:00:10. > :00:16.. Museums on Dell is across the country are opening their doors this
:00:17. > :00:21.weekend for an eternal first double of music, live events and culture. I
:00:22. > :00:38.am on the windy roof of the National Museum of Scotland to invite you to
:00:39. > :00:43.the party. -- museums across the country. More than half the
:00:44. > :00:49.population visited a museum or gallery last year, more people than
:00:50. > :00:52.watch premiership football matches, so the statistics are impressive. I
:00:53. > :01:01.want to know what is behind this current craze of culture? Coming
:01:02. > :01:07.up, photographer Rankin gets down and dirty, turning an allotment into
:01:08. > :01:11.an art gallery. At London's National Gallery, we go behind-the-scenes for
:01:12. > :01:17.a sneak preview of the blockbuster show with Andrew Graham-Dixon. Simon
:01:18. > :01:22.Armitage and Tom Price come overall Attenborough with a safari in a
:01:23. > :01:28.museum without walls. A Cornishman ties knots in the wind to preserve a
:01:29. > :01:38.horrible history. And in April, Mat Fraser is moved by Opera. And I show
:01:39. > :01:44.you why I will never be on Strictly. Of course, a night in Scotland in
:01:45. > :01:51.summertime starts late. The late sun floods in through the glass roof of
:01:52. > :01:55.the museum. That is what this festival is all about. We think of
:01:56. > :01:59.museums as being full of dusty objects, but they are full of
:02:00. > :02:03.stories, the most extraordinary stories, which places like this can
:02:04. > :02:08.tell much better than devices like this. But there are challenges, how
:02:09. > :02:13.do they keep us coming back and wanting more? Through a process of
:02:14. > :02:17.constant innovation and greater leaps of imagination. Museums At
:02:18. > :02:27.Night is a great example of them doing just that. Our first stop is
:02:28. > :02:30.Liverpool. Writer Frank Cottrell Boyce joined the crowds and the
:02:31. > :02:36.festivities there to ask how museums and galleries have changed our
:02:37. > :02:44.cities. This is William Brown Street, the epicentre of the Museums
:02:45. > :02:53.At Night festival in Liverpool. It is fantastically exciting. This
:02:54. > :03:01.Victorian Plaza is literally ablaze, full of culture. The whole city is
:03:02. > :03:06.lighting up. The cathedral is eliminated. There are countless
:03:07. > :03:11.exhibitions and performances across the city. The galleries, the
:03:12. > :03:17.museums, the streets are packed with people. These big Victorian
:03:18. > :03:21.buildings are the heart and soul of the city, and the reason that
:03:22. > :03:26.Museums At Night is so special. To get myself in the mood, I have been
:03:27. > :03:35.revisiting some of the city's cultural landmarks in daylight. We
:03:36. > :03:43.live really go in Liverpool, you're never from world-class art. This is
:03:44. > :03:49.Crosby beach. If you arrive in orderly Liverpool by sea, you do it
:03:50. > :03:54.under the unblinking gaze of statues by Antony Gormley. They stayed out
:03:55. > :03:58.to the sea lanes stand which money once poured into the city. Lots of
:03:59. > :04:11.it was spent on museums and galleries. -- they stare out. Even
:04:12. > :04:14.in the cold light of day, this 12 acre stretch of art and artefacts is
:04:15. > :04:19.still impressive, William Brown Street. These galleries and museums
:04:20. > :04:25.are civic celebrations of immense wealth. They are saying in their
:04:26. > :04:31.Victorian way, we'll win the world and everything in it. And we are
:04:32. > :04:37.going to rule the world. The statues are not of local boys. That is
:04:38. > :04:42.Raphael, that is Michelangelo. This is the new Florence, the new Greece,
:04:43. > :04:46.this is power. This is a grand reading room. It is a grand
:04:47. > :04:54.structure with its classic Corinthian columns. People took it
:04:55. > :04:57.and made it their own. As a kid, I remember that Israeli newspapers
:04:58. > :05:03.were, so that is where unemployed old men would go to fill out their
:05:04. > :05:07.betting slips and study the form. Although the street is imposing, it
:05:08. > :05:13.is not very intimidating. It is a very open, democratic space. As a
:05:14. > :05:17.kid, you were allowed to come into town because you are agreeing to the
:05:18. > :05:22.museum. Your mum and dad knew you were safe, and it was warm. Perhaps
:05:23. > :05:27.that is the strange alchemy of Liverpool. You can bring high
:05:28. > :05:32.culture here and the city will turn it to popular culture. These
:05:33. > :05:38.buildings are now the property of the people. In the 20th century, the
:05:39. > :05:52.end of the Empire, wars, strikes and recession, these turned parts of
:05:53. > :05:57.Liverpool into a ghost town. I can remember when this was completely
:05:58. > :06:03.derelict, when it was a dark, for bidding place of cliffs, black
:06:04. > :06:10.install on. No one could go there. But then, in 1988, I contemporary
:06:11. > :06:14.art gallery was opened in the Albert Dock. Everybody went, what? That is
:06:15. > :06:26.the last thing we thought the city needed at that point. A warehouse
:06:27. > :06:30.full of abstract Expressionism. But culture went where politics had
:06:31. > :06:36.failed. It eliminated this beautiful shared public space. 75,000 people
:06:37. > :06:42.visited the gallery in the first two days. Culture is not just for when
:06:43. > :06:49.you have got an empire. It is for when times are tough. The best art
:06:50. > :06:54.comes out of the toughest times. That is when we need the solace.
