The chapter “What is a Museum?” in E. Alexander’s Museums in Motion highlights the fluidity of museums. I found it interesting how Arthur Parker describes unchanging museums as “dead institutions” to him, as it emphasizes that museums do not only tend to transform with their audience but are expected to do so. It connects to Adele Silver’s words, that “Innocent irreverence reminds us that museums are inventions of men, not inevitable, eternal, ideal nor divine”. Silver’s words stood out to me in the reading, as they point out how museums are nothing more than objects and experiences that are given meaning through their presentation, curation, and explanation. Her words describe how a museum could amount to everything or nothing to an individual and the general public based on their perception of the museum. They lack objectivity. Considering the fluidity of museums, it makes me wonder if there are museums that particularly thrive on the subjectivity of their nature, ones that perhaps rapidly change and transform in accordance with their audience.

Another element of the reading that stood out to me was the transformation of museums from private to public collections. Alexander notes the dissonance between collectors and visitors, where collectors felt ingratitude despite allowing access to their treasures, and visitors left upset by not understanding the collection. Alexander describes the shift away from these emotions as museum directors began to change the way they present their work, but it makes me wonder where current collectors stand now in their balance of collecting and showcasing. The subsection ‘Museum Functions’ details the ‘raging collecting fever’, where a museum authority admits that the services and exhibitions of museums are simply fronts for collecting. Is there a balance when it comes to collections? Are they necessary to drive the passion for maintaining and developing a museum? Stephen Williams argues that “A museum without a collection is not a museum,” but could a museum simply exist through its services alone? What about a museum that only had digital collections?