Wellcome Collection’s curious journey

Abstract

In August 2013, Wellcome Collection embarked on a £17.5m redevelopment that saw the majority of its spaces experience major disruption over an 18-month period. Taking the unusual decision to remain open to the public during the renovation, the communications, curatorial and visitor experience teams needed to devise innovative ways to engage with visitors, new and old, against a backdrop of disruption and uncertainty. They chose to stay open because it would be all too easy to lose loyal repeat visitors by going dark for a while, and the library could not close because Wellcome-funded researchers depended on it. The nature of the building project allowed for work being completed sequentially, in theory bringing essential spaces back into commission quickly. So cost and project management issues were taken into account — especially as the noisiest works had to be completed at night — and the decision to stay open was taken at project board level. Once this decision was made, Wellcome sought to use the disruption in as creative ways as possible, programming exhibitions and events that were different from ‘usual fare’ – more nimble and led by artist installations. Wellcome Collection chose to break the rules and turn adversity into opportunity, and rather than communicate with audiences from a safe distance, invited them into the building and into back-of-house spaces previously unseen. The public programme was reduced to modest exhibitions in a space on the fifth floor, which was accessible by a few functioning lifts; the events programme was very limited, and available space around the building was ever morphing. The museum employed none of the usual ‘development’ communication strategies, instead deciding to put participation at the heart of a highly innovative, collaborative and modern approach to audience engagement. Wellcome Collection extended an open invitation to audiences to ‘Be part of our Curious Journey’ and deliberately blurred the boundaries between the traditional roles and remit of communications, content and curation.