The Museum as Test Bed: Ann Neumann Building for Ideas That Don't Exist Yet

What if a museum worked less like a warehouse for finished objects and more like a lab where the experiment is still running? What if a museum worked less like a warehouse for finished objects and more like a lab where the experiment is still running? Ann Neumann is the Director of Galleries and Exhibitions at MIT Museum, and led its 2022 move into a new 56,000-square-foot space in Kendall Square. Ann will walk us through the multiple interactive projects she's shepherded at the MIT Museum. These projects work as prototypes for engaging the public with technologies like CRISPR, machine learning, and sensory neuroscience. Through it all, she asks: can a museum work as infrastructure for public experimentation, rather than simply a room we walk through? Ann is a strategic museum leader, designer, and curator. She’s the recipient of numerous awards for her work and was named a Lollop Museum Influencer in 2024.