:06:55. > :07:00.This is the two-year-old Museum of Liverpool. For Museums At Night,
:07:01. > :07:07.this building is celebrating a little-known local hero. I have
:07:08. > :07:24.never heard of him, but I know a man who has. This is P Bradley, he is
:07:25. > :07:30.head of the collectors' club. This is what you do with what he
:07:31. > :07:36.collects. This was a children's toy, invented by Plimpton and produced in
:07:37. > :07:40.Liverpool in the 1930s. Back in the day, this was the future. It was
:07:41. > :07:48.made of a state-of-the-art plastic called Bakelite. This year is the
:07:49. > :07:51.80th anniversary of the invention. For Museums At Night, the
:07:52. > :07:57.collectors' club is planning an extravaganza. We have collectors
:07:58. > :08:02.coming from all over the country, bringing models, like the leaning
:08:03. > :08:06.Tower of Pisa. We will have a model railway display. Anything you can
:08:07. > :08:11.think of, someone will have built it. Architects from across the land
:08:12. > :08:17.have brought their Bakelite dreams to the Museum of Liverpool to be
:08:18. > :08:24.appreciated. This is the leaning town of Pisa. It is nostalgic, it is
:08:25. > :08:29.touching, it is a little bit bonkers. But what a great tribute to
:08:30. > :08:37.its inventor, Charles Plimpton, a Liverpudlian. Nostalgia is part of
:08:38. > :08:43.the pleasure of museums, but some things from the past are less easy
:08:44. > :08:50.to love. Take this flyover, a tangle of concrete, but it is playing a
:08:51. > :08:54.part in cultural drama. It was built in the late 1960s, just behind the
:08:55. > :08:58.museums of William Brown Street. In its own way, it is a museum piece
:08:59. > :09:05.now. Some people want to knock it down. This flyover wind the much
:09:06. > :09:11.coveted concrete Society award. Obviously, it is horrible. It is
:09:12. > :09:16.falling to pieces, it has weathered badly, and people want to knock it
:09:17. > :09:20.down. But there is a magic cure that could be woken up. A growing number
:09:21. > :09:26.of people are beginning to feel the same. There are plans to turn it
:09:27. > :09:31.into a magical skywalk, wrapping itself around the road system like a
:09:32. > :09:35.coloured ribbon. That is the role of culture, to find the magic and
:09:36. > :09:47.things and to wake it up, to make the things we have to live with
:09:48. > :09:59.beautiful. The flyover with the lights on. I rest my case. It is not
:10:00. > :10:06.just Liverpool. All over the country, doors are opening to let
:10:07. > :10:08.people in and ideas out. Artist Spencer Tunick has been
:10:09. > :10:13.photographing locals on the coast at Folkestone. The English National
:10:14. > :10:18.Ballet commemorates the First World War at the Imperial War Museum in
:10:19. > :10:23.Manchester. Public Service Broadcasting are performing. And
:10:24. > :10:27.masterpieces are being taken all over the place. Big cities, small
:10:28. > :10:34.villages and everything in between are involved. From Guernsey to the
:10:35. > :10:42.Isle of Lewis and over 500 venues. You can see some of these events on
:10:43. > :10:46.our website. So, museums are booming and we love them, but there have
:10:47. > :10:50.been rumblings of discontent. There have been cut in arts funding and
:10:51. > :10:55.threats of strike action by some museum staff. What is going on. I
:10:56. > :11:04.have gathered together a panel the tellers. Bettany Hughes, Jude Kelly,
:11:05. > :11:08.and Amit Sood, head of Google arts project. Welcome. I want to start
:11:09. > :11:15.with you. We have heard this boom has been funded by a money and free
:11:16. > :11:20.admission. Is it sustainable? Yes, it is sustainable because it is not
:11:21. > :11:25.fuelled by lottery money and free admission. That is a big factor, but
:11:26. > :11:30.the big factories when you open the doors and welcome people into their
:11:31. > :11:30.own story of humanity. It is the capacity for them to
:11:31. > :11:36.own story of humanity. It is the stories in a way that museums can
:11:37. > :11:44.react to. Then you have an incredible dialogue which is
:11:45. > :11:48.unstoppable. At one time is -- at one time, museums were talking down
:11:49. > :11:54.to the public, but now the public are an integral part of how stories
:11:55. > :11:59.get told. Across the UK, the word museum has stopped being something
:12:00. > :12:03.that implies shrouded behind dust and closed doors. It is about life
:12:04. > :12:14.and the possibility of knowing your history. That is an interesting
:12:15. > :12:17.point. Before, we had this constant conflict with
:12:18. > :12:21.point. Before, we had this constant Should it be entertaining or
:12:22. > :12:23.enlightening? Is that a danger that places like this could be places for
:12:24. > :12:29.entertainment and not enlightenment? I think that they
:12:30. > :12:31.entertainment and not not mutually exclusive. This is a
:12:32. > :12:34.entertainment and not storehouse for the collective
:12:35. > :12:39.memory. There are as many museums as human stories to tell. Tonight is
:12:40. > :12:44.carnival night, but every culture has a carnival. It is important to
:12:45. > :12:50.have peaceful moments. We all need to come the museums and listen to
:12:51. > :12:56.civilisation, to think. Actually, the public are voting with their
:12:57. > :13:02.feet. 50% of us go to museums every year, 40 million people. You have
:13:03. > :13:05.made museums part of your life with your Google project. You were
:13:06. > :13:11.brought up in India. Where the part of your life then? Definitely not,
:13:12. > :13:17.not in the way that they are now. That is probably the reality for
:13:18. > :13:25.most of the people who live in -- on this planet. In the West, there has
:13:26. > :13:29.been a great movement towards making culture part of daily life. That is
:13:30. > :13:34.picking up in other parts of the world. I do not distinguish between
:13:35. > :13:41.enlightenment and entertainment. I just want to have access. That is
:13:42. > :13:44.the bottom line. That is interesting, because people
:13:45. > :13:44.the bottom line. That is stories thereon. Then they do for
:13:45. > :13:57.the research. People are becoming stories thereon. Then they do for
:13:58. > :14:04.Forrester research. -- further research. People start
:14:05. > :14:08.Forrester research. -- further educating. We do, but there is an
:14:09. > :14:12.issue. Half of us visited a museum last year, but nearly half of us did
:14:13. > :14:20.not. What can we do to encourage those people who do not come?
