12 February 2024

By Tim Koch

Tim Koch finds both real and artificial intelligence at the River and Rowing Museum.

On Friday, I wrote about Henley’s first rowing museum, the temporary exhibition put on for the 1948 Olympic Regatta. It was done on a tight budget and relied on much goodwill. Seventy-six years later, things are more sophisticated but the problems of running a museum partly dedicated to a minority sport still remain. The River and Rowing Museum (RRM) in Henley-on-Thames is 25 years old this year but in all that time its financial viability has been as shaky as a novice eight. The last few years have been particularly unsettling, even without the added complication of the pandemic. However, the recent arrival of a new director, Steve O’Connor, has given new confidence in the RRM’s future. 

A former captain of London Rowing Club, O’Connor is the first rower to run the museum since the founding director, Paul Mainds, was in charge between 1999 and 2013. More importantly, he has a management and computing background and was the founder and CEO of Fulham Reach Boat Club, the charity dedicated to improving lives through rowing and making the sport accessible to all. Although he has only been in charge at the museum for six months, O’Connor recently gave an interview to the Henley Standard on the progress that he has made so far. He concludes that “the opportunity is much bigger than the challenge.”

For Art’s Sake

Throughout February, the museum’s X/Twitter account, @river_rowing, is marking “The Art of Sporting Heritage Month” with a daily posting of a piece of artwork from the RRM’s collection (#SportAndArt). The first five posts are reproduced below.

Very Artificial Intelligence 

Also on @river_rowing, the question was posed, What happens when you let #ChatGPT loose on the design of the River and Rowing Museum?

Which design will Steve O’Connor choose?