London Culture Exhibtion

Final post on Instagram, to say a thank you to our followers and audience.

Google Drive - shared with me - exhibition group c - MARKING:

The Presentation:

I have gone through our google drive, personal file/folder and the submission requirements and have submitted the following files to the shared Exhibition Group C Folder, named MARKING:

Artist Inventory - prior to Covid

Brand Logo

Flyer

Budget Sheet

Final Presentation - from the 1st

Final Proposal

Initial Proposal

Go fund me Screenshot - never used

Screenshot of viewers/ exhibition

Layout Floor plan

Links, audience and pr

LDN culture Press Release

Video of Virtual Exhibition x2

I have submitted all the files needed for the submission to show what we have been doing, including a word and pdf copy of the links to social media and websites we have used. Which also has a part about our audience engagement and PR. I have posted this screenshot on the group chat and asked members of my group to look over if I have missed anything. 

Group presentation:

Today’s virtual meeting was a group presentation, in which we each had made a slide and were ready to talk about. I was present for the presentation and had made notes to refer back to, however unfortunately when it came to my slide my mic stopped working and those listening were unable to hear me. In a panic, I quickly sent over my notes to the group to speak on and it was done successfully. For me, it was disappointing that I wasn’t able to present my ideas that I had worked hard to discuss, however later, I realised through effective communication with the group this problem didn’t hinder the overall quality of the presentation as every point I wanted to make was presented clearly. And, I really appreciate my group stepping up and taking one for the team.

An example of the notes I was planning to refer back to and which I sent to the group, is attached below:

We covered all bases of our progress so far, with clear slides and informative details. For me, the presentation was significantly effective as we went into particular about social media and how we plan to publicise our event – as this is the only real way to gain substantial engagement. Our brand was presented in a professional manner, covering a lot of information and details about our plans. I was proud to see how far our group had come; through all the problems we had gone through previously, to get where we are today.

In preparation for this presentation, we each chose the final images we wanted to present at our exhibition with a brief description of what it was. For me, I really enjoyed this task as it was something, I was passionate about. I love capturing people in a photo-documentary style and I feel as though the images I provided show off London in a light certain people may have never seen it before. I have attached below my slide, containing the images and the brief description of what I wanted to capture for our exhibition:

What went well?

My group worked well with communication from the initial stages of the presentation, through to the presentation taking place. We all produced descriptive slides and notes to work with and delivered a well put-together presentation that we can refer back too and progress from. We also got helpful responses from our peers to take forward.

There was further clarification on funding, which for me is an essential factor to take into account, in terms of the gofundme. Later, I have checked the page and found no donations as of yet had been made (if there were, would have been refunded) and as a group we decided to close the account.

We have set up another time for the group to recollect and share updates.

What could have been done better?

Today’s online meeting, via Blackboard Collaborative, was a group tutorial discussing the progress we’re making in our online exhibition. Having updated our exhibition proposal to be reviewed, we were told what works well and what could be better. For me, this discussion was greatly helpful and needed, merely to get some clarification and guidance towards whether what we were doing was right and what we needed to improve – which we will take onboard. The image below is a picture of our group (minus one due to illness) at our first online tutorial:

We had been having a few issues within the group prior to this conversation, which I felt through making things clearer, have improved and the group feels slightly more at ease with one another. I think arguments happen because of stress and everyone finding it hard to communicate effectively with each other. For me, everything concerning the pandemic – with lectures going online and particular uncertainties, my focus had fallen off from where it should be. However, for me, certain approaches to address these issues were done ineffectively causing further harm. However, I believe this is something we have now overcome, to the point where we can now focus on what needs to be done, to get the best result from our exhibition because I think we do all feel passionately about getting it done and doing it in the correct manner.

With certain problems aside, we were given the chance to raise any questions we had. With most questions concerning certain aspects that hadn’t been clarified, funding was an issue that stood out for me. As a group, we felt the funding side of things was now slightly confusing as we didn’t know if we should still be raising funds through our gofundme (especially, whether we should continue to promote that), or if raising funds would effectively stop, as most things we needed it for weren’t to be used anymore. For me, this question was provided with a detailed answer of how to go forward, and thereafter the whole experience was positive and helpful for everyone involved. We have since closed the gofundme site and it is now inoperable.

The image above is an attachment of our updated gofundme site. Showing that it is now closed and unable to receive any donations.

What went well?

After the online tutorial, the group set up a separate video call to discuss details further which for me really worked well. It was a chance for each of us to talk to each other, like we would out-of-lesson. This took place for about another hour, discussing who is doing what and what needs to be done in order to be on the right track. At first, it was something that felt slightly uncomfortable as it was a situation none of us had been in before, with various members being in different countries (different time zones) and struggling technological problems however, it soon became normal and it’s something I hope to carry forward for the remainder of this project. As in the end it worked well, and we communicated effectively with one another.

What could be done better?

Today was the first online lecture, conducted on Blackboard Collaborate. I suffered various technical difficulties however was present for the duration of the presentation. The lecture primarily focused on new ways to present work for an exhibition online, as well as touching on designs in case we can still continue with a real-life exhibition.