:14:21. > :14:21.Museums are realising there are realising their massive potential,
:14:22. > :14:26.around the country, there is this, realising their massive potential,
:14:27. > :14:28.the storeroom behind realising their massive potential,
:14:29. > :14:30.these incredible activities that they are starting to do,
:14:31. > :14:36.these incredible activities that encouraging youth groups and theatre
:14:37. > :14:41.and medical therapy. In one gallery in London, there was an old man who
:14:42. > :14:45.went to painting classes and he was knocked over by a car and was in
:14:46. > :14:50.hospital with no family and he said, will you ring my family? He meant
:14:51. > :14:55.his art group in the museum. I think these museums are very muscular
:14:56. > :15:00.places and they will keep on adding to what it means to be human. We're
:15:01. > :15:07.just at the beginning of something that will get bigger. What in your
:15:08. > :15:12.mind makes a very successful museum? At play set is welcoming and open
:15:13. > :15:18.and a place that educates me but where can have fun and I think all
:15:19. > :15:23.of these words are not easy to accomplish in one visit, which is
:15:24. > :15:28.why we need to have online competence to carry forward that
:15:29. > :15:32.experience or the experience before you come here but essentially, there
:15:33. > :15:39.is no one definition. At least in my book. It should be different things
:15:40. > :15:46.and different people take from that. Thank you all very much. We will be
:15:47. > :15:51.back later. Imagine their stash some of the best art in the world is in
:15:52. > :15:55.the best settings, the Yorkshire sculpture Park, a glorious opener
:15:56. > :16:04.museum and we are offering sunset safaris around the grounds. We have
:16:05. > :16:12.a look. Will we survive or be trampled?
:16:13. > :16:25.If you run a safari tour around the park in this land of, what is the
:16:26. > :16:34.big game? -- Land Rover. People, very long way to see Henry Merwe. --
:16:35. > :16:40.come a very long way. One of the beauties of having work like this in
:16:41. > :16:45.this landscape is you can place them and you get that relationship
:16:46. > :16:53.between the sculptures and the view across the valley. I remember being
:16:54. > :16:58.overwhelmed when I first came here, just the size of this landscape and
:16:59. > :17:04.all the different pieces was incredible. That is one of the
:17:05. > :17:10.things I like most about this, it takes a lot of pretentiousness and
:17:11. > :17:17.control out of the art. These pieces must compete with the trees and the
:17:18. > :17:21.weather and in galleries, but is an environment that is fabricated and
:17:22. > :17:26.you can end up feeling disconnected from the pieces but here, they have
:17:27. > :17:35.to take their place amongst the real world. When you were talking to the
:17:36. > :17:42.people about having work, do you have any say in when it goes? Yes,
:17:43. > :17:44.luckily. I wanted to be discoverable but not alarming, like a man in the
:17:45. > :17:52.bushes! We find a space that is but not alarming, like a man in the
:17:53. > :18:00.flatter and you can have a very good view to the work from a long way
:18:01. > :18:06.away. Is this your first piece? My first large-scale piece. And the
:18:07. > :18:20.first PC. Is that exciting? Yes, very. -- piece here. What is
:18:21. > :18:25.exciting is there is the fact that it is incongruous, this is a street,
:18:26. > :18:33.urban scene. And why do I think that? Why do I make that assumption?
:18:34. > :18:41.Urban, that is interesting, it is used in reference to black people or
:18:42. > :18:50.black music. And yet, but is often the first reaction. City. For me,
:18:51. > :18:59.the funny thing is the phone. What is going on in your head? I've
:19:00. > :19:05.really like that. Thanks. -- I do really like that. This is a
:19:06. > :19:24.galloping horse. Isn't that fantastic? Amazing. This is
:19:25. > :19:30.amazing. Border. Very colourful. -- Buddha. This is one of your
:19:31. > :19:36.favourites? I love that when you stand further down, you come over
:19:37. > :19:44.the hill, the family, and they stop, they are looking at you. And that
:19:45. > :19:49.contemplation facing your own. I have always felt that the park does
:19:50. > :19:55.lend itself to that idea because these things are not put away at
:19:56. > :20:00.night, when we go home, these pieces, particularly, they move
:20:01. > :20:15.around. They will have picnics and parties and adventures! It just
:20:16. > :20:28.feels very human and alive. This is such a lovely time, going into
:20:29. > :20:34.twilight. I do not think I have ever been in here with the bluebells.
:20:35. > :20:45.This is so magical. This is a fantastic work. Post a bid is called
:20:46. > :20:50.Outclosure. I have never seen this looking quite so beautiful because
:20:51. > :20:56.the sun has been high in the sky, but it is coming at you laterally.
:20:57. > :21:03.-- this piece is called. This is done by hand have a sense of of
:21:04. > :21:13.being very organic. It is beyond me, really. There is a little hole, just
:21:14. > :21:30.there. Does take anything away, looking inside? It is not meant to
:21:31. > :21:34.be seen. No? -- does it take. This place has spoiled me. All of my
:21:35. > :21:43.favourite things are here. Art and nature. It is breathing at once.
