Mouseum- or: what does Melanie do in a gallery?

The children who worked on this project, the Junior Art Detectives and Mouseum makers, have established the following guidelines for their own opening. They have done so out of experience (they all went to several openings) and in order to assure that your visit is as pleasant as possible:

• No black clothing - those wearing black clothing have to view the exhibition from the gallery window and will not be allowed entry.
• Priority entrance for those with colourful shoes.
• No black shoes allowed - these must be removed to obtain entry to the gallery (to compensate for this there will be spot prizes for the best socks throughout the opening).
• Strictly no smelly feet.
• Famous people are most welcome but they will be expected to bring crisps with them (as a donation for all the children that suffer in the Arts).
• Referee cards apply on the night for rule breakers. Those who disobey internal gallery rules will be removed from the Mini Museum.
• No alcohol.
• Vegetable snacks will be provided for adults and multiple crisp selections will be available for children.
• The children would like to collect donations on the night for their chosen charity www.tenfoundations.org.
• Sporadic ‘Guess the Flavour of the crisp’ games will take place during launch time, along with sticker awards for happy and engaging audience members.

Signed: The Junior Art Detectives

Project background

Children rarely visit PS². Unless specifically targeted like in ‘crèche  course’, 2013 or the Photo Festival Youth Edition, 2014, they only form a small audience group.
What does PS² do wrong? Is contemporary art not for children? Or is it the way of presenting art a turn-off? Do parents need more encouragement to come with their children to art spaces? Or are galleries and the passive act of looking at things, do not touch- be quite- behave orders plain boring?
Young at Art initiated last summer meetings with several galleries about this subject and published the family art map. But how could it practically work to connect and engage more children with galleries? Does Melanie have to dress up for a gallery? Does she have to whisper? Can she show her own drawings? Or can Jack go to the MAC and re-enact a video?

This project will explore fantastic and unconventional ways for and with young children (and maybe their parents), to visit galleries in the Cathedral Quarter- and- build their own gallery, artspace, museum or mouseum in PS². Or whatever they fancy.
Mouseum is a small scale trial project about children and galleries and about the making of a gallery by children.

Project artist: Shauna McGowan, Trisha McNally.

Hello children: this text is for all mouseum makers

What is: Mouseum?

Mouseum is an art project for and with children between the age of 4 and 11 (or three and a half and ten three quarter).
Mouseum doesn't have anything to do with one mouse or many mice, but with museum and gallery, places and buildings where one can see art.
May be you have been in such a place, opened heavy doors, kept quiet, saw paintings on white walls, looked for butterflies behind glass, photographs, videos, mummies...?
Did you like it? Was it a super? Did someone say: be quiet, don't touch?
Did you like the space? Will you go back?
These are few questions and Mouseum asks even more:

- What do you do as a young visitor in galleries?
- What can you do -or what not?
- If you would make your own museum or gallery, what would it look like?
- And what, oh what would you show?

Mouseum doesn't just ask questions- it puts them to the test. It will do everything to get to the ground of it. But how?
By visiting galleries and by making your own gallery.

How will you and we do that?

1. We visit some galleries and studios together around the Cathedral Quarter and have a very good look. Like detectives. What can we see? Is it interesting? Is it something special? Is it art?
Perhaps we will come with a trolley full of staff, clothes for dressing up; paint, paper, cameras. You might want to re-enact something or build it or take a picture. Perhaps the echo in the space is more interesting or that one could run around- if one can.
2. You- together with the other children and mouseum makers will put together, collect, paint, glue, photocopy, construct, write, photograph your own mouseum or gallery in PS². You can make and show your own work or that of friends. You can ask some artists you met to give you some of their work to show. Or you just collect things you think should be seen by others. Or printed images from the web, or...Well, we'll see.

It might turn out that this could be quite boring for you. Ups. You might rather show things in a tent or change it all the time or rather prefer a ‘making’ space.
Therefore, the Mouseum project has to be really open and experimental and fun. And super good that many people want to see it.

What next?

You and we in PS² will possibly need to meet 2 times a week at a time which suits all.The project will run till end of September.
We could work on different days with just one or two of you- or you could work in small numbers, one, two, with us. All mouseum workers- the children, parents and artists should work together on this project, but you, the children, are king- or queen.

M E E T I N G S

Thursday, 04 September, 6-7.30pm @ PS²
2 gallery visits during Late Night Art.

Saturday, 06 September, 2-4pm @ PS²
1 gallery visit; making own gallery

Thursday, 11 September, 6-7.30pm @ PS²
making own gallery

Sunday, 14 September, TBC @ PS²
Studio visit, making own gallery

Wednesday, 17 September, 6-7.30pm @ PS²
making own gallery

Friday,19 September, culture night, 6pm: opening
Opening of Mouseum