Despite this new way of learning, the lecture was thorough and detailed, and explained extensively how, as a group, we can create a virtual exhibition, should the worst-case scenario arise. Discussing various programmes, such as SketchUp which is an online 3D space one can design to reflect real life spaces. The lecture explained how to use this and how we can develop our ideas to work online through designs, set up and tools.

Another programme used primarily used for 3D exhibition spaces, is Artsteps which to me, seems to be the best option:

At first, I was concerned about how we will accommodate our prints in an online space to reflect exactly what we want. In terms of quality and size, however as the lecture progressed it became easier to visualise how it could work. Going through the online basics in how we place work on the wall to the correct dimension, height and width and how each piece of work can work coherently with each other in an online space.

For me, it is important to visualise exactly how it will look on screen and more importantly how each member of the group pictures it to look, attempting to closely match other ideas without seeing each other to go through it together. I fear that as this problem is out of our hands, it will lead to a lack of communication with one another – which could take a toll on the quality of work and how it is displayed. And, not being able to see it in person will greatly affect how it looks to our audience so we must make sure we are communicating more than ever before to make sure everything is correct.

What have you learnt, that will help you in the future?

I have learnt about programmes I hadn’t known about before, that will greatly support any future plans. But more precisely for this exhibition, this lecture demonstrated the basics of how to curate a virtual space which an audience can participate in. I have learnt the process of building walls in this space, putting work onto walls, dimensions, colours and lighting. However, to be confident in this area, I will need to practice before doing it for the real exhibition.

What could have been done better?

Context: The university have confirmed that lessons will be continuing online, amid the coronavirus pandemic which means we will not be able to meet in person, both in lectures and in out of lesson time. For me, this is extremely problematic as I/ as will the group, will find it hard to communicate ideas through computers.

Unfortunately, due to the virus, I felt it best to isolate so was unable to attend the valuable tutorials today. However, members from my group who were present discussed what was said, in response to some of my questions, and I made some notes on this:

Tutorials:

My biggest concern was around the fact that we could not come into contact with anyone in person for the foreseeable future. I knew this would affect our plans for the exhibition and I began to worry about how we will get around this obstacle. I asked:

“Because of the virus, how are we meant to plan for an exhibition that would normally be in person?”

-       For now, it is planned to go on as normal until we are in a state of indefinite lockdown.

“If we go into lockdown, what will change?”

-       It was suggested we use a virtual exhibition to conduct our exhibition. Instead of one in person, that people could actively walk around, an attendee would walk around the exhibition online, using their mouse or trackpad, guiding through the exhibition as normally as they would in a real life one.

On one hand this would significantly reduce the funds we need to raise for printing and venue costs. However, the experience will be totally different, and we must find ways to keep our audience engaged – on the lead up to the exhibition and whilst it is taking place.

Something to take forward from this, is how to adapt what you have been working on to fit a worst-case scenario. Even without a pandemic, it should be discussed what we would do if something we didn’t plan to happen happened – if an artist pulled out, or we didn’t have enough funds. An exhibition must be planned to suit any circumstance, to make sure it still goes ahead in the best way possible for the audience.

“Do we know how to set up a virtual space, and how would we deliver it?”

-       A programme called “artsteps”, would be most ideal – create a building, the walls. It’s a 3D space, that can replicate as closely to a real exhibition space as possible.

It was suggested, that it would looks something like this:

-       Would we still need to manage external conditions? E.g the weather?

-       Lighting – would we still need to control lighting/ is it possible to control lighting

-       Can we make instalments?

“How will we present this to our audience?”

-       As well as the virtual space, live streams which we can monitor viewers and engagements.

I created a press release draft, as a baseline for the group to progress on and adapt too, over the coming weeks. A press release is basically the first point of contact that anyone has with an upcoming event – describes what, who and when it is. It is seen as an official document from the event organisers, providing the essential information an audience must be aware of before attending. It can be distributed both through post of email to various associations that we think will be most interested in our event. It also gives us an idea of how many people could potentially attend.

It is important, as a group, to get something like this absolutely correct and accurate to maximise our chances of more visitors. For me, my draft clearly explains the foundation of our idea – what it is and when it is. However, I believe every member of the group should have their input too to ensure it isn’t missing anything, as of yet, and that it captures the idea they are wanting to achieve.

The importance of a shared understanding, between the group, of an exhibition space is essential. We must be confident to effectively map out a space, both theoretically and practically, in order to design a space that will fulfil our needs. As a group, our coherency behind our ideas for the exhibition, have worked well. We each understand the theme to our exhibition and therefore, what will be needed to create a space that reflects this. However, individually, we lack thorough experience in setting up and designing a space that work can be presented in. A task like this is important and requires a lot of time, planning and creating. Before anything can become concrete, we must constructively begin finding inspiration from around us to allow ideas to flow, develop and progress.

In order to develop substantial ideas that will work for our brand, it is important we visit exhibitions that are already created, and that are being displayed to the public. This will ignite ideas, and all members will most likely interpret an environment differently which can be combined with ideas to make a new one that can effectively work for our exhibition.