:21:44. > :21:46.This idea of a safari, putting everything in relationship to each
:21:47. > :21:54.other, seeing how everything interacts, to get that sense of
:21:55. > :21:58.space. It is pretty amazing. I think of this as my garden sometimes! It
:21:59. > :22:39.is pouring down. Shall we go? OK. This is amazing. It is great to hear
:22:40. > :22:45.voices like this. In the midst of these huge figures. This piece has
:22:46. > :22:54.been produced by the International Festival, part of their pop-ups is.
:22:55. > :22:59.-- series. It could be in a library or anywhere, and elevator, because
:23:00. > :23:04.the idea is to engage people who might not be into the festival by
:23:05. > :23:07.surprising them with performances. And it is working, definitely.
:23:08. > :23:14.Composers have been And it is working, definitely.
:23:15. > :23:16.setting it to their own music. This is a celebration of that. This
:23:17. > :23:23.setting it to their own music. This girl, boy loves girl. And Chris
:23:24. > :24:02.Elliott, singing. By Richard Wagner. What do you think of the show? It is
:24:03. > :24:08.great. This is a fantastic invention. Museum is all about
:24:09. > :24:16.stories and we are susceptible to stories. And it works well at night?
:24:17. > :24:19.I am a night-time person. I do feel different in this museum because it
:24:20. > :24:26.is a night-time. I am more amenable to everything. It feels less
:24:27. > :24:32.stuffy, which is silly. You spend a lot of time in museums, you have a
:24:33. > :24:39.show about museums? About 15 years ago, it was the research centre at
:24:40. > :24:43.Leicester University that realised that this ability was one of the
:24:44. > :24:50.areas that could do with an upgrade. Let us face it, most
:24:51. > :24:54.museums have an old, Victorian view of the world. And people get left
:24:55. > :24:58.behind and their voice of the world. And people get left
:24:59. > :25:06.Disabled people are some of those people. I was commissioned to do
:25:07. > :25:13.this Cabinet of curiosities, about how disability is being kept in the
:25:14. > :25:19.box. And I talk about freak shows and my head singles, if you will!
:25:20. > :25:24.They are, let us face it! And I try to assert that all museums, to
:25:25. > :25:30.really upgrade stuff, we're not asking for a radical change but in
:25:31. > :25:36.the collections and exhibits, there are artefacts steeped in the history
:25:37. > :25:43.of visibility. Museums only tell one part of the story? Exactly. And my
:25:44. > :25:48.remit was to suggest and knowledge ways that museums have been going
:25:49. > :25:53.forward. But in Leeds, they are very good. The way that they can explain
:25:54. > :25:59.these artefacts, not these old sentences of information. This is
:26:00. > :26:04.about interacting, what you think about the thing and the impact.
:26:05. > :26:10.These modern ways that museums do to really improve the experience. Thank
:26:11. > :26:18.you very much. I will see you later. I hope so. What about these other
:26:19. > :26:24.stories? Who will tell them? The Story Museum in Cardiff is taking
:26:25. > :26:29.this challenge on by taking traditional curating and turning it
:26:30. > :26:35.on its head. Artist Janette Parris is here to hear it a special
:26:36. > :26:39.exhibition for Museums at Night. She will take inspiration from everyday
:26:40. > :26:48.objects in the Story Museum. Donated by members of the public. I like
:26:49. > :26:52.this museum because it tells the story of Cardiff and the history and
:26:53. > :26:59.the history of the local people of Cardiff. She has asked more than 40
:27:00. > :27:12.artists to create works of art based on objects in the museum. This
:27:13. > :27:18.object, this is a Yemeni dagger, and a belt, one of my favourite objects.
:27:19. > :27:20.This is about two different cultures mixing together. She will write a
:27:21. > :27:28.song about this dagger to be performed. We have donated this
:27:29. > :27:39.dagger as a reminder of the community that are here in the early
:27:40. > :27:44.1930s. My father came, he settled down, he saved up some shillings and
:27:45. > :27:53.he opened up his own cafe and restaurant. He met my mother. They
:27:54. > :27:58.got married. My mother's family were not too happy because he was a
:27:59. > :28:09.foreigner. But once they got to know him, they accepted him and they took
:28:10. > :28:18.to him. This object, I gave this to the artist to recreate. A few years
:28:19. > :28:24.ago he gritted his alter ego and he goes by the name of Dawn. This is a
:28:25. > :28:30.very interesting project because it does relate to my transgender alter
:28:31. > :28:36.ego. And this feather headdress is a very fantastic thing. The sensuality
:28:37. > :28:40.about this is extraordinary. And painting the beauty and the
:28:41. > :28:47.essential as of the feathers and the softness, something you want to
:28:48. > :28:54.wear. I will have this image floating in the sky, like a feather
:28:55. > :29:03.headdress become a slightly alien creature come to show off its glory
:29:04. > :29:10.and beauty. And that is actually in that beautiful piece. It all but
:29:11. > :29:16.miraculously survived a German bombing in World War II is the next
:29:17. > :29:22.object. The shackle a doll. Dolls creep me out a little bit. This will
:29:23. > :29:29.be a strange experience, staring up this to create this. I like to
:29:30. > :29:36.create celebrity injury using everyday items find Randy has, so
:29:37. > :29:44.food products or toast. I will use a blowtorch to burn his face into the
:29:45. > :29:47.toast. Like this. This will make his eye. And with more detail, you can
:29:48. > :29:58.get the rest of the nose and his face. Jeanette has chosen a film
:29:59. > :30:05.about a local legend to inspire her other piece of work. It happens to
:30:06. > :30:11.be on, this is fortunate. This is about Tommy, who was a fishmonger up
:30:12. > :30:19.until the age of 82. He loved the dogs, and the people. He loved every
:30:20. > :30:23.one of them. Tom, do you want a cup of tea, do you want this? It was not
:30:24. > :30:28.like going to work. It was home from home. He would pick up different
:30:29. > :30:38.languages, and eventually he was quite good. He was quite good at
:30:39. > :30:46.Arabic. He even had a go at Chinese. He had a go at that. Jeanette is
:30:47. > :30:53.turning Tommy's story into a cartoon, voiced by a comedian. The
:30:54. > :31:00.sea, and you have to go. That is quite hard to see in a Welsh accent.
