The V& A's MedRen Wing and Obama Style Sponsorship

The Victoria and Albert Museum new Medieval and Renaissance Gallery is visually stunning, stupendous and sensational but is totally lacking in any interactivity, relying for its information on the tired, worn-out media of the small printed wall plaque, pathetically supported by a limited number of bigger print versions. Such plaques where fine in 1959 but this is 2009; television was the cutting edge information media then today it is the mobile phone and internet. The V&A have completely ignored the interactivity possibilities of today’s media.

In doing so the V&A has missed a trick and maybe a generation. No interactivity; no mobile phone; no Internet; no back channel. It is all one way. The V& A is talking – you listen! It doesn’t work – sorry. Yes it looks great but what did the works mean in their day and exactly what do they mean to us in the twenty-first century.

The V&A has missed a sponsorship opportunity. Yes it has been successful in attracting wealthy sponsors but that is not were its sponsorship could come from. The model, today, has to be Obama’s 2009 election campaign - millions of tiny donations rather than a tiny number donations of millions. Why couldn’t the V&A offer the interactivity of a work as a sponsorship opportunity?

Here’s how it will work.

The V&A chooses its preferred near field interactive media. There are a number to choose from Bluetooth, RFID, mobile phones. Wi-Fi each has its good and bad points but that’s not the issue - V&A decides on its preference, then offers at price (or revenue share) the sponsorship of the interactivity of each or selected works.

The V& A needs to move its display policy from the twentieth to the twenty-first century. It is required by law to widen its appeal and its needs more money so why not resolve both issues and broadened its sponsorship base .How ? By offering that sponsored interactivity of selected works.