams.