ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Thomas P. Campbell - Museum director
Thomas P. Campbell, director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, aims to make the venerable museum's offerings both narrative-driven and accessible.

Why you should listen

Thomas P. Campbell became the ninth Director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in January of 2009.  Since he began, Campbell has pursued an agenda for the Met that focuses on scholarship and accessibility. These priorities maintain the Museum’s excellence in its exhibitions, publications, acquisitions and permanent collections, while encouraging new thinking about the visitor experience. Further initiatives include exploring the judicious use of technology in the Museum and fully integrating education into all the Met’s activities.

Campbell led the Met through the fiscal setbacks caused by the 2008 recession without reducing hours, gallery openings or programs. He launched an effort to redesign the Museum’s website which now attracts more than 50 million visits per year. FY2011 also saw the Met’s highest attendance in 40 years, rising to 5.6 million. The Museum has just opened new galleries for its Islamic Art Department and American Wing, and is working on plans to renovate The Costume Institute and to reconfigure the outdoor plaza and fountains. In 2011, Campbell announced a collaboration with the Whitney Museum in which the Met will program its landmark Breuer Building on Madison Avenue starting in 2015.  

 
Campbell had worked in the Metropolitan's Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts for fourteen years, rising steadily through the curatorial ranks as Assistant Curator (1995-97), Associate Curator (1997-2003), and Curator (2003 to December 2008). During this time, he conceived and organized the major exhibitions Tapestry in the Renaissance: Art and Magnificence (2002) and Tapestry in the Baroque: Threads of Splendor (New York, 2007; Palacio Real, Madrid, spring 2008), both of which incorporated drawings, paintings, and prints, as well as tapestries, and received widespread acclaim. The 2002 exhibition was named "Exhibition of the Year" by Apollo Magazine and its catalogue won the Alfred H. Barr, Jr. Award (College Art Association) for distinguished exhibition catalogue in the history of art (2003).  Since shortly after his arrival at the Museum, he also served as Supervising Curator of The Antonio Ratti Textile Center, which houses the Museum's encyclopedic collection of 36,000 textiles and is one of the preeminent centers of textile studies in the world.

 

More profile about the speaker
Thomas P. Campbell | Speaker | TED.com
TED2012

Thomas P. Campbell: Weaving narratives in museum galleries

Thomas P. Campbell: Tecendo narrativas nas galerias do museu.

