Methods? or Contents? Thoughts About Making an Exhibition.

As I mentioned at my first blog About, I am a MSTD student on the track of exhibition design, and I’m taking classes from Corcoran design school. Honestly, for me, it is a little tricky to be a design focused student at an academic program and my life is kinda split up due to the different concentrations between these two groups –

Like, while my Exhibition Development class of MSTD required us to build up an exhibition whatever we were interested and handed in the final project with PAPERS, the Environmental Design class of Corcoran encouraged us to set up a museum, of course with its sample exhibition, by IMAGES and MODELS. It’s like answering two different questions if you wanna a new exhibit – what to present? how to present? And as you can figure out, these question are exactly my blog’s title – method? or content?

Firstly, I think we all agree that exhibition is an essential part of a museum. If we look through these museum mission statement, we’d find out, whatever this museum is or aims to, “exhibits” alway takes a place there. Undoubtedly, exhibition itself also has a “mission statement.” Like the National Museum of Australia states that:

The National Museum of Australia is committed to interpreting and communicating what it means to be an Australian and to explore its consequences for all Australians…One of the main vehicles by which the Museum delivers these messages is through its exhibition program…This policy recognizes the national focus of the Museum’s role, and the need to deliver exhibitions through a network of venues and by the innovative use of new and emerging technologies, as well as by traditional methods. It also recognizes the importance of community involvement in the development and delivery of the Museum’s exhibition program.

While the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, emphasizes:

Exhibition: The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, strives to be among the nation’s dynamic art museums by exhibiting its permanent collection and special exhibitions on widely diverse subjects in ways that combine the highest aesthetic standards with engaging and intellectually accessible presentations.

Reading these two statements, I have this feeling that an “exhibition” is both a “content” and a “method.” It usually has a concept, numbers of objects, texts, media, and a/multiple story(ies). Also it is also a method for a museum to present its value and ideas, to convey information, to engage audiences, and to communicate with the local community or the whole outside world. So which aspect do you think is more important?

Well, before answer this question, please think about one of your favorite exhibition and tell me why you love it:

• Is this because it’s your favorite topic?
• Because the fascinating story that the exhibition tells?
• Or it shows objects you’re extremely interested/have connection with?
• Made by your favorite artist? Organized and shown by your favorite museum?
• Or because it’s easy/pleasing to understand due to the interpretive methods (print/audio/mobile/human guide)?
• Do you like it just because it’s beautiful (color codes/label fonts/lights)?
• Or has “cool” display and interpretive methods?
• Has amazing an interactive zone?

I know the reason for “loving an exhibit” usually would be omnifarious. But if you give the positive answer for the first four questions more, you may be a “content-focused” person, inversely, if you more tend to looking for an exhibition due to the last three clauses, you may be a “method-focused” person, like me lol.

Then, the question is, if audiences always have different focusing/fonding points, which one would a museum pay more attention while making an exhibition?

In my opinion, nowadays, every museum should work hard to create/utilize more intriguing method while doing an exhibition. A glass showcase display could be a “classic” but also a “cliché,” and if a museum still ONLY stick to “normal” “standard” exhibition, uhhh, I admire you, you’re pride and brave.

LACMA’s snap photo, link from the Independent

People are always seeking for “cool” and “funny” stuff. While the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) turning their classic art works into funny memes and gaining over 60,000 views for each single snapchat post, I believe that using social media would be an inevitable method to support an exhibition. Same as the current public enthusiasm for interactive exhibition and digital exhibition, before this summer, to be a little ashamed, I never heard about Somerset House, London, and suddenly I got tons of information about its new digital show, Björk Digital, because there were sooooooo many tweets talking about this cool show which based on Visual Reality technology.

24 hour hackathon of Photo Hack Day

I’m not saying that all the museum should abandon their traditional exhibitions and pursue those high-technologic, social media-drived shows, instead, I surely agree that museums should keep doing research and improving the content of their exhibitions, cause that’s the soul of the whole institution after all. The VR expertise, @kylerbussell, also mentioned that even VR is actually just a tool, the only way to keep it growing is adding more information and making it “useful.”

All in all, whatever a content of an exhibit, or a method to show an exhibit, all actually aim providing a better experience for the audience. While a fashion, intriguing, multiple media, and high technologic exhibit method would definitely attract more new audience, especially those young individuals and teenagers,  a brilliant, thorough exhibit content would keep its audience and urge them coming back. The content and method is definitely not incompatible with each other, contrarily, they will eventually work together to make our museum&exhibition world better.