This summer, I spent two months at the Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires, Argentina and, with the support of the OOC DTP, I was able to work within the museum’s Editorial Department. I was keen to develop a placement in Buenos Aires – part of my research concerns Argentine literature – and I am interested in editorial work, so talking to current OOC DTP students who had carried out similar projects was incredibly useful, and something I would highly recommend to anyone thinking about a placement themselves.
The Museo Moderno’s Editorial Department produces all the museum’s catalogues, as well as producing/editing/proofreading any text required by the institution’s other departments and its website. Part of my placement involved transcribing texts for exhibitions the Museo was involved in across Europe, and translating Spanish texts into English, whether that be for the website, or even for communicating with English-speaking book contributors or artists working on upcoming publications. As well as practicing my translation skills, I really enjoyed being able to use my Spanish in a professional, office setting. It was rewarding to be able to use my languages to make the Museum’s work and projects more accessible to a wider, non-Spanish speaking audience.
I was also tasked with collating and cataloguing the Museum’s existing book publications in digital form, which meant I learnt a lot about how a museum catalogue is produced, the texts that are commissioned, how the artwork is formatted etc. While I was able to consult their past examples, I also participated in meetings regarding their forthcoming publications, gaining insights into the design and editing process as a book is developed.
Working in the museum meant I had access to its artworks, its recently inaugurated exhibitions, and a behind-the-scenes look at how an institution of this kind operates. It was fascinating to witness how a physical exhibition is made into a book, the decisions this involves the Editorial team making, and what it requires in terms of its production.
No department at the Museo Moderno works in isolation, so I really appreciated the chance to get to know the other teams who welcomed me, just like the Editorial Department, and took the time to speak to me about their own jobs and responsibilities, share their experiences, allow me to have a look at museum’s storage rooms, and learn about working in publishing in a different context to what I was previously aware of.