:31:01. > :31:14.How would Richard Burton said? The big night is fast approaching. --
:31:15. > :31:20.Burton say it. Local musicians are rehearsing the song about the
:31:21. > :31:23.dagger. The new contemporary works of art are now ready to take their
:31:24. > :31:36.place in the museum's display cabinets. Although it is a
:31:37. > :31:42.contemporary painting, it has some traditional aspects about it. I
:31:43. > :31:47.think it is exciting. I thought if I put lots of black around the edges,
:31:48. > :31:51.it would make a nice contrast with the middle, and make the face stand
:31:52. > :32:00.out more. It gives the different textures. When use the collar of the
:32:01. > :32:10.sea, you have to go. Tiger Bay, hot fish and chips, on its way. The
:32:11. > :32:14.exhibition has just opened. If you would like to see the animation
:32:15. > :32:29.about Tommy the fishmonger, you can catch it online from Monday on the
:32:30. > :32:34.website. I must admit to a bit of a TV crash. I love Andrew
:32:35. > :32:38.Graham-Dixon. That is why we dispatched him to the National
:32:39. > :32:43.Gallery and London, for a very private viewing of masterpieces. He
:32:44. > :32:50.tried to convince to A-level students that M Brandt -- you try to
:32:51. > :33:02.convince two A-level students that Rembrandt is the man. The National
:33:03. > :33:05.Gallery at night can be an eerie, unnerving place.
:33:06. > :33:08.The crowds have gone for the day, and yet, you're still surrounded by
:33:09. > :33:11.faces. Old faces, young faces, petrifying faces. It is easy to
:33:12. > :33:18.believe you're not alone. And I am glad to say, I am not. Debbie Daniel
:33:19. > :33:21.and Megan Poulton are A-level art students from Mossbourne Academy in
:33:22. > :33:24.Hackney and we are here for a special audience with one of the
:33:25. > :33:31.greatest portrait painters who ever lived. Here we are. I want you to
:33:32. > :33:36.meet an old friend of mine. I think of him as a friend anyway, Rembrandt
:33:37. > :33:38.himself. Rembrandt produced over 80 self-portraits and each one
:33:39. > :33:45.encapsulates a different chapter in his extraordinary life. He was
:33:46. > :33:51.actually a young-ish man when he painted this picture, wearing his
:33:52. > :33:57.very best clothes. Do you notice his hand innocently leaning on a ledge?
:33:58. > :34:00.That is a kind of coded message, because there was a famous painting
:34:01. > :34:04.by an Italian artist called Titian of a famous poet. Poets were looked
:34:05. > :34:12.up to in a way that painters were not looked up to, especially in
:34:13. > :34:15.Holland. Painting himself like that was Rembrandt's way of telling
:34:16. > :34:19.everybody, I am a painter, and painters are every bit as important
:34:20. > :34:24.poets. Look up to us, look up to me. What do you think of the look in his
:34:25. > :34:27.eyes? It is like he has asked you a question and he is expecting an
:34:28. > :34:31.answer. He has an eyebrow raised. What do you think the emotion is? It
:34:32. > :34:36.is almost like he is posing, putting up a facade, like a front, but when
:34:37. > :34:40.I look into his eyes, I almost see pain and sadness, like something is
:34:41. > :34:44.going on with him, but he is trying to hide it. That is what I see as
:34:45. > :34:51.well. When you look in his eyes, maybe everything is not quite right.
:34:52. > :34:56.There is an explanation for Rembrandt's sadness in a nearby
:34:57. > :35:01.painting of his wife. She is dressed up as the goddess of flowers,
:35:02. > :35:06.fertility and spring. He has painted her in the persona of flora. The
:35:07. > :35:12.painting is a kind of lucky charm for their marriage. The hope is that
:35:13. > :35:19.she will be many children, just as spring bears many flowers. It seems
:35:20. > :35:26.to be going with the hope of children, and love, and happiness.
:35:27. > :35:30.And yet it is a very sad painting. Not only would a lot of those
:35:31. > :35:39.children die young, but she died very young as well, within a few
:35:40. > :35:44.years of the picture being painted. After his wife's death, Rembrandt
:35:45. > :35:49.was devastated. Within ten years, he had put himself back together again.
:35:50. > :35:54.To worse the end of his life, he produced some of his most passionate
:35:55. > :36:01.portraits. These faces still speak to us across the centuries. I became
:36:02. > :36:07.Rembrandt painted this picture, he was nearly 63 years old, he has not
:36:08. > :36:12.got long to go in his life. He has been financially ruined, he has lost
:36:13. > :36:20.his house. It is really quite bleak for him. What do you think of this
:36:21. > :36:25.phase? He is very honest. I think he puts a lot of his emotions and life
:36:26. > :36:31.into his paintings. You really feel you're in the presence of
:36:32. > :36:36.somebody's feelings. It is like a piece of motion hanging on the wall,
:36:37. > :36:43.not just an image. Rembrandt ended his life alone and impoverished, but
:36:44. > :36:47.many of his portraits expressed the wealth and power of 17th-century
:36:48. > :36:51.Amsterdam. Tonight we are being allowed behind the scenes at the
:36:52. > :36:57.gallery for a private viewing of the portrait that has not been seen by
:36:58. > :37:01.the public for over six years. It has been restored to its original
:37:02. > :37:09.glory. As ever with Rembrandt, things are not always as they seem.