Filmed:
677,732 views

Como Diretor do Metropolitan Museum of Art em Nova Iorque, Thomas P. Campbell reflete profundamente sobre a curadoria — não apenas ao selecionar objetos de arte, mas em colocá-los num cenário em que o público possa aprender as suas histórias. Com imagens fabulosas, ele demonstra como a sua filosofia de curadoria funciona na exposição de tapeçarias medievais — e na arte máxima da moda de Alexander McQueen. (Da sessão The Design Studio no TED2012, com os Curadores convidados Chee Pearlman e David Rockwell.)
- Museum director
Thomas P. Campbell, director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, aims to make the venerable museum's offerings both narrative-driven and accessible. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:16
When I was considering a career in the art world,
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Quando estava pensando em seguir carreira no mundo da arte,
00:20
I took a course in London,
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fiz um curso em Londres,
00:24
and one of my supervisors was this irascible Italian
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e um dos meus supervisores era um italiano muito bravo
00:28
called Pietro, who drank too much,
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chamado Pietro, que bebia muito,
00:32
smoked too much and swore much too much.
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fumava demais e falava muito palavrão.
00:37
But he was a passionate teacher,
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Mas ele era um professor apaixonado,
00:41
and I remember one of our earlier classes with him,
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e me lembro de que, numa das nossas primeiras aulas,
00:44
he was projecting images on the wall,
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ele estava projetando imagens na parede,
00:46
asking us to think about them,
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nos pedindo para pensar sobre elas,
00:49
and he put up an image of a painting.
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e projetou a imagem de uma pintura.
00:51
It was a landscape with figures, semi-dressed,
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Era uma paisagem com figuras seminuas
00:55
drinking wine. There was a nude woman
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bebendo vinho. Tinha uma mulher nua
00:58
in the lower foreground, and on the hillside in the back,
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na frente, na parte de baixo, e, na encosta da colina ao fundo,
01:01
there was a figure of the mythological god Bacchus,
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havia a figura do deus mitológico Baco.
01:05
and he said, "What is this?"
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Daí ele virou e perguntou: "O que é isto?"
01:08
And I -- no one else did, so I put up my hand, and I said,
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E eu -- já que ninguém fez - levantei minha mão e respondi:
01:11
"It's a Bacchanal by Titian."
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"É a Bacanal, de Ticiano."
01:14
He said, "It's a what?"
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Ele falou: "É o quê?"
01:17
I thought maybe I'd pronounced it wrong.
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Pensei que talvez tivesse pronunciado errado.
01:19
"It's a Bacchanal by Titian."
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"É a Bacanal, de Ticiano."
01:23
He said, "It's a what?"
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Ele falou: "É o quê?"
01:25
I said, "It's a Bacchanal by Titian." (Laughter)
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"É a Bacanal, de Ticiano."
01:28
He said, "You boneless bookworm!
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Ele falou: "Seu rato de biblioteca Maria-vai-com-as-outras!
01:32
It's a fucking orgy!"
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É uma puta orgia!"
01:34
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
01:37
As I said, he swore too much.
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Eu avisei que ele falava muito palavrão.
01:40
There was an important lesson for me in that.
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Aquela foi uma lição importante pra mim.
01:43
Pietro was suspicious of formal art training,
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Pietro era muito ressabiado com a formação acadêmica em arte,
01:47
art history training, because he feared
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em história da arte, porque ele tinha receio de
01:51
that it filled people up with jargon, and then they just
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que ela enchia as pessoas de jargão, e depois elas simplesmente
01:55
classified things rather than looking at them,
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classificavam as coisas em vez de olhar pra elas.
01:59
and he wanted to remind us that all art was once contemporary,
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Ele queria nos lembrar de que toda arte foi contemporânea um dia
02:04
and he wanted us to use our eyes,
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e queria que usássemos os olhos.
02:07
and he was especially evangelical about this message,
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Ele era bem intransigente com isso,
02:11
because he was losing his sight.
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porque estava perdendo a visão.
02:13
He wanted us to look and ask basic questions of objects.
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Ele queria que a gente olhasse e fizesse perguntas básicas sobre os objetos.
02:18
What is it? How is it made? Why was it made?
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O que é isto? Como é feito? Por que foi feito?
02:21
How is it used?
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Como é usado?
02:24
And these were important lessons to me when
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E essas lições foram muito importantes para mim quando
02:26
I subsequently became a professional art historian.
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mais tarde me tornei um historiador de arte profissional.
02:29
My kind of eureka moment came a few years later,
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Mas minha ficha só caiu alguns anos mais tarde
02:34
when I was studying the art of the courts of Northern Europe,
