Black Arrow R4: the object behind the screen
The Black Arrow R4 rocket passed through many hands on its way to and within the Science Museum. Sets of relationships were established around and enacted through the object at each stage of its journey, so imbuing it with a range of meanings. This journey was in turn built around preceding sets of...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Science Museum, London
2022-04-01
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| Series: | Science Museum Group Journal |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.sciencemuseum.ac.uk/browse/issue-17/black-arrow/ |
| _version_ | 1817989579573035008 |
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| author | Doug Millard |
| author_facet | Doug Millard |
| author_sort | Doug Millard |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The Black Arrow R4 rocket passed through many hands on its way to and within the Science Museum. Sets of relationships were established around and enacted through the object at each stage of its journey, so imbuing it with a range of meanings. This journey was in turn built around preceding sets of circumstances, people and relationships that contributed to the rocket’s creation as an artefact. This paper seeks a better understanding of the Black Arrow rocket as a museum object. It does this first by reviewing the relationships mediated by it during its ‘lifetime’ before and at the Science Museum. In so doing it seeks a voice for the ‘mute’ object, one that can bear testimony to the beliefs and actions of those people involved with it, so foregrounding previously hidden or undervalued meanings of the museum object. However, the paper touches briefly on whether the rocket itself, as a physical object, may be encountered in its own right – as a ‘thing’ in the gallery and not necessarily tied to any suggested or implicit meanings. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-14T00:48:51Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-70e31da9e3ed4429b7c93c476de42533 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2054-5770 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-14T00:48:51Z |
| publishDate | 2022-04-01 |
| publisher | Science Museum, London |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Science Museum Group Journal |
| spelling | doaj.art-70e31da9e3ed4429b7c93c476de425332022-12-22T02:21:54ZengScience Museum, LondonScience Museum Group Journal2054-57702022-04-011710.15180/221706Black Arrow R4: the object behind the screenDoug Millard0Science Museum, LondonThe Black Arrow R4 rocket passed through many hands on its way to and within the Science Museum. Sets of relationships were established around and enacted through the object at each stage of its journey, so imbuing it with a range of meanings. This journey was in turn built around preceding sets of circumstances, people and relationships that contributed to the rocket’s creation as an artefact. This paper seeks a better understanding of the Black Arrow rocket as a museum object. It does this first by reviewing the relationships mediated by it during its ‘lifetime’ before and at the Science Museum. In so doing it seeks a voice for the ‘mute’ object, one that can bear testimony to the beliefs and actions of those people involved with it, so foregrounding previously hidden or undervalued meanings of the museum object. However, the paper touches briefly on whether the rocket itself, as a physical object, may be encountered in its own right – as a ‘thing’ in the gallery and not necessarily tied to any suggested or implicit meanings.http://journal.sciencemuseum.ac.uk/browse/issue-17/black-arrow/objectblack arrow rocketprospero satellitemeaningshistory of science and technologygallery displaymuseum |
| spellingShingle | Doug Millard Black Arrow R4: the object behind the screen Science Museum Group Journal object black arrow rocket prospero satellite meanings history of science and technology gallery display museum |
| title | Black Arrow R4: the object behind the screen |
| title_full | Black Arrow R4: the object behind the screen |
| title_fullStr | Black Arrow R4: the object behind the screen |
| title_full_unstemmed | Black Arrow R4: the object behind the screen |
| title_short | Black Arrow R4: the object behind the screen |
| title_sort | black arrow r4 the object behind the screen |
| topic | object black arrow rocket prospero satellite meanings history of science and technology gallery display museum |
| url | http://journal.sciencemuseum.ac.uk/browse/issue-17/black-arrow/ |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT dougmillard blackarrowr4theobjectbehindthescreen |