:37:10. > :37:14.Here it is. You have been working on a massive Rembrandt. It is a very
:37:15. > :37:19.exciting picture. It is impressive because it is unusual for him to do
:37:20. > :37:23.a big equestrian portrait. The exciting thing we learned a few
:37:24. > :37:27.years ago is that there is another painting underneath it, I completely
:37:28. > :37:33.different one. This is when you prepared earlier. Have a look. This
:37:34. > :37:38.is the x-ray of what is underneath the surface of the painting. In this
:37:39. > :37:46.case, you can see the shape of the sitter. If you turn the thing 90
:37:47. > :37:50.degrees, you can see there is another figure, so this can this has
:37:51. > :37:58.been reused. To me, it looks like the same figure. We cannot be sure,
:37:59. > :38:02.but it is the same sort of face. If it is the original person, it seems
:38:03. > :38:08.that the first one is quite modest, he is standing by a at his home. It
:38:09. > :38:15.makes you wonder if he saw this more modest version of a country squire
:38:16. > :38:20.and said, no, I want more. Rembrandt thought, I better do what he says.
:38:21. > :38:24.One of the wonderful things about seeing a painting in this situation,
:38:25. > :38:29.almost on the operating table, you get a sense of what it is about.
:38:30. > :38:36.Rembrandt is about tremendous baldness. What do you think when you
:38:37. > :38:45.look up at that phase? He is really confident, in a composed way. I know
:38:46. > :38:48.I am the man. I like that. I have really enjoyed going round with you.
:38:49. > :38:53.I am really glad that you like my friend. There will be a major
:38:54. > :38:58.Rembrandt exhibition at the National Gallery in the autumn.
:38:59. > :39:05.Blockbuster is a word we have associated with action movies and
:39:06. > :39:09.superheroes, but now it is regularly used to describe exhibitions.
:39:10. > :39:17.They are much needed to generate cash, but at what cost? I am very
:39:18. > :39:23.biased. Our Blockbuster gave me my life as I know it. I was five years
:39:24. > :39:27.old, and some wanted me to the Tutankhamen exhibition at the
:39:28. > :39:32.British Museum. It was very boring, and we queued for hours. But I
:39:33. > :39:37.remember that moment when I walked in, and there was this boy king
:39:38. > :39:43.covered in gold. All the fairy tales I have heard, they are true. I did
:39:44. > :39:49.not go to any museums for the rest of my childhood, but that moment
:39:50. > :39:54.made me want to be a historian. The modern Blockbuster has a problem. It
:39:55. > :40:01.is expensive to get into, ?16 a ticket. When you get in, you can
:40:02. > :40:06.only see the back of other peoples heads. Museums and galleries
:40:07. > :40:10.released of people in. The quality of the experience can be dreadful.
:40:11. > :40:16.Museums are thinking about how to deal with it. But the thing that
:40:17. > :40:20.happens is that people share a story and they speak about the story they
:40:21. > :40:26.have seen together. In some respects, the Blockbuster takes over
:40:27. > :40:32.from the Saturday night show. There are other kinds of blockbusters that
:40:33. > :40:37.I am interested in. We did a festival of deaths. It was massively
:40:38. > :40:43.successful. Thousands of people came, but they came, but became four
:40:44. > :40:56.different experiences. Was it free? 50% of it was free. In one museum,
:40:57. > :41:04.we put on a massive exhibition, people had to pay. On the other side
:41:05. > :41:11.of the gallery, it was free, and it was deserted. We have done this
:41:12. > :41:16.thing called Vikings Live. We take the exhibition to cinemas around the
:41:17. > :41:20.country. You still pay ?15. It is not free, but it is like a private
:41:21. > :41:26.viewing, and you can see the objects. It is important for things
:41:27. > :41:34.to be free, for people to have tasters of the cannot afford it. One
:41:35. > :41:40.area which is almost always free is online. Is there such a thing as a
:41:41. > :41:45.cultural Blockbuster online? The closest thing I guess you get to
:41:46. > :41:49.Blockbuster online is a viral video of the cat or a child doing
:41:50. > :41:54.something funny. There are blockbusters online, but all the
:41:55. > :41:58.true cultural Blockbuster is? We are in the early days of what is
:41:59. > :42:04.possible, extending the life of the Blockbuster from the physical to the
:42:05. > :42:07.digital. That is exciting. One of the problems is the reverse of
:42:08. > :42:11.that. People go to these blockbusters and one of the reasons
:42:12. > :42:17.it is so stock is because they are looking down at the device, or they
:42:18. > :42:25.have an ideal thing in, and in a way, technology is going -- slowing
:42:26. > :42:30.the thing down. I think people are trying to work out the right way to
:42:31. > :42:33.engage people in a physical environment using digital
:42:34. > :42:39.technology. No one has figured it out perfectly. It will take
:42:40. > :42:43.innovation and experimentation. Some people will get it right and some
:42:44. > :42:49.will get it wrong. The ones who get it right well make more
:42:50. > :42:52.blockbusters. What about this extraordinary thing of being able to
:42:53. > :43:00.see the object and have it explained that the same time. What can
:43:01. > :43:06.technology do for museums? Are we just in the free tells of what can
:43:07. > :43:11.be achieved? No doubt. We have got to collaborate. Museums and Google
:43:12. > :43:16.have got to speak together. Museums are never going to go. We have been
:43:17. > :43:21.collecting objects for 50,000 years. We have been putting them around in
:43:22. > :43:27.our homes. We will always want that live experience with the real thing.