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quando estava estudando a arte das cortes da Europa Setentrional,
02:39
and of course it was very much discussed in terms of
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e é claro que ela era muito discutida em termos das
02:43
the paintings and the sculptures
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pinturas e das esculturas
02:45
and the architecture of the day.
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e da arquitetura da época.
02:49
But as I began to read historical documents
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Mas quando comecei a ler documentos históricos
02:52
and contemporary descriptions,
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e descrições contemporâneas,
02:55
I found there was a kind of a missing component,
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descobri que havia meio que um elemento faltando,
02:59
for everywhere I came across descriptions of tapestries.
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pois em todo lugar eu me deparava com descrições de tapeçarias.
03:04
Tapestries were ubiquitous between the Middle Ages
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As tapeçarias eram onipresentes na Idade Média,
03:08
and, really, well into the 18th century,
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adentrando, na verdade, pelo século XVIII.
03:11
and it was pretty apparent why.
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E a razão era bastante óbvia.
03:13
Tapestries were portable. You could roll them up,
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Tapeçarias eram portáteis. Você podia enrolar elas,
03:16
send them ahead of you, and in the time
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enviar na frente e, tão rápido quanto
03:19
it took to hang them up, you could transform a cold,
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o tempo de pendurar, você podia transformar um lugar
03:22
dank interior into a richly colored setting.
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frio e escuro num cenário ricamente colorido.
03:26
Tapestries effectively provided a vast canvas
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Tapeçarias eram na verdade telas enormes
03:31
on which the patrons of the day could depict the heroes
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nas quais os mecenas da época podiam retratar não só os heróis
03:35
with whom they wanted to be associated,
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com quem eles queriam ser associados,
03:38
or even themselves,
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como também a si próprios.
03:40
and in addition to that, tapestries were hugely expensive.
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Além disso, as tapeçarias eram tremendamente caras.
03:45
They required scores of highly skilled weavers
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Elas exigiam tecelões altamente habilidosos
03:49
working over extended periods of time
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trabalhando por longos períodos
03:52
with very expensive materials -- the wools, the silks,
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com materiais muito caros - as lãs, as sedas,
03:55
even gold and silver thread.
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e até mesmo linhas de ouro e prata.
03:58
So, all in all, in an age when the visual image
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Assim, em suma, numa época em que a imagem visual
04:03
of any kind was rare, tapestries were an incredibly potent
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de qualquer tipo era rara, as tapeçarias eram formas incrivelmente
04:08
form of propaganda.
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poderosas de propaganda.
04:12
Well, I became a tapestry historian.
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Bem, eu me tornei um historiador de tapeçarias.
04:16
In due course, I ended up as a curator
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E acabei como um curador
04:19
at the Metropolitan Museum, because I saw the Met
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do Metropolitan Museum, porque vi o MET
04:23
as one of the few places where I could organize
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como um dos poucos lugares onde poderia organizar
04:26
really big exhibitions about the subject
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exposições realmente grandes sobre o assunto
04:30
I cared so passionately about.
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pelo qual sou tão apaixonado.
04:33
And in about 1997, the then-director Philippe de Montebello
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E, lá por volta de 1997, o então diretor Philippe de Montebello
04:38
gave me the go-ahead to organize an exhibition
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me deu o sinal verde para organizar uma exposição
04:41
for 2002. We normally have these very long lead-in times.
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em 2002. Geralmente temos um longo período de preparação.
04:46
It wasn't straightforward. It's no longer a question
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Não foi simples. Não era mais uma questão de
04:50
of chucking a tapestry in the back of a car.
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jogar uma tapeçaria no banco de trás do carro.
04:53
They have to be wound on huge rollers,
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Elas têm de ser enroladas em tubos enormes
04:57
shipped in oversized freighters.
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e despachadas em cargueiros enormes.
05:01
Some of them are so big we had, to get them into the museum,
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Algumas são tão grandes que, para entrar com elas no museu,
05:03
we had to take them up the great steps at the front.
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tivemos de subir com elas pela escada da frente.
05:08
We thought very hard about how to present this
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Pensamos muito sobre como apresentar esse
05:13
unknown subject to a modern audience:
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assunto desconhecido para uma audiência moderna:
05:16
the dark colors to set off the colors that remained
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as cores escuras para realçar as cores que ainda
05:19
in objects that were often faded;
