Lately, I’ve introduced on my tours the topic of immortality and how it influenced Chinese beliefs. While in the garden, I point to the mountains maquete and the Taihu rocks as being connected to the group of eight immortals in Daoist tradition. I point to the linghzi mushrooms carved on the staircase as a food that promoted longevity. When starting the gallery tour, I connect the discovery of gunpowder as part of the search for immortality. At the end of the tour I raise the idea that maybe Cai’s AI experiments are a way for him to search for immortality as his AI program will continue to create art long after he is gone.

I found the teacher makes a difference in the behavior, attitude and responsiveness of the students. This teacher circulated among his various tour groups, and when he would pop in on my tour, I would ask him to be a docent and ask the students a question about the artwork on view. The kids enjoyed seeing their teacher participate and we had some fun discussions.

I think you would need to judge if this would work in your particular circumstance.

I let them watch the mandala video first, so I wasn’t competing with it during my explanation. I had a picture of a sand mandala which I explained represented the universe and was used as a Buddhist teaching tool. I then pointed out the different parts, and the N, S, E and W gates and the progression towards the center which represents enlightenment. 
We talked a bit about Cai’s interest in Eastern religions and his desire to incorporate that in his work (use of symbols, Tibetan pigments, etc.), how the destruction of the sand mandala paralleled his destruction of the gunpowder mandala illustrating the Buddhist teaching re: impermanence. The kids seemed interested in discussing this, volunteering examples of impermanence.

I can still use the picture of the sand mandala since the video goes pretty fast, but simplify for younger kids.

If students are cooperative and well behaved, I find that it is useful to have them first explore a gallery by themselves, trying to figure out what is going on in the room. Then, I ask them to stand in front of their favorites and those are the ones where we spend our time.
Having them sketch in front of Hercules seems to work well.
Having them identify different things on the time line that they find interesting also works well.

I think it is important to be very firm if students are goofing around, not paying attention or wandering off.

Today, I toured with a group of quiet, sixth-grade students who, when they talked, had some very thoughtful responses. I only toured the 10:00 group. The students arrived late, so our tour was shortened. I started the tour with Palmyra because I wanted to connect the object to what the students were learning in class (Ancient Civilizations, Silk Road). I asked them to look closely at the work and write down what they noticed. Then they shared (very quietly); little discussion followed. I showed them pictures of Palmyra ruins before and after the most recent destruction. 

Next, we looked at the Mandala and furthered the discussion of the construction (making something) and deconstruction (destroying something). I then asked: what happened here? A couple of boys ventured into this, basically saying that something was made, then destroyed, and then remade into a different form. Interesting.

Then, off to the permanent collection room. I let them explore on their own and ask questions about various works. We then discussed the Oracle Bones.

At this point, I moved to Room 6 and let them explore independently. I hadn’t planned to stop in this space, so I had no activity planned.

Finally, it was close to 11:00, and due to a prior commitment, I had to leave, and Jane graciously completed the tour.

Felt very uncomfortable with this tour for various reasons. The students were wonderful, my colleagues were the best, and Lonnie was, as always, accommodating. But circumstances beyond any of our control made this a challenging experience: the bus was quite late, there were only three docents rather than 4 (one did not show up), and there were those “pivoting” moments when one is prepared for one thing and is forced to another. Add to the fact that this was my first tour in a while, may I have been a bit “rusty?” Without a doubt.

This is the first time I tour Cai’s works with a younger audience, originally I planed to allocate sometime for them do some drawings , instead I carried a good and interesting conversation with both groups of students about the exhibition. The students were very excited about viewing and learning about oracle bones

I had toured 2 gps of kids in middle school and here are my feedback

1. I started at the second entrance and in viewing the pyramid I had the group drew what they would want to see if they are looking down on earth. Then they share it with the group. Then I discuss the significance of the pyramid, the Great Wall of China (all visible from space), and touched on what Cai had on his mind on his own legacy. Both group are very engaged with the activity
2. Then we proceed to the adjacent gallery and did a find the material hunt. I asked them to study how Cai managed to keep the surface of the material and not blew them up. This is a quick 10-15 mins
3. In the Hercules gallery I had them look at the technique he used with the stencil. They were also intrigued by how he execute this artwork. I asked them to get close and look at the piece from the side where they can see the remaining gun powder. Some count the area he messed up (the holes)
4. In the lab science gallery I had them pair the cut out piece to the original and touched on why the title of the exhibit ‘Art and Science Collide’. Also we looked at the AI artwork and discussed the significance of of it. They are not as interested in the subject as I would think.
5. We did not stay at the mandalas gallery as that video was not working
6. The one last piece of work was the Praying for Potection. I have them wrote 2 words on either what they saw or how they felt when they looked at the artwork. Then we had a discussion and I educated them a bit on the Second World War and the aftermath of the bombing. This piece is a good one to open up conversation and touch on many subjects.

It seems like there are some kids that didnt know English much and I was wondering why they drew a blank face when I was talking, so it would be good to know ahead of times if they need a docent that speak Spanish.

A lot of the kids are afraid to speak up so I had to remind them to speak up, also there were some kids that were a bit disruptive and I felt the teacher has to be more attentive to the group.

I used Melissa’s idea of having them write down words or do sketches when they looked at each painting and to share with each other as they were doing this.
I also used Fran’s idea of stopping at the timeline and asking them when they were born and to look for explosion events on the timeline.
They seemed quite willing to sit on the floor which made managing them much easier.

It was disappointing that the video in the last room was not working. This makes it tough when you start in zone 3.

I started at the gallery next to the gift shop, then went to AI room and moved to the 1st gallery. Although we backtrack the gallery, it works better instead of going to clockwise all the way.
Before going to the gallery, we did a sketching of “The Canvas On the Moon”, and compare their artwork with Cai’s version. I told one student to use ChatGPT to create “The Canvas On the Moon”.

I am not good to tour this grade students, but group discussions worked.

This school did not know that the museum is now showing Cai’s works, and requested docents to incorporate Silk Road into our tour. I was able to connect some of Cai’s works to Asian traditions (Oracle bones to Cai’s “Rubbing of Archean Era” ; Mandala to Cai’s “Return to Darkness” in Gallery 2; Dragons to Cai’s “Drawing for Ascending Dragon” ). We may need to come up more with these connections and create touring aids.