Making sense of art and design industries

I have always been fascinated by unsolved mysteries and crime-based documentaries. So, when I heard about a museum celebrating death, I knew I had to go check it out. I have been to a lot of museums throughout my life, but never have I been this captivated. “The museum of Death” is a museum full of artefacts related to death. Here you will find everything from a serial killer’s personal artwork to crime scenes photos of infamous murders. Besides all of their morbid artwork, they also highlight that death is a celebration that is going to happen to everyone.

The museum experience is based on a self-guided tour lasting around an hour and costing 15$. You will find the museum in the heart of Hollywood in Los Angeles. They also have merchandise for sale with “Museum of Death” logo.

When arriving, they let you know that taking photos during your visit is not allowed out of respect for the dead. However, once you get inside you will find out that there are more to it than just respect. Some of the stuff in there are so gruesome that they probably don’t want to get the wrong attention from the wrong crowd. As a visitor myself, I like that they don’t market, nor promote themselves. If not coincidently driving past it, you will have to know or heard about this museum to know about its existence. I believe this makes it more authentic, because the only people knowing/talking about it are people whose previous audience or a potential audience.

“Do you know how sensational I could be if I wanted it to be?… That´s not why we are here.”
JD Healy, Co-founder of The Museum of Death

Their goal is not to achieve financial wealth, but rather to give the audience the opportunity to pair the gore with the nuanced meditations on human nature, and that makes them outstanding.

If you are one of the more narrow-minded types, you would probably imagine that the only people wanting to visit this place consists of Satan worshippers along with other disturbed souls. However, the museum is doing very good with visitors and their audience consists of a broad segment of different people, mostly curious boys and girls in their 20s. They don’t necessary need to mot to an audience focused approach seeing that we all have death in common. Their audience is never left bored or unsatisfied no matter age, sex or culture. Personal values on the other hand is out of their control of conflict.

The owners of the museum wanted to fill the void of death education in America, and therefore ended up with this controversial museum which are confronting every taboo aspect around the subject of death. They also found out that this is something that captivates a lot more people than expecting and used this opportunity to give the audience what they can’t get anywhere else.

When leaving the museum, they end your tour with a nice goodbye, and I quote; “Have a good life”. I find the whole experience very entertaining. The museum is strangely very personal, not only because of the displayed items, but because you as an audience will confront a side to yourself that you are more or less uncomfortable with in context of death. This is not an ordinary museum based on the traditional approach focused on the product portfolio, but rather the function by it. By this I mean what you are left with as an audience member after leaving the museum.