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restavam em objetos desbotados;
05:22
the placing of lights to bring out the silk and the gold thread;
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o posicionamento das luzes para mostrar a seda e a linha de ouro;
05:26
the labeling.
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a identificação.
05:28
You know, we live in an age where we are so used
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Vivemos numa época em que estamos muito acostumados
05:31
to television images and photographs,
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com imagens de TV e fotografias,
05:34
a one-hit image. These were big, complex things,
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imagens simples. Essas tapeçarias eram grandes, complexas,
05:39
almost like cartoons with multiple narratives.
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quase como uma revista em quadrinhos com múltiplas narrativas.
05:43
We had to draw our audience in, get them to slow down,
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Tínhamos de trazer nosso público para dentro delas, fazer com que as pessoas diminuíssem o ritmo
05:46
to explore the objects.
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para poder explorar os objetos.
05:49
There was a lot of skepticism. On the opening night,
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Houve muito ceticismo. Na noite de estreia,
05:53
I overheard one of the senior members of staff saying,
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ouvi um dos funcionários mais antigos do museu dizer:
05:57
"This is going to be a bomb."
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"Isso vai ser uma bomba."
06:00
But in reality, in the course of the coming weeks and months,
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Mas, na verdade, ao longo das semanas e dos meses seguintes,
06:04
hundreds of thousands of people came to see the show.
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centenas de milhares de pessoas vieram ver a mostra.
06:10
The exhibition was designed to be an experience,
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A exposição foi projetada para ser uma experiência,
06:14
and tapestries are hard to reproduce in photographs.
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e tapeçarias são difíceis de ser retratadas em fotos.
06:18
So I want you to use your imaginations,
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Então queria que vocês usassem sua imaginação e
06:21
thinking of these wall-high objects,
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pensassem nesses objetos do tamanho de uma parede,
06:24
some of them 10 meters wide,
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alguns deles com 10 metros de largura,
06:26
depicting lavish court scenes with courtiers and dandies
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retratando cenas suntuosas da corte, com cortesãos e almofadinhas
06:31
who would look quite at home in the pages of the fashion press today,
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que ficariam muito à vontade nas colunas de moda de hoje em dia,
06:36
thick woods with hunters crashing through the undergrowth
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matas fechadas com caçadores se esgueirando no meio do matagal
06:40
in pursuit of wild boars and deer,
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perseguindo javalis e veados,
06:43
violent battles with scenes of fear and heroism.
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batalhas violentas com cenas de medo e heroísmo.
06:49
I remember taking my son's school class. He was eight at the time,
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Me recordo de ter levado os colegas de escola do meu filho. Na época ele tinha oito anos
06:53
and all the little boys, they kind of -- you know, they were little boys,
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e todos os menininhos meio que -- vocês sabem, eles eram pirralhos -
06:57
and then the thing that caught their attention
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e a coisa que mais chamou a atenção deles
07:00
was in one of the hunting scenes there was a dog
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foi uma das cenas de caça que tinha um cachorro
07:03
pooping in the foreground — (Laughter) —
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fazendo cocô no chão — (Risos) —
07:06
kind of an in-your-face joke by the artist.
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meio que uma piada que o artista faz com a gente.
07:09
And you can just imagine them.
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Dá pra imaginar os meninos, né?
07:12
But it brought it alive to them. I think they suddenly saw
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Mas a exposição trouxe isso vivo para eles. Acho que de repente eles viram
07:15
that these weren't just old faded tapestries.
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que aquelas não eram apenas velhas tapeçarias desbotadas.
07:18
These were images of the world in the past,
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Eram imagens do mundo no passado,
07:23
and that it was the same for our audience.
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e o nosso público sentiu o mesmo.
07:26
And for me as a curator, I felt proud. I felt I'd shifted the needle a little.
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Como curador, fiquei orgulhoso. Senti que tinha mudado um pouco a perspectiva.
07:31
Through this experience that could only be created
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Através dessa experiência que poderia ser criada apenas
07:34
in a museum, I'd opened up the eyes of my audience --
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num museu, eu tinha aberto os olhos da audiência -
07:38
historians, artists, press, the general public --
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historiadores, artistas, imprensa, o público em geral --
07:43
to the beauty of this lost medium.
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para a beleza desse meio de comunicação perdido.
07:47
A few years later, I was invited to be the director
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Alguns anos mais tarde, fui convidado para ser diretor
07:51
of the museum, and after I got over that --
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do museu, e depois de passar por aquilo tudo --
07:54
"Who, me? The tapestry geek? I don't wear a tie!" --