:43:28. > :43:33.I think we will move forward. We will have museums and technology. I
:43:34. > :43:39.want to make it clear. You cannot live without the live experience.
:43:40. > :43:42.People think that the online experience. People coming the
:43:43. > :43:45.museums, but we have seen some of the highest growth in museum
:43:46. > :43:50.attendance when stuff is happening online. What do you mean by the
:43:51. > :43:55.transition from the physical to the digital? You're sitting at home, you
:43:56. > :44:01.do not have time to go to the museum, but can you still get a
:44:02. > :44:04.taste of culture online. We do not go to a website every morning. We
:44:05. > :44:08.taste of culture online. We do not not go to a news website. We do not
:44:09. > :44:11.taste of culture online. We do not go to the Tate Gallery website and
:44:12. > :44:15.check for artwork. That is the exciting part, when it incorporates
:44:16. > :44:23.into your daily life. Were going to have to stop there. Thank you.
:44:24. > :44:27.Millions of us visit his aims and galleries every year but millions do
:44:28. > :44:33.not. If people cannot come to a museum, should we take museums to
:44:34. > :44:38.them? That is exactly what Rankin has done. He turned an allotment
:44:39. > :44:48.site into an art gallery. And against the clock! These are
:44:49. > :44:58.brilliant, I think. That is wonderful. Very flattering. Some
:44:59. > :45:04.lipstick! Ragan's subjects are drawn from the world of pop, politics and
:45:05. > :45:12.fashion. I love this image. I like the quirkiness. Madonna? Debbie
:45:13. > :45:15.Harry! Very glamorous. During Museums at Night, he will turn to
:45:16. > :45:24.the green fingered folk of Nottingham. Over one day, he will
:45:25. > :45:33.show a photographic exhibition right here at St Anne's Allotments. I
:45:34. > :45:38.first got my allotment in 1972. We did not have a garden. I had for
:45:39. > :45:44.young children and I said to my wife, I am going to grow my own
:45:45. > :45:50.food. When factory supervisor Charlie was made redundant at 55,
:45:51. > :45:56.his allotment became more than a source of food. I am not one to sit
:45:57. > :46:00.and vegetate, if I did not have this, I would not be here. I would
:46:01. > :46:08.be dead and buried. I love it, everyday. These are one of the
:46:09. > :46:19.world's oldest. On this last 75 acre site, over 555 gardeners dig and
:46:20. > :46:22.prune all year round. -- round. My husband and myself are going to be
:46:23. > :46:27.in a portrait together. He is a love of my life. He is the man who saved
:46:28. > :46:32.me. We spent every Sunday here together. I hope he can capture just
:46:33. > :46:38.a little bit of our relationship, really. There is the manager for the
:46:39. > :46:43.programme that teachers inner-city children to play musical
:46:44. > :46:48.instruments. These gardens are in the heart of one of the places that
:46:49. > :46:54.I think a few years ago had troubles, problems with gangs. A lot
:46:55. > :47:02.of people here do not realise they have this amazing site in the middle
:47:03. > :47:07.of the city. When I walked, it was such wonderful atmosphere, very
:47:08. > :47:13.peaceful, considering we are in the city. It was like stepping into the
:47:14. > :47:18.past. Retired drama teacher Pat Robertson has found a new lease of
:47:19. > :47:24.life in her 60s. I have done 14 marathons around the world but I am
:47:25. > :47:32.so glad that I keep fit because the allotment is hard work.
:47:33. > :47:41.The challenge will be to capture this bread, history and character of
:47:42. > :47:56.this unique place. And in one day. Keep smiling! Nice to meet you. Just
:47:57. > :48:09.step up, just there. That is great. I love that. I am sorry. I never do
:48:10. > :48:15.not wear lipstick! Irony enjoy the fact that you meet so many different
:48:16. > :48:20.characters doing what I do. -- I really enjoy. Having a laugh,
:48:21. > :48:25.getting them to give you something and you have people who are quite
:48:26. > :48:40.shy, people are very outgoing, and that is what is great about this, it
:48:41. > :48:45.is never the same. I was expecting someone to be very officious. But he
:48:46. > :49:02.made me feel very comfortable. He was saying nice things. That helped
:49:03. > :49:12.me. That is better. Smile. I just love this. Did you build that? Yes.
:49:13. > :49:17.You said those trees? He has a right attitude towards people. He talks to
:49:18. > :49:30.you. Mike Hedges known you for years. -- like he has no new. --
:49:31. > :49:36.known you. Just a little bit. He is quite short. Nothing wrong with
:49:37. > :49:42.that! Very determined. They try harder, apparently! I definitely try
:49:43. > :49:48.harder! You never know what to expect. It was quicker than I
:49:49. > :49:57.expected. It was done in no time. Yes, I was more nervous. I feel very
:49:58. > :50:07.privileged to have had the chance to meet everyone. I am overwhelmed.
