As we get closer to our exhibition, it is time to research the art of curation. In this reflection, we will explore why a curated room with a directed path to follow helps create the most meaningful and narratively immersed experience for your audience.
While I believe all of our work for this assignment has been wonderful and has led to a beautiful outcome that is both creative and well-researched, as we are in ‘Real World Media,’ I feel the presentation of all our elements will be the make or break of this exhibition, and also a key distinction between our work and the work of any other studio.
Hiller and Tzortzi (2006) refer to museum-curated space as being created “For transmitting a non-narrative meaning in the form of an embodied spatial and social experience.” This is to say that we must feel the room and energy of each item and use our own location in a room to judge and perceive our surroundings.
(2013) digress that the visitor experience reveals that the appearance and presentation of the artifact, the room layout, and the design are entangled in the quest for meaning and narrative. A narrative is constructed through interpretation and the structure of viewing in order.
Hiller and Tzortzi also note that a ‘display’ layout where all artifacts are displayed on a path dictated by the curator leads to potential impact maximization and favored the thematic or aesthetic relationship between each work (Hiller and Tzortzi 2006). This poses an interesting idea for our layout, as our theme is ‘otherworldly,’ and we want to create as much connection between each artifact and weave our story to be coherent and cohesive.
So we know the how of curating space and the ideas behind curation, but what about the why?
Despite the fear of quote dumping, I want to refer to the work of Doorley and Witthoft, who summarise the idea of space succinctly, noting that “by actively thinking about the implications a space has on its inhabitants, we can create great experiences for those who enter (Doorley and Witthoft 2012).
With all of this in mind, my curation plan:
We have chosen the hallway as our exhibition space; we can use the L shape of the space to track the viewer’s eyes along each section of our exhibition, starting from our propaganda posters through to the sketches and finishing off with the sandbox.
EDITOR’s NOTE- As it turns out, we had a few little ‘ugly’ sections on the wall (cables and such) and had to make slight adjustments to the layout in order to cover them up (If only the tv screen worked), but for the most part, we could stick to this plan, and it really did help to create an immersive space.
References:
Doorley S and Witthoft S (2012) Make Space: How to Set the Stage for Creative Collaboration, Wiley Publishers, United States.
Hillier B and Tzortzi K (2006) ‘Space Syntax: The Language of Museum Space’ in McDonald S, A Companion to Museum Studies, Blackwell Publishing, United States.
(2013) The experience of a museum space, Museum Management and Curatorship, 28(2)193-208, doi: 10.1080/09647775.2013.776797.
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