People Make Glasgow (Tatiana Quevedo Mogollon, Colombia, ITP 2024)

Written by Tatiana Quevedo Mogollon, Communities, Accessibility and Inclusion Program Coordinator, Museo Nacional de Colombia (Colombia, ITP 2024)

“People Make Glasgow” is the slogan of the city that welcomes us with warmth!

Our UK Partner Placement located in Scotland has given us the opportunity to explore the various Glasgow Museums and discover the methodologies of their direct work with communities, accompanied by the best hosts, Edward Johnson and Patricia Allan. Today, August 6th, promised to be a very interesting day…

We started our morning at the Riverside Museum. Once I knew we were going there, I couldn’t stop imagining what this space might contain. I, Tatiana Quevedo, come from a land full of rivers that flow through my heart and are a vital part of my existence. In my mind, I imagined that I would surely find fantastic stories about the River Clyde and the relationship people have had with it in the museum. Once we arrived, I entered with great excitement—finally, I’m in the River Museum, I thought.

I walked in, and to my surprise, the first thing I saw was a car. My expression changed; I was bewildered. Everyone asked if I was okay, and I said, “I thought this was a museum about the River and its history.” We all burst out laughing. What I didn’t know was that I would meet two incredible people: the curators Heather Robertson and Neil Johnson-Symington, along with a fabulous transport and technology collection.

They welcomed us with great enthusiasm, sharing the history of the museum, which opened in 2011 and houses more than 3,000 objects in a magnificent building. Afterward, they invited us for coffee, and we began to talk about the social issues in our countries, curatorial possibilities, community work, and how we address sensitive topics. Time flew by during this pleasant conversation, and each of us, members of the ITP, shared our views and the realities of the country we represent.

It was hard to stop talking because the conversation was so interesting, but it was time to return and finish the tour. We re-entered the exhibition halls and headed to a space that is very significant both for the museum and the community, as a co-design process was carried out with people with disabilities, who now have an exhibition space in the museum’s narrative.

Hearing about the process, how the community with disabilities made curatorial decisions, donated objects, and chose the type of display they wanted, filled my heart. Knowing that in Glasgow there is a museum space where people with disabilities are represented is truly powerful. Learning about this experience allowed me to connect with the current work we are developing at the National Museum of Colombia, as we are also working on a co-design process with people with disabilities for a future exhibition. Getting to know this experience firsthand, understanding its processes, successes, and how they resolved challenges along the way, is a great source of inspiration. The feeling that Scotland and Colombia share a common ground through these narratives motivates me, as the Coordinator of the Communities, Accessibility, and Inclusion Program, to continue thinking about creative solutions and museological processes co-designed with the community of people with disabilities.

Once immersed in the conceptual river, we finished touring the museum, had lunch, and headed to GoMA. There, Angela Massafra, Learning & Access Curator, was waiting for us. She opened the door to the educational space and gave us a deep understanding of the range of services, activities, workshops, and spaces within the museum designed to work with the community, from expectant mothers, through childhood, adolescence, youth, adults, and the elderly—in other words, the entire population.

At GoMA, we had the opportunity to experience, through art, a pleasant conversation where Angela asked us what we thought, what this object made us feel, what we associated it with, among other questions. Her tour emphasized the various female artists currently on display and the museum spaces designed to encourage interaction with the public.

We specifically stopped in a space dedicated to addressing complex issues, such as the processes of slavery, using a methodology that allows this issue to be approached with children. Taking these actions as a reference, we went to her office and discussed how contemporary art allows us to address complex issues and serves social problems.

After the conversation ended, we said our goodbyes. This was just another day in the charming city of Glasgow, where you can truly feel that it’s true: people make Glasgow, and so do its museums.