Field trips are special treats for children of elementary school age, but they aren’t always possible due to lack of school funding or supervision. When children do get a chance to go on a field trip, the experience is often one that leaves a big impression on them.
Bringing Art to the Students
A mobile art museum is bringing the field trip experience to children in France and Africa. The mobile art museum, Musee Mobile, and MuMo for short, allows children to see contemporary art without leaving their school grounds.
The Mobile Museum
Ingrid Brochard founded the non-traditional museum, and he hired American architect Adam Kalkin to design the building using a non-traditional material. The museum is made of a steel forty-by-eight foot mobile storage container. Using a container for foundational material is economically and environmentally smart. The recycled material of a portable container is incredibly durable and resourceful. Once parked at its next destination, Musee Mobile unfolds into four rooms.
A typical visit to the Musee Mobile would be a group of fourteen children exploring the unit for thirty to forty minutes each. The age limit to go into the exhibit is under eleven years of age- no adults allowed! There are two tour guides: Donatello Caprioglio and Olivia Agostina. These two child psychologists are the only adults inside, they accompany the children. They are focused on educating the children while still giving them total freedom to explore and discover personal wonder in the artwork.
A Secure Way to Show Art
The art held inside the walls of the mobile museum includes works from Maurizio Cattelan, Ghada Amer, Lawrence Weiner, and Paul McCarthy. Paul McCarthy’s huge inflatable pink rabbit artwork is on display on top of the museum.
Already Off to Great Start
The museum took off last October in France, and since then it has traveled 6,000 miles. MuMo has stopped in France, Cameroon, and the Ivory Coast. Some children that visit the mobile museum do not have desks, chairs, or school supplies at their schools. Storage units make it possible for these children to see contemporary art.