LECTURE II – WHAT IS AN EXHIBIT?
May 19, 2004, 10:00-11:00
Course is Excellence in exhibition.
But first, what ARE exhibits?
Why make them?
Who makes them?
How do they work?
What makes them successful / excellent?
II) WHAT IS AN EXHIBIT?
(Solicit responses)
Exhibition as a medium:
· "a specific type of artistic technique or means of expression as determined by the materials used or the creative methods involved"
· "a means of mass communication"
· "an agency by which something is accomplished, conveyed or transferred"
· "a surrounding environment in which something functions or thrives"
· "an intervening substance through which something is transmitted"
· "an intermediate course of action"
· "a person thought to have the power to communicate with the spirits of the dead"
III) WHY DO WE MAKE EXHIBITS?
(solicit responses; be sure to include such things as: )
· To support mission
· To show off collection
· To present knowledge, or perhaps an argument
· To educate, to impart specific information
· To enlighten
· To serve as a backdrop for programming
· To be a clean, safe place, for visitors and for objects
· To provide a visitor experience: comfortable, engaging, interesting
· To serve as a backdrop to visitors’ social outings
· To increase attendance and revenues
· To increase profile and prestige
· To advance the field
· To inspire
A. All these, and probably more.
IV) WHO MAKES EXHIBITS?
Exhibits are so complicated, with so many agendas, it requires the cooperation of people with many different skill sets.
Kamien article – roles (pg 115)
· Client (Director, Dept. chair)
· Content specialist (curator)
· Designer (3-D and 2-D, lightings, etc.
· Interpreter (developer, educator)
· Project Manager (nuts and bolts)
AND MORE! Entire museum:
Writer
AV, computers
Evaluator
Collections
Registrar
Production, Mount Makers
Building Operations
Security
Maintenance
PR / Marketing
Development / Membership
V) HOW DO EXHIBITS WORK?
Exhibit is MEDIUM for communication.
Formula for successful communication:
Dramatize a Proposition to a Receiver: D – P – R
Proposition: what are we saying?
Dramatize: how are we saying it?
Receiver: who are we saying it to?
D-P-R is borrowed from Advertising, but Museums use it to; different words
Principle of Singularity
ONE message, expressed clearly. James Liter: “One thought driven home is better than three left on base.”
ONE unified style of dramatization. Common mistake: some components for adults, some for kids. Want something adults and kids can do TOGETHER.
Speaking to ONE receiver: no one likes to be lectured to. HOWEVER – museum visit is a social setting; must acknowledge and allow for it.
THE WAY THE FORMULA WORKS is: backwards
Start with RECEIVER: who they are, what they like, what they know
PROPOSITION: given that, what do we most want to tell them?
DRAMATIZE: only after you’ve figured out first two, can you develop a compelling way to get your message across.
THE RECEIVER
Define audience in three ways:
· Demographics: census statistics – age, gender, race, income, family size, education, etc.
· Geographics: where they come from, where they work and live
· Psychographics: motivations, beliefs, wants and needs, behavioral profile
The better you know audience, the better you’ll be able to reach them.
Demographics and geographics are different for every museum
Psychographics – interests, beliefs, motivations – tend to be more uniform
Value learning (but NOT experts)
Seek challenge / unique experience
Doing something worthwhile with leisure time
#1 MOTIVATION: social outing
The museum is just the setting; the time spent together is the true purpose.
Value learning, but learn in different ways (Gardner article)
Linguistic, Logical, Spatial, Personal, Bodily, etc.
Memorizing list not as important as realizing different people have different preferences. A good exhibit must hit as many of these as possible.
THE PROPOSITION
Exhibition is NOT about content! Exhibits are very bad at conveying facts:
Non-linear
Free-choice
Broad audience
Limited time
But exhibits are wonderful at creating meaningful experiences so audience may connect with content – learn, understand, appreciate, resonate, wonder.
The Museum is the Temple of the Muses.
The Muses were the Greek goddesses of inspiration.
Whom have you inspired today?
Nevertheless, must be ABOUT something. ONE thing. Principle of singularity.
MAIN MESSAGE: A single sentence – clear, simple, and in the visitors’ language – which states the theme of your exhibit.
Everything supports. HOLOGRAM STORY.
The whole exhibit and process flows from the MAIN MESSAGE:
Ranking and setting goals
Analyzing audience interest / knowledge / expectations
Organize content, relate to message
Develop experience
The clearer you can be about your message, the more likely your visitor will pick it up.
THE DRAMATIZATION
Exhibit fleshes out Main Message, organizes content to flow in logical manner. Story gets your message across to the visitor.
THE FEATURES OF THE MEDIUM SHAPE HOW THE MESSAGE IS CONVEYED.
Characteristics of the exhibit medium:
· A three-dimensional space
· Experienced physically and temporally
· Broad audience (non-expert)
· Self-guided
· Multi-modal (different types of experiences)
· Thematic (is “about” something)
· “Educational”
Museum must pour its content into that bucket.
Planning content, we thought in terms of what vis. will learn
Now, we plan exhibit, thinking in terms of what vis will see and do
How do we “dramatize,” bring message to life in exhibit?
1) Clarity (main message)
2) Story (memorable, logic)
3) Variety of appropriate experiences
YOUR FIRST ASSIGNMENT:
View any exhibit (except Our World, or Chicago)
Analyze in terms of D-P-R
DUE ELECTRONICALLY 9:00 a.m. Wednesday June 2
VI) HOW DO WE KNOW SUCCESS?
Far too often, we don’t. There is no single, widely-accepted definition of a successful exhibit. Why?
· Complicated – exhibits are complicated, so “success” is complicated too
· Agendas – numerous, competing, sometimes at odds
· Individual (cookie-cutter)
· Cover – if there’s no definition of success
it’s impossible to fail
I get to define it in my own terms
There have been several attempts. (HANDOUTS)
AAM
SPCs got together in 1994 to set standards for exhibition:
Institutional POV – standards for each relevant specialty. Did the institution meet its goals. Visitors’ goals are not addressed
· Audience: positive response, achieved exhibit’s goals
· Integrity of content (curatorial)
· Collections conservation and security
· Communication clear and coherent
· Appropriate design
· Comfortable, safe and accessible
Also: these are STANDARDS – the minimum expected from all exhibits. Barely touch on EXCELLENCE, the exceeding of standards. They found it too thorny an issue to tackle.
NAME Strategic Plan
1999: One issue addressed: excellence.
(Full Disclosure: I worked on this, wrote the article.)
Four part grid:
· What are standards (minimum) and excellence (above and beyond)
· What goes on behind-the-scenes vs. what’s on the floor.
(Got some flack for separating intent from product.)
Judy Rand’s “Visitor’s Bill of Rights”
Rand: leading consultant, developer, writer
Developed her list around 1996.
Strictly from VISITOR p.o.v. – doesn’t care about institution
Context of entire museum visit.
EJ
Another take from the VISITOR p.o.v. – Intent Doesn’t Matter.
Developed 2001-2003 by team led by Beverly Serrell.
Full disclosure: I am advisor / webmaster
We will spend rest of the course using this tool, so after break I will discuss in detail.
HANG ONTO OTHERS – useful for second assignment.
Visitors’ agenda often overlooked as we pursue MUSEUM agenda
Visitors’ agenda will be basis of our definition of excellence.
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