:50:08. > :50:10.Hopefully, I did something that people will look at and it will
:50:11. > :50:18.capture the spirit of the place and the people. I just look at this and
:50:19. > :50:25.say, there is a spirit here and I can feel it. I think is -- my thing
:50:26. > :50:30.is, if I can get something out of this, this is a good photograph,
:50:31. > :50:35.that is all I can do and all of the people outside will come in and they
:50:36. > :50:42.do not like that, I can handle that. I just did the best I could do. --
:50:43. > :51:12.and if they do not like it. It was great, yes. He made me look
:51:13. > :51:18.20 years older! I love that! I made sure that I was looking up. It was
:51:19. > :51:26.lovely. The whole exhibition is fantastic. Yes. The people make this
:51:27. > :51:39.place. That is what you can see in this.
:51:40. > :51:56.Such a very lovely, calm group of people. I should get an allotment,
:51:57. > :52:01.sort my head I'd! -- out! OK, he was a pencil and we might take this for
:52:02. > :52:06.granted. But try telling that to the Museum of pencils in Cumbria, and
:52:07. > :52:10.there is also a museum for dog collars and Oriental plasterwork and
:52:11. > :52:15.lawn mowers in stock would. We went to some of these to meet some of the
:52:16. > :52:27.men and women who are so passionate about preserving history, they do it
:52:28. > :52:32.for free. Summoning the wind is a very old form of magic, it involves
:52:33. > :52:38.a windy day, putting the wind into the rope and you put this to a
:52:39. > :52:51.sailor and when he once wind, he will on Taiwan of these knots. --
:52:52. > :52:58.and tie. -- untie one of these knots. Come one through. Graham, who
:52:59. > :53:07.has curated this collection for 28 years, believes that magical charms
:53:08. > :53:11.have been part of our lives. This museum is important because it
:53:12. > :53:16.covers an area of folklore and history that is ignored by almost
:53:17. > :53:22.every other museum. There are nearly 4000 artefacts you, from charms to
:53:23. > :53:28.historical archives. People seem to think we are some sort of shrine to
:53:29. > :53:34.evil. We are not. We shall curses and charms. Witchcraft or pagan
:53:35. > :53:37.magic has been practised in Europe for centuries and it was not judged
:53:38. > :53:45.to be Satanic until the 15th century. The state, fearing a spread
:53:46. > :53:52.of heresy, made it measurable by death. One of the more poignant and
:53:53. > :53:59.powerful displays in this museum is this list of 1000 names and we could
:54:00. > :54:07.have had more, people who would have been executed. It has to be said,
:54:08. > :54:13.they were mainly poor woman. We had Matthew Hopkins, the witch finder
:54:14. > :54:19.general. He made his living by persecuting these people. Joyce and
:54:20. > :54:21.Graham do not I into this fairy tale idea of an evil which but they
:54:22. > :54:26.believe that the supernatural has always been part of our lives. This
:54:27. > :54:33.peddler effigy, mass produced during the war, was used to curse the
:54:34. > :54:37.archenemy. It is very ancient magic but it is also something that is
:54:38. > :54:46.continually reinvented and made relevant to the time that it occurs.
:54:47. > :54:48.It is a way for people to cope with the challenges of their lives.
:54:49. > :54:58.Something that gives them courage and hope and, essentially, it is a
:54:59. > :55:03.very positive force. So, we're going to draw on the magic of the candle,
:55:04. > :55:10.filling this museum with candles and our objects will look amazing. On
:55:11. > :55:18.the other side of the country, Doctor Mike ridges will be burning a
:55:19. > :55:26.different kind of light. Gaslight. Welcome to the Museum of Gas and
:55:27. > :55:31.local history. There was once a time and every time had a gas works but
:55:32. > :55:37.this is the last of its type. It might have just rotted away but
:55:38. > :55:41.today, it is an ancient monument. They are keen to tell visitors that
:55:42. > :55:50.before the discovery of North Sea gas, the country was fuelled by gas
:55:51. > :55:54.extracted from coal. When we get children coming here, someone who
:55:55. > :56:08.has never seen coal, we must explain what it is. And how the process
:56:09. > :56:16.works but it becomes caulk. -- by which. When gas came about, and made
:56:17. > :56:22.a tremendous difference. All these things have a tremendous effect on
:56:23. > :56:26.the lives of women. One of the phrases I have heard most frequently
:56:27. > :56:33.altered by women when they come here is, I had one like that when I was
:56:34. > :56:40.first married! What we have here is Victorian technology and domestic
:56:41. > :56:47.nostalgia. When all the dials and clocks have stopped, museums like
:56:48. > :56:57.this one keep history alive, even in its smellier corners. From Museums
:56:58. > :57:02.at Night, their shrines Gaslight as the porn from Robert Lee Stevenson
:57:03. > :57:10.is recited. We're very lucky with the lab before the dawn and before
:57:11. > :57:22.you hurry by with your ladder, see a little child and nod to him tonight.
:57:23. > :57:46.This is a first. This is a Silent Disco. Headphones on! Yes! OK, thank
:57:47. > :57:49.you all. And to everybody here Abbey National Museum of Scotland for a
:57:50. > :57:55.terrific evening. It is about time we find out who looks good on the
:57:56. > :58:13.dance floor! Life that audition for stricter come dancing! -- Strictly
:58:14. > :58:20.Come Dancing. Because I'm happy! Museums at Night continues after
:58:21. > :58:27.this online. Martha Carney is at the Imperial War Museum in Manchester.
:58:28. > :58:30.Bill will be talking about biplanes. And Public Service Broadcasting will
:58:31. > :58:44.perform at the RAF Museum in Henley. Join us from ABM on the website. --
:58:45. > :58:50.from 8pm. Because I'm happy... There we have it, museums or enjoying a
:58:51. > :58:54.golden age and if they continue to surprise and enlighten us connect
:58:55. > :58:59.with us, we will continue to come here because they are our great
:59:00. > :59:05.houses of ideas and knowledge that will shape us and our lives.