Museums are temples of belonging.
For one thing, they attempt to define it. Imagine a vase. It’s huge. It’s made of majolica – tin-glazed pottery – and it’s adorned with Bacchuses, leering in 3D. Does it belong in the ceramics section? The sculpture section? Maybe the European art section? Classicism?
Who should look after it? Which other objects belong alongside it?
And it’s not just museums. Businesses are spending an increasing amount of time thinking about belonging, too.
In 2019, the Harvard Business Review quoted a study that found that employees who feel a high level of belonging to their organisations enjoy a 56% increase in job performance, and a 75% decrease in sick days. In their book The Social Brain, Tracey Camilleri, Sam Rockey and Robin Dunbar highlight the crucial importance of a sense of belonging to organisational success. Teams with good relationships at work are more productive, while those who interact less with colleagues tend to fall behind on areas like strategic thinking.
Last summer, the V&A partnered up with Thompson Harrison, a leadership consultancy founded by Tracey and Sam, to offer a groundbreaking series of development sessions, combining top-tier business education with jewels from the V&A’s collections to explore the theme of ‘Belonging’. Over the course of 8 days, more than 420 co-workers from an international insurance firm – from the interns to the CEO – joined V&A curators, conservators and artists at V&A South Kensington for a learning day with a twist.
“Going into it, I was worried about the drawing part,” said Steve, a data lead at the company. “I’m a terrible drawer.”
Steve had found himself in a group led by artist Leo Crane. During their time together, Leo invited the group to observe him creating a charcoal portrait, while he interviewed the model about the feeling of being drawn. Then it was their go. Steve turned to his colleague, Craig.
“When I was doing the drawing, there was a cross-pollination of ideas,” recalled Steve. “I speak with Craig quite a lot, but before I drew him it was very superficial. You spend a lot more time thinking about why things are the way they are.”
Elsewhere, some of Steve’s colleagues were enjoying an object-handling session with Angus Patterson, the V&A’s senior curator of metalwork. Angus had brought out a true treasure trove – two 16th-century swords, a highly decorated pistol, acid-etched plate armour, and a jointed chanfron, a type of protective faceplate worn by war horses. The objects were selected to spark a conversation about the complicated relationship between armour and fashion, protection and vulnerability, between what we wear to work and how we express ourselves as individuals.
Another group studied medals from the V&A’s collections with assistant curator of sculpture, Laura Chase. Medals, she explained, are often the most affordable away for collectors to get their hands on top-quality sculpture. But the purpose of medals is to commemorate, to mark an individual’s belonging to a moment, an event, a tribe. What, then, does a medal mean when it leaves the person for whom it was originally intended, and passes into a collection? What meaning travels with it? What ‘medals’ are given – or not given – at work?
“While you’re there thinking about how you belong in an organisation,” recalls Steve, “the differences and similarities between us all, you’re surrounded by these incredible artefacts representing all of human history…”
“It made you think about how you classified things into different categories,” said one delegate, “and how something – or someone – could actually be more than just one category – you might not always fit into one box.”
And Steve has high hopes for the impact on his daily work. “To take a day away from the office to look more carefully at the people in front of you, building a culture where people know each other better, be more empathetic… it was a fantastic investment.”
To find out more about the V&A’s executive education programme, click here.