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"Quem, eu? O viciado em tapeçaria? Eu nem uso gravata!" --
07:59
I realized the fact: I believe passionately in that
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percebi o que tinha acontecido: eu acredito apaixonadamente naquela
08:05
curated museum experience.
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experiência de curadoria no museu.
08:08
We live in an age of ubiquitous information,
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Vivemos na idade da onipresença da informação
08:12
and sort of "just add water" expertise,
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e de uma espécie de conhecimento "fast food",
08:16
but there's nothing that compares with the presentation
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mas nada se compara com a exposição
08:20
of significant objects in a well-told narrative,
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de objetos significativos numa narrativa bem contada,
08:24
what the curator does, the interpretation of a complex,
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com o que o curador faz, a interpretação de um assunto
08:29
esoteric subject, in a way that retains the integrity
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complexo e esotérico de uma forma que mantenha a integridade
08:33
of the subject, that makes it -- unpacks it
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do assunto, que o revele
08:36
for a general audience.
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para o público em geral.
08:39
And that, to me, today, is now the challenge and the fun
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E aquilo, para mim, hoje é o desafio e a graça
08:42
of my job, supporting the vision of my curators,
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do meu trabalho, apoiar a visão dos meus curadores,
08:47
whether it's an exhibition of Samurai swords,
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seja numa exposição de espadas de Samurais,
08:50
early Byzantine artifacts, Renaissance portraits,
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de artefatos bizantinos primitivos, retratos da Renascença,
08:56
or the show we heard mentioned earlier,
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ou a mostra de que ouvimos falar mais cedo,
08:59
the McQueen show, with which we enjoyed
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a mostra do McQueen, com a qual obtivemos
09:02
so much success last summer.
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tanto sucesso no último verão.
09:04
That was an interesting case.
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Foi um caso realmente interessante.
09:07
In the late spring, early summer of 2010, shortly after
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No fim da primavera, no início do verão de 2010, pouco depois
09:12
McQueen's suicide,
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do suicídio do McQueen,
09:15
our curator of costume, Andrew Bolton, came to see me,
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nosso curador de trajes, Andrew Bolton, me procurou
09:19
and said, "I've been thinking of doing a show on McQueen,
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e disse: "Tenho pensado em fazer uma exposição sobre o McQueen,
09:22
and now is the moment. We have to, we have to do it fast."
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e agora é o momento. Temos de fazer, e tem de ser rápido."
09:27
It wasn't easy. McQueen had worked throughout his career
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Não foi fácil. Mcqueen tinha trabalhado durante sua carreira
09:32
with a small team of designers and managers
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com um grupo pequeno de designers e gerentes
09:35
who were very protective of his legacy,
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que eram bem protecionistas com seu legado,
09:39
but Andrew went to London and worked with them
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mas Andrew foi para Londres, trabalhou com eles
09:41
over the summer and won their confidence, and that of
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durante o verão e ganhou a confiança deles e dos
09:45
the designers who created his amazing fashion shows,
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designers que criaram essas mostras impressionantes de moda,
09:49
which were works of performance art in their own right,
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que eram por si só trabalhos de arte performática.
09:54
and we proceeded to do something at the museum,
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E seguimos em frente para fazer algo no museu
09:56
I think, we've never done before.
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que creio que nunca tínhamos feito antes.
09:58
It wasn't just your standard installation.
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Não foi apenas uma instalação padrão.
10:01
In fact, we ripped down the galleries to recreate
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De fato, nós desmontamos as galerias para recriar
10:06
entirely different settings, a recreation of his first studio,
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cenários completamente diferentes, uma recriação do seu primeiro estúdio,
10:11
a hall of mirrors,
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uma sala de espelhos,
10:14
a curiosity box,
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uma caixa de surpresas,
10:16
a sunken ship, a burned-out interior,
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um navio naufragado, um interior queimado,
10:20
with videos and soundtracks that ranged from
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com vídeos e trilhas sonoras que iam de
10:23
operatic arias to pigs fornicating.
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árias de óperas a porcos fornicando.
10:27
And in this extraordinary setting, the costumes
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E, nesse cenário extraordinário, as roupas
10:32
were like actors and actresses, or living sculptures.
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eram como atores e atrizes, ou esculturas vivas.
10:37
It could have been a train wreck.
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Poderia ter sido um completo desastre.
10:39
It could have looked like shop windows on Fifth Avenue
