Why shouldn’t museums be for pure pleasure?
[photopress:Kylie_V_and_A.jpg,full,pp_image]
Cool, cerebral and formidably focused, Mark Jones hides his erudition beneath an easy affability. In his six years as director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, he has overseen the transformation of a venerable if quaintly eclectic institution into one of Britain’s most dynamic and ambitious museums that is rarely out of the headlines.
As the V&A celebrates a century and a half since its founding in South Kensington, Jones is determined to keep the focus on the museum’s original mission – to bolster the best of British design.
Recent headlines have not always been friendly: the V&A has come under sneering attack over its Kylie Minogue exhibition, and Jones has been accused of dumbing down, pandering to pop culture. Unruffled, he insisted that the V&A, like all museums, must broaden its views and its range of visitors. Next summer the V&A will host a similar glitterand-dresses extravaganza devoted to the Supremes.
Read full article (The Times, August 1, 2007)