How Museums Can Shape the Future with Seb Chan of ACMI

Ceri explores the future of cultural spaces with Seb Chan, the director & CEO of ACMI, where he is redefining how museums connect with their audiences. Seb talks about his evolution from experimental music producer to museum innovator and reveals how his background in creating immersive musical experiences has shaped his approach to museum design. Seb’s unique experiences and professional knowledge give a unique perspective on how museums can shape the future.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Drawing from his experimental music background, Seb discovered that museums should move beyond traditional education to spark curiosity.
• His experience in underground music scenes taught him how to create environments where people feel empowered to explore the unfamiliar.
• Going from tech consultant to museum CEO, Seb developed a future focused philosophy. He now insists cultural institutions must be designed for the future, considering not just technology but also the skills future generations will need.
• Leading multiple international institutions taught Seb the importance of acknowledging diverse cultural contexts. His experiences across New Zealand, Australia, and America shaped his understanding of how museums can create inclusive spaces that transcend shared assumptions.
• Physical tools can enhance digital experiences. Seb’s work with these technologies revealed solutions for maintaining visitor focus in our distraction prone lives.
• Through years of visitor research and practical application, Seb developed strategic principles for creating memorable museum experiences. His approach integrates multisensory engagement with thoughtful space utilisation.
• Witnessing the erosion of societal trust, Seb recognises why cultural institutions are vital spaces for rebuilding connections. His leadership philosophy emphasises fostering genuine dialogue and understanding across communities.
• Despite facing resource constraints and pandemic exhaustion, Seb maintains his commitment to experimentation; continuous innovation is crucial for addressing complex societal challenges.
• Based on his transformative work at ACMI, Seb changed how they measure success. He shifted focus from traditional visitor counts to deeper engagement indicators, fundamentally changing how museums evaluate their impact.

BEST MOMENTS

"For me, music has a particular ability to transcend cultures and time and space too, it gives you a different sense of time. Going to a gig or going out to an event, that sort of sense of time shifts and time stretches and makes me think about things in other ways."

"In the world we live in, where all our social relations and communities are run through media, museums have a vital role in helping people make sense of that complexity."

"You can design spaces to change behaviour and to change people's openness and when you design them well, they work. I know a lot of artists are sort of thinking about this sort of stuff too."

"Niche interests and the platforms that media is distributed on, and the way those platforms monetise attention as well is based on fragmentation and driving difference amongst that. And that can be very interesting and positive and also politically, it can be very destructive as well as we're seeing play out in various parts of the world."

"Focus is hard now. I think people find there's lots of things vying for their focus. But again, using those design principles, I think you can design for focus."

"We need to find ways to disagree about things... there was an ability to disagree without it becoming, your house getting swatted."

"It's very easy to get someone interested in music that they didn't think they liked and it's probably the easiest art form to get someone interested in because it's so multisensory."

"People are interested in lots and lots of different things and they're very up for things they're not familiar with if you don't make them feel like idiots."

EPISODE RESOURCES

GUEST LINKS:

www.acmi.net.au

IG: @acmionline

PODCAST HOST BIO

With over 30 years in the art world, Ceri has worked closely with leading artists and arts professionals, managed public and private galleries and charities, and curated more than 250 exhibitions and events. She sold artworks to major museums and private collectors and commissioned thousands of works across diverse media, from renowned artists such as John Akomfrah, Pipilotti Rist, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Vito Acconci. Now, she wants to share her extensive knowledge with you, so you can excel and achieve your goals.

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