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Podia ter ficado parecido com vitrines de uma loja da 5ª Avenida
10:44
at Christmas, but because of the way that Andrew
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no Natal, mas por causa da maneira como Andrew
10:47
connected with the McQueen team, he was channeling
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se integrou ao grupo do McQueen, ele estava canalizando
10:51
the rawness and the brilliance of McQueen,
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a crueza e a genialidade de McQueen,
10:55
and the show was quite transcendant,
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e a exposição foi bem transcendental
10:58
and it became a phenomenon in its own right.
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e se tornou um fenômeno por si só.
11:00
By the end of the show, we had people queuing
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No final da mostra, havia pessoas esperando na fila
11:03
for four or five hours to get into the show,
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por 4 ou 5 horas para ver a exposição,
11:06
but no one really complained.
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sem reclamar.
11:09
I heard over and over again, "Wow, that was worth it.
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Cansei de ouvir: "Nossa, valeu a pena.
11:12
It was a such a visceral, emotive experience."
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Foi uma experiência tão profunda e emocionante."
11:16
Now, I've described two very immersive exhibitions,
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Bem, acabei de descrever duas exposições bem envolventes,
11:20
but I also believe that collections, individual objects,
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mas também acredito que coleções, objetos individuais,
11:26
can also have that same power.
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também têm o mesmo poder.
11:28
The Met was set up not as a museum of American art,
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O MET foi pensado não como um museu de arte americana,
11:32
but of an encyclopedic museum,
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mas como um museu enciclopédico.
11:35
and today, 140 years later, that vision
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E hoje, 140 anos mais tarde, aquela visão
11:40
is as prescient as ever,
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nunca foi tão atual,
11:43
because, of course, we live in a world of crisis,
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porque, é claro, vivemos num mundo de crise,
11:47
of challenge, and we're exposed to it
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de desafios, e estamos expostos a ele
11:49
through the 24/7 newsreels.
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24 horas por dia através do notíciário.
11:52
It's in our galleries that we can unpack the civilizations,
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É é em nossas nossas galerias que conseguimos revelar as civilizações,
11:57
the cultures, that we're seeing the current manifestation of.
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as culturas, das quais estamos vendo a manifestação atual.
12:02
Whether it's Libya, Egypt, Syria,
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Seja a Líbia, o Egito, a Síria,
12:06
it's in our galleries that we can explain
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é em nossas galerias que podemos explicar
12:09
and give greater understanding.
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e dar maior entendimento.
12:11
I mean, our new Islamic galleries are a case in point,
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Quero dizer, nossas novas galerias islâmicas são um ótimo exemplo -
12:14
opened 10 years, almost to the week, after 9/11.
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abertas há 10 anos, quase na semana depois do 11 de setembro.
12:20
I think for most Americans, knowledge of the Islamic world
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Penso que, para a maioria dos americanos, o conhecimento do mundo islâmico
12:24
was pretty slight before 9/11, and then it was thrust upon us
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era bastante superficial antes do 11 de setembro, e então foi jogado sobre nós
12:28
in one of America's darkest hours,
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num dos momentos mais negros da história americana.
12:32
and the perception was through the polarization
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E a percepção era feita por meio da polarização
12:35
of that terrible event.
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daquele terrível acontecimento.
12:38
Now, in our galleries, we show 14 centuries
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Agora, em nossas galerias, mostramos 14 séculos
12:42
of the development of different Islamic cultures
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de desenvolvimento de diferentes culturas islâmicas
12:46
across a vast geographic spread,
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numa vasta região geográfica,
12:49
and, again, hundreds of thousands of people have come
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e, de novo, centenas de milhares de pessoas vieram
12:53
to see these galleries since they opened last October.
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ver essas galerias desde que foram abertas em outubro passado.
12:58
I'm often asked, "Is digital media replacing the museum?"
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Sempre me perguntam: "A mídia digital está substituindo o museu?"
13:05
and I think those numbers are a resounding rejection
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e acho que esses números são uma contraprova retumbante
13:09
of that notion. I mean, don't get me wrong,
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dessa noção. Quero dizer, não me entendam mal.
13:13
I'm a huge advocate of the Web.
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Sou um grande defensor da Internet.
13:16
It gives us a way of reaching out to audiences
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Ela nos dá meios de alcançar audiências
13:19
around the globe, but nothing replaces the authenticity
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no mundo todo, mas nada substitui a autenticidade
13:25
of the object presented with passionate scholarship.
