Albert Museum

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Tim Barringer’s article, The South Kensington Museum and the Colonial Project, is a review of the museum as a cultural foundation and development, bringing together different representations of the world through art. He separates the creation of the South Kensington Museum, later named the Victoria and Albert Museum by three distinct time periods, based on the aims of the British government, community and institution: 1851 to 1870, 1870 to 1885, and 1885 to 1909. However, since 1909, changes have been made and yet, Barringer did not add a fourth period between then and the publishing year for his article. In this essay, I will discuss Barringer’s three periods, and its connection and foundation for the fourth period, as well as, the architectural changes and collections within the Victoria and Albert Museum
The museum was founded in 1851 after the opening of The Great Exhibition in the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, which collected high-valued Indian goods and designs in a rather extravagant show. The show collected funds in collaboration with the British government to build a museum. The main focus of the museum was education, as Barringer pointed out many times in the article,
“The museum aimed to instill a culture of self-education and self-help into the artisan community and to improve the profitability and competitiveness of industry by doing so.” (p. 3) Additionally, there were economic and cultural ties that increased the appeal of this type of museum. Barringer refers to the next period as “academic imperialism,” where Britain tried to claim superiority to the Indian architecture, sculpture and design, and treating the culture as a subdivision of British art and influence. Henry Scott built the architectural c...

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...ic, fashion and cultural icon, following the development of his style and art during the past five decades. The exhibition featured a few films, relating David Bowie to the general community and his participation as an icon. The Victoria and Albert museum also celebrated and idolized him in a weekend of events with talks, music, workshops, cinema films, interactive digital media and other themed activities that appealed to all ages.
Barringer’s article attempts to demonstrate the importance and influence of culture and history towards the development of design, architecture and art within, all leading up to the museum’ creation. However, since the creation and official naming of the Victoria and Albert Museum, there have been massive changes in the ability and availability of new technology, as well as changes to the space of the museum creating a fourth period.

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