Projects
Projects that ask what’s next for museums and the people they serve—beginning with The Closed Museum Project and Don’t Touch, an ongoing exploration of how visitors experience boundaries, connection, and participation in museum spaces.
The Closed Museum Project
In 2016, I started tracking museums that had permanently closed, aiming to preserve their stories and lessons for the field. What began as a personal project grew into a collaborative effort—opening to public contributions and partnering with the American Alliance of Museums and the American Association for State and Local History—to help the museum community learn from the past and build a stronger future.
Do you know of any museums that have closed? If so, please add information to the tracker. Thank you.
- https://www.aam-us.org/2021/01/08/crowdsourcing-a-database-of-permanent-museum-closings/
- https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17u5ik2rBoGzGnCF5yUdpcL0WVj6DDSPWKPvLWtB-wTw/edit?gid=1193089539#gid=1193089539
Don’t Touch the Art
I’ve long been fascinated by the small details that shape how people experience museums — especially the humble “Don’t Touch” sign. Each one tells its own story through tone, design, and placement. Some are polite, others firm or even funny, but all reveal how museums communicate care, authority, and trust.
Over the years, I’ve been collecting images of these signs from museums around the world, and what you see here is just a small selection. This ongoing project explores the language and design of these signs across museums of all kinds. It’s part documentation, part reflection on visitor behavior and museum culture. If you’re a publisher interested in developing this idea into a book, I’d love to connect.
Photos: All photos by Adam Rozan, unless otherwise noted. Additional photo credits include Stefan Drashan, Crystal Bridges Museum of Art, Pérez Art Museum, The Museum of Modern Art, Museum of Sex, National Gallery of Art, Oakland Museum of California, Philbrook Museum of Art, Seattle Art Museum, Sesame Street, The Whitney Museum of American Art, SFO Museum, United States Botanical Garden, The Centre Pompidou, Fuller Craft Museum, Gary Deirmendjian, Jeppe Hein, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Michael Seary, Zisky, Wiki Commons British Museum, and unknown sources.