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do objeto apresentado com o academicismo apaixonado.
13:31
Bringing people face to face with our objects
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Colocar pessoas face a face com nossos objetos
13:36
is a way of bringing them face to face with people
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é uma forma de trazê-las face a face com pessoas
13:39
across time, across space, whose lives may have been
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ao longo do tempo, do espaço, cujas vidas podem ter sido
13:44
very different to our own, but who, like us,
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muito diferentes das nossas, mas que, como nós,
13:49
had hopes and dreams, frustrations and achievements
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tinham esperanças e sonhos, frustrações e vitórias
13:54
in their lives. And I think this is a process
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em suas vidas. E acho que este é um processo
13:57
that helps us better understand ourselves,
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que nos ajuda a compreender melhor nós mesmos,
14:01
helps us make better decisions about where we're going.
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nos ajuda a tomar melhores decisões sobre para onde estamos indo.
14:06
The Great Hall at the Met is one of the great portals of the world,
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o grande salão MET é um dos grandes portais do mundo,
14:11
awe-inspiring, like a medieval cathedral.
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inspira respeito, como uma catedral medieval.
14:16
From there, you can walk in any direction
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De lá, pode-se andar em qualquer direção
14:18
to almost any culture.
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para quase qualquer cultura.
14:21
I frequently go out into the hall and the galleries
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Frequentemente vou para o salão e para as galerias
14:24
and I watch our visitors coming in.
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e observo nossos visitantes chegando.
14:27
Some of them are comfortable. They feel at home.
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Alguns deles se sentem confortáveis. Se sentem em casa.
14:31
They know what they're looking for.
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Sabem o que estão procurando.
14:33
Others are very uneasy. It's an intimidating place.
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Outros ficam bem ansiosos. É um lugar que intimida.
14:38
They feel that the institution is elitist.
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Sentem que aquela instituição é elitista.
14:41
I'm working to try and break down that sense of that elitism.
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Estou trabalhando para tentar quebrar essa ideia de elitismo.
14:47
I want to put people in a contemplative frame of mind,
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Quero colocar as pessoas num estado mental contemplativo,
14:51
where they're prepared to be a little bit lost, to explore,
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em que elas estejam preparadas para ficar um pouco perdidas, para explorar,
14:57
to see the unfamiliar in the familiar,
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para ver o estranho no familiar,
15:01
or to try the unknown.
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ou para tentar o desconhecido.
15:05
Because for us, it's all about bringing them face to face
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Porque, para nós, tem a ver com trazê-las face a face
15:10
with great works of art,
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com grandes obras de arte,
15:13
capturing them at that moment of discomfort,
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capturá-las naquele momento de desconforto,
15:17
when the inclination is kind of to reach for your iPhone,
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quando, em vez de pegar seu Iphone,
15:21
your Blackberry, but to create a zone
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seu Blackberry, entrem numa zona
15:26
where their curiosity can expand.
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onde sua curiosidade possa se expandir.
15:31
And whether it's in the expression of a Greek sculpture
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E seja na expressão de uma escultura grega
15:35
that reminds you of a friend,
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que te lembra um amigo,
15:37
or a dog pooping in the corner of a tapestry,
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ou de um cachorro fazendo cocô no canto de uma tapeçaria,
15:41
or, to bring it back to my tutor Pietro,
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ou, voltando ao meu professor Pietro,
15:44
those dancing figures
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naquelas figuras dançando
15:47
who are indeed knocking back the wine,
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que na verdade estão bebendo todas
15:50
and that nude figure in the left foreground.
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e naquela figura nua na parte de baixo à esquerda.
15:53
Wow. She is a gorgeous embodiment of youthful sexuality.
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Puxa, ela é uma personificação deslumbrante da sexualidade da juventude.
16:02
In that moment, our scholarship can tell you
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Naquele momento, nosso academicismo pode lhes dizer
16:07
that this is a bacchanal,
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que isso é uma bacanal,
16:11
but if we're doing our job right,
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mas se tivermos feito nosso trabalho direito,
16:14
and you've checked the jargon at the front door,
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mesmo que vocês tenham checado o jargão na entrada,
16:18
trust your instinct.
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acreditem em seu instinto.
16:20
You know it's an orgy.
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Vocês sabem que é uma orgia.
16:24
Thank you. (Applause)
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Obrigado. (Aplausos)
16:27
(Applause)
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(Aplausos)
Translated by Raissa Mendes
Reviewed by Tiago Melo

