Exhibition Process: Where do you start?

Let's say you're about to start to create an exhibition. Where do you start?

If you're a visually-oriented person, you want to start with the design. What's the space like? What would the exhibition look like in the space? Maybe you want lots of glass and plexi, with floating text panels, arcs of steel, objects suspended, and a backdrop of tone-on-tone ambient text that doesn't have much to do with the content but gives people the sense that they're absorbing knowledge without even reading it. Good, good; fine, fine. Now what are you going to put in the suspended floating tone-on-tone-text-encrusted plexi object cases?

If you're a funder, you want to start with the grant proposals. It's ridiculous to even look at the space without confirmed funding. Who has an interest in funding exhibitions? Here's one, a potential grant from an organization interested in children's health education in underserved communities. All that remains is to make sure our exhibition fits their goals and vision—as well as those of the fifteen other potential sponsors. If we can get some general life science in there, this foundation might fund us too. And so might this insurance company, especially if we plug them. If we add an art history component, we can get something from these folks, and if we add something about American history and politics, the government has a grant program that might apply. Of course, funders like to see well-constructed, focused narratives, so the education department will have to make sure it all comes together.

If you're an education person, you want to know who your audience is, so you can start planning the interactives. Anything that can be handled, probably should—seeing that baseball with Cy Young written on it will not have as much impact as holding the same. People learn from doing things—what were the chorae statuettes for? How about providing clay and letting people make their own to take home? Give people a fountain pen and let them try to forge John Hancock's signature, then some tea and a hairdryer to age the paper. Make an overlay of the real Declaration on transparency to show the differences between the two. These are all great interactives, and participants are sure to learn—something.

If you're a collections person, you want to start with the objects. Fifteen autographed baseballs, twelve foot-high Greek chorae statuettes, a 1798 forgery of the Declaration of Independence, and a series of 16 24x36 beautiful landscape stills in impressive frames. How should they all be protected? How many foot-candles of light can you put on the document? The autographed baseballs—in a case? or risk their handling like the education director is insisting should happen? And if you relent and let people handle them, how much stronger do you need to make the cases for the chorae, in order to withstand an ill-advised 120 mph pitch from a 14 year old would-be baseball prodigy whose teacher turned around just too late? All very good questions. A better one might be what in the world are these objects all doing in the same exhibition?

Part 2: Goals.