Exhibits

Both the American Alliance of Museums and International Council of Museums define museums as educational institutions that exhibit material for the public to interpret and provide public access to collections. Exhibition is a central mission of the museum and a lot of thought needs to go into how exhibits are curated.

Design

One thing you will often run into working with museum collections is donors will ask if their donation will immediately go on display or if it could be exhibited permanently. You want to avoid any agreement like this. Aside from preservation concerns related to exhibiting material long-term, artifacts are generally selected based on a planned exhibit idea. In this discussion we’ll look at what goes into putting together an exhibit.

STEP 1: Come up with an exhibit proposal that outlines the general narrative, purpose, content, message, justification, timetable and proposed gallery space.

Some questions to answer in proposal

– Working Title of the Exhibit

– Primary Objective of the exhibit

– Source of material (permanent collection, loan)

– Summary of the focus and narrative content

– Cost (conservation, exhibition fees, shipping, installation, travel, etc)

– Why is this desirable for the museum? How does it serve the museum audience? How does it fulfill the institutions goals?

STEP 2: Submit proposal to the Exhibition Planning Committee

STEP 3: Once an exhibit is approved, put together a proposed exhibition planning team that can include the Curator, Designer, Educator, Registrar, Researcher and work out a timeline

STEP 4:

– Put together a preliminary objects list (including information about scale, media, present location, ownership of works, and loan needs and conditions)

– Identify Conservation Needs

– Solidify the principle objectives of the exhibition

– Identify supporting photographs, graphics, objects, text panels, video, audio, electronic media, etc.

– Work with the educator on identifying such things as target audiences, potential public programs and events, docent training, and curriculum material.

Knowing Your Audience

During the design process it’s always good to stop and ask some questions:

Who are you talking to?

• What age group does your museum attract (Do you want to change that?)

• What level of education does your audience have?

• Do you want to attract certain age school groups? Review local school curriculum, many museums are now developing programs tailored to STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) guidelines.

• Conducting an audience survey periodically is a good idea. Visitors usually range between people between the ages of 30-50 who are highly educated, are family groups or primary aged children.

• To hold visitors' attention and set up the ideal conditions for learning we first need to attract their attention. By studying visitor behavior we can see what seems to be working well and what features attract and hold visitors' attention.

• Write for your audience not your peers!

Creating the Layout

"The values change in a room when one picture is moved: it's like the way a dinner party changes according to the guests."

Walter Hopps, Art & the Power of Placement

• Does the exhibit design and perhaps its message suggest a single pathway through the space?

• How and where do you place audiovisual elements?

• How do groups of visitors comfortably use interactive elements?

• How do elements "lure" visitors through the space?

• How do you engage visitors to respond to the exhibition's messages?

• What is the optimal way to display objects, images, and graphics

Fonts

• Typeface should be easy to read for persons with varied levels of vision. Preferred typefaces include sans serif fonts or fonts with simple, clean serifs.

• Avoid fonts with strokes that are very heavy, think light or decorative

• Spaces between letters (kerning) and lines of type (leading) should make it easy to locate the next line. Also avoid letters that are too close together or widely spaced.

• Italics can be hard to read and should be limited, boldface text should not be used for entire sections, and using upper and lowercase together is easier to read than ALL UPPERCASE GENERALLY.

• Font size for the main body of text should meet or exceed the minimums required for the horizontal viewing distance from the eyes to the object. Captions may be smaller, but not smaller than 24-point.

Text and Labels

• Words are easier to read in horizontal lines. Artistic word shapes should be kept to a minimum or repeated in linear form.

Maintain a line length between 45 and 60 characters.

• Labels pertaining to pictures or objects should be placed consistently throughout an exhibit

• Exhibit labels in cases or on shelves should be placed at readable heights and angles, Avoid placing labels on flat surfaces. Labels should be at 45 degree angles

Contrast

• Characters should contrast with their background by over 60%

• Keep in mind that placing text over images or patterns forces readers’ eyes to constantly adjust to varying contrasts.

Color

• Avoid using red and green against each other as text and background. People with red-green color deficiencies (the most common color deficiency) are not able to easily distinguish the two.

• Avoid contrasting colors from adjacent hue families in the color circle (such as orange and yellow, yellow and green, blue and violet) as they often lack adequate contrasts.

• Even if they are from different hue families, colors of similar lightness are difficult for some people to see.

Title Label & Intro Text

Every exhibit should have a big idea that can be described in a few sentences. This is where you set up the organization and tone of the exhibit.

Section or Group Labels

Inform visitors of the rational of a subgrouping of objects.

Exhibits are generally organized

• By type- similarity of objects (the evolution of home lighting or french impressionist paintings)

• Chronologically

• With a didactic message- emphasizing instructional and informative qualities

Exhibit Labels

HOW DO VISITORS USE TEXT?

– adults read sections of text aloud for children and other members of their group

– adults paraphrase the text out loud

– adults read privately and then discuss the text with other visitors

– visitors 'talk back' to the text and answer the questions it poses

– visitors use words from the text in their conversations

What Does It All Mean?

– Messages need to be clear and concise since visitors spend little time in exhibitions.

– Visitors will read text yet don't want to be overwhelmed by it: well written text that is clear, simple, interesting and easy to read will be read, enjoyed and retained by most visitors.

– Long text panels and labels packed with information will be skipped by a majority of visitors, except for those with a deep interest in the subject.

You’re going to run across objects and think what on earth am I going to say about this!?

Anything can be made interesting with a good label

FOR EXAMPLE:

Alligator Wrench

Circa 1940

Alligator wrenches were used when fasteners had square, instead of hexagonal, heads. This wrench was used for third-rail maintenance on the New York Central Railroad. MTA Metro-North Railroad (which took over New York Central lines) banned the use of metal handled tools in 1983 because the handle conducts electricity.

Black-Out Light Bulb for Subway Station

ca. 1941

Gift of Joseph Nantista

As the threat of German and Japanese air raids loomed in America during World War II, many public spaces used black-out bulbs at night. Since they emitted very little light, the bulbs decreased the likelihood that an area would become the target of a bomb.

Discussion Topic

Create a label for your object that you donated to the Museum of Vaudeville. In the label include a title, date and some interesting text about the object.

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