Hello My Question Is / Pop Up Exhibition
I found this exercise very interesting as it allowed us to understand working as a group, as well as getting a chance at creating our own ‘pop up’ exhibition, which was something we would be expected to do in the future.
I really enjoyed the experience, having been to many galleries in my life, it was awesome to be on the other side of an exhibition during its creation. Our group decided to utilise the tables in our room as viewing planes, tilting them so that they were on about a 45 degree angle. We then divided up the works into portrait and landscape so as to create more unified grid layouts on each of the panels. Next we tried out a few different options on how the panels could be positioned, finally deciding on a oval shape with each of the panels slightly angle to encourage the audience to walk in a zigzag line between the works. Finally we added tape on the group to make this path more intentional .
One of the final ideas that we had, in response to the other group commenting that it was a bit crowded in the middle of the boards, was to hang some tape in the space to produce a makeshift wall. We then stuck some of the works on these lines making them another surface on which to display the works.
The five main things that I learn during this task were…
1. That it is important to think about the exhibition in terms of how the viewers with enter and interact with the pieces. Therefore taking sure that there is a clear path to take and all the works are easy to see is key.
2. Sometimes it is ok to direct the viewer in the right direction, as long as it is not drawing attention away from the artworks. For example, we placed tape on the group to direct the flow of people between the panels.
3. There is more than one ‘type’ or ‘style’ of curating an exhibition. This was shown by the two diverse ways each group used.
4. The viewer may have a negative or positive viewing experience depending on how the artworks are displayed. Factors such as lighting and a clear gallery space that allows the work to stand out is key (not that these were possible for us to alter).
5. Finally I also learnt that effective exhibition spaces can be done in small amounts of time. While exhibitions at the NGV or other such gallery space might spend months on curating layouts, it is also possible to use as little as 30mins.
The key thing that I learnt during our group chat at the end was that, completely by chance the groups had demonstrated two different styles of exhibition. Our group was more of an installation and space driven work, aiming to provide an EXPERIENCE for the viewers. In contrast the opposing group had curated the works by meaning, making the exhibition more of a STORY or THEME driven style. This was such a valuable task to undertake, and I cannot wait until we do it again.