Café as Exhibition

They’re eating the museum!

I mean museum cafés are becoming curatorial. I’m not saying cardboard pizza is out. Those chicken-finger lobbyists are … [dramatic melody] … unstoppable.

But something else is on the way in. At places like NMAI, NMAAHC, Nordic Museum, and the V&A, you’ll find café menus that read like part of the exhibition.

If our curatorial, exhibits, and café folks teamed up, tasty things might happen.

Such as?

Thematic menus:
We could align our edible offerings with current exhibitions or permanent collections.

Interpretive labels:
Treat our food like an exhibition, and engage visitors about it.

Rotating cultural specials:
Feature the different cultures our museum celebrates.

Café-based programming:
Have our next gallery talk be a cooking demo in the café instead.

Historic recipes:
History museums bring the past to life. How about we eat it too?

Food art:
Have edibles designed by artists. (Uh, normal food, I mean.)

Interior design coordination:
Have the style of our exhibitions flow into the café.

Here’s the thing:

Our visitors see our museum as a continuum, even when we don’t. Why not take our exhibition mission to the café too?

Warmly,
Jonathan

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MtM Word of the Day:

Work lights. Built-in overhead utility lighting in galleries. They are bright and practical, to keep after-hours staff tasks like installation and cleaning efficient and safe. Turned off during public hours. Controlled separately from exhibition lighting and emergency lighting.