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Thomas P. Campbell - Museum director
Thomas P. Campbell, director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, aims to make the venerable museum's offerings both narrative-driven and accessible.

Why you should listen

Thomas P. Campbell became the ninth Director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in January of 2009.  Since he began, Campbell has pursued an agenda for the Met that focuses on scholarship and accessibility. These priorities maintain the Museum’s excellence in its exhibitions, publications, acquisitions and permanent collections, while encouraging new thinking about the visitor experience. Further initiatives include exploring the judicious use of technology in the Museum and fully integrating education into all the Met’s activities.

Campbell led the Met through the fiscal setbacks caused by the 2008 recession without reducing hours, gallery openings or programs. He launched an effort to redesign the Museum’s website which now attracts more than 50 million visits per year. FY2011 also saw the Met’s highest attendance in 40 years, rising to 5.6 million. The Museum has just opened new galleries for its Islamic Art Department and American Wing, and is working on plans to renovate The Costume Institute and to reconfigure the outdoor plaza and fountains. In 2011, Campbell announced a collaboration with the Whitney Museum in which the Met will program its landmark Breuer Building on Madison Avenue starting in 2015.  

 
Campbell had worked in the Metropolitan's Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts for fourteen years, rising steadily through the curatorial ranks as Assistant Curator (1995-97), Associate Curator (1997-2003), and Curator (2003 to December 2008). During this time, he conceived and organized the major exhibitions Tapestry in the Renaissance: Art and Magnificence (2002) and Tapestry in the Baroque: Threads of Splendor (New York, 2007; Palacio Real, Madrid, spring 2008), both of which incorporated drawings, paintings, and prints, as well as tapestries, and received widespread acclaim. The 2002 exhibition was named "Exhibition of the Year" by Apollo Magazine and its catalogue won the Alfred H. Barr, Jr. Award (College Art Association) for distinguished exhibition catalogue in the history of art (2003).  Since shortly after his arrival at the Museum, he also served as Supervising Curator of The Antonio Ratti Textile Center, which houses the Museum's encyclopedic collection of 36,000 textiles and is one of the preeminent centers of textile studies in the world.

 

More profile about the speaker
Thomas P. Campbell | Speaker | TED.com

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