宗博季刊第71期

和 W h e n e v e r y o u me n t i o n a museum of history or natural history people are reminded of the movie Night at the Museum—dusty old buildings concealing all sorts of secrets, with strange monsters lurking in dark corners waiting for a chance to catch you unawares. As for the permanent exhibits, they tend to be out of date and lacking in vitality, making the museum seem rather like a derelict warehouse full of assorted junk. If the exhibits don't change for a long time visitor numbers begin to wane. Therefore, a lot of museums tend to bill everything in the museum as a “special exhibit”, reasoning that whatever is new attracts more visitors. Special exhibits usually run from three weeks to three months and help to extend a museum's mission and themes, while also stimulating thought and expanding the visitor's field of vision. Since visitors are mainly interested in leisure, while the museum's main purpose is education, special exhibits can be seen as a kind of lei sure education which provides visitors with an enjoyable experience. At the same time, museums do all they can to encourage a wide array of media coverage of their special exhibits. In short, holding special exhibits are essential to a museum's survival. The upcoming special exhibits at the Museum of Wor ld Rel igions include Guanyin, Burma : Culture and Disaster Relief, and Pilgrimage: A P h o t o g r a p h y S e r i e s . R i c h i n educational and cultural value, it is hoped that these exhibits will stimulate a good deal of interest, discussion, and common memories. 話特展 Speaking of Special Exhibitions AWord From the Director 4 館長的話 館長 的話 提 到歷史博物館或自然史博物館，就有 人會聯想到「博物館驚魂夜」電影中 的畫面，暗藏了許多神秘、老舊、布滿灰 塵、隨時都有可能出其不意動起來的怪物， 躲在陰暗角落裡偷窺；長期展出的「常設 展」也會讓人覺得傳達的資訊是過時、缺少 生氣的，甚至認為博物館疏於管理、陳年未 曾更動的老態。 所以現在有些博物館傾向於將所有展示 都當作是「特展」，並以舉辦特展取勝，使 外界看到博物館的節目有所更動，以爭取新 觀眾、鼓勵經常而非僅偶然前來的參觀者； 如果節目長期不變，將無法吸引社區、本地 學校或一日遊的觀眾常來館參觀。 特展多以三周到三個月為期，藉由特展 來延續博物館的使命、宗旨與主題、剌激思 考、擴展觀眾的視野。觀眾前來博物館主要 是為了休閒，然而博物館存在的目的主要是 為了教育，特展成為博物館教育活動及休閒 節目的重心，並且帶給觀眾愉快的經驗，同 時也是搏取媒體報導的「新聞事件」，披露 特展的訊息、短評、專訪或照片，以廣招 徠；所以舉辦特展不僅是必要，甚至是一種 維護博物館生存的責任。 希望未來本館的「觀音」、「緬甸文化 與賑災」、「宗教攝影行腳系列」等特展除 了展示文物、教育活動之外，還能引動更多 社區居民的認同、參與節目、創造話題與共 同的生命記憶。