As mentioned before, as a group, we have gone through several location ideas such as Bayswater road. However, a few members of the group think it best to keep it simple to a plain, white wall layout. For me, I think either idea has the potential to work well for our idea. Bayswater would suit our theme however; the environment could be distracting and certain variables could prove difficult to control. A plain, white wall concept is much simpler and easier to set up and control, however perhaps too boring.

To develop my own ideas, I visited an exhibition called “White Cube” in Southwark, Bermondsey. This exhibition was very much a ‘white wall’, basic cube layout. However, for me, what inspired me the most is that I didn’t even think about the walls. The exhibition completely distracted my eyes away from the white walls to be almost, totally forgotten about. The exhibition was stimulating, and as a viewer I was pleasantly surprised.

      Despite it not being a photography exhibition, specifically, I wasn’t attending to inspect the work itself, but more, I wanted to visualise how the curator utilised the space. How much space they took up, how much the left bare, how they constructed lighting to fill space and various other aspects.

For me, the lights on the ceiling were subtle, yet, enhanced the objects on display. In a way, reflecting the tone of the exhibition really well. The lights being displayed in a disjointed fashion, ran with the idea of broken glass. Objects hanging from the ceiling inflicted a refreshing approach to the standard way of presenting work and ideas. Light is essential to think about when creating an exhibition, they have the ability to discretely translate a mood to the viewer they could be totally unaware of. Subconsciously processing the environment while looking at the work itself.

`

-       Lights are a good way to fill up space.

-       Keep it less boring.

-       Stimulate the viewer.

As mentioned above, a good way to intrigue the audience is to present our work in a less ‘conventional’ way - pieces hanging from the ceiling, coming out of walls, colours, patterns. It is important to consider our work from an audience perspective, ask ourselves “would w`e would be interested in going to this exhibition?”

Breaking away from the more standardised ways of working and thinking of originality, will increase the chances of people wanting to visit our exhibition, to experience something new. Being able to interact with work and experience work hands on, through various stimuli.

This idea is shown here, through something as simple as just being able to walk in and around the exhibition itself. This gives the audience a type of stimulant they won’t find at other exhibitions. A simple, yet attractive, visual art that one can get involved into without touching. The glass also gives the illusion that the exhibition is bigger than it really is, almost as if you are walking into a separate room.

All of these ideas can be incorporated into our exhibition – If we were to go for a white wall/cube idea. These different ways of working breaks open the idea that this layout would be too boring. We can work on ways to make it interesting through really simple installations, or simply working with lighting and shadows. This exhibition in particular, worked with different coloured lights to make it more visually appealing – which for me, worked really well both for the work itself and the space it was in. Although the lights were a clever way of working, perhaps too much white-coloured lights could be boring and could begin to work against the space. But this was not evident at this exhibition as the use of warmer-tone lights created a sense of mood that wasn’t being projected elsewhere. For me, I was attracted more, to these tones.

  Perhaps in our exhibition we could incorporate a wider variety of coloured lights?

-       Colours that reflect London – transport, for example.

This exhibition also got me thinking about other ideas such as sound, that we could include in our exhibition, for the audience to go away feeling impressed and feeling like that hadn’t experienced something similar before.

-       Sounds of London? – People, cars, buses, planes in the sky, busy streets.

-       Audio

I have created a gofundme site, to try and generate funds for the exhibition - https://www.gofundme.com/f/ldnculture-student-exhibition

The target for the gofundme.com site was confirmed by the group to be £250. We decided this to be a modest yet, comfortable amount to see us through to the actual exhibition. Also, knowing that this target can be adjusted at any time, should it need to be increased of decreased.

When I created this funding site, I planned to invite each individual member of the group to become a co-operator of the site – to devolve access and allow each member to make adjustments and have control, without in going through me only. However, there were technological difficulties with this, so I decided to make a group e-mail to which we all have access to.

-        This email to be used not only for the site, but for everything the group does. Both externally and internally. I thought it were a good way to keep communications clear.

-        Any arrangements made outside of the university for the exhibition would be seen by the whole group – no one would be ‘out of the loop’

At the time, this seemed like a good idea – a way of everyone being aware of everything. The email is named [email protected]. I was slightly disappointed with this name as it was more complicated than I hoped. However, the name [email protected], alone, had been taken so I decided to put the university postcode (where we are primarily based) onto the end. Despite this being the ‘second best’ option, I think it works well as it gives our brand context to anyone wanting to get in contact.

Screenshotted below, is the email I have set up for the group. Which I hope will be used as much as it’s needed to support the group and encourage communication. This is the email that is linked to gofundme.com

This is how our text was displayed next to our work.

Our work during the live YouTube private viewing, with comments from viewers seen on screen.

Our work had the typical text next to the work like a traditional  gallery space, but also on a small island that pops up when the guided tour moves onto the next artists work. 

Here Maya was engaging with the audience while Pedro controlled the guided tour. 

Our work in the Space:

Karin:

·      First exhibition she saw during the lockdown – felt almost like a real gallery experience

·      She really enjoyed the show, thought it was engaging

·      Believes the groups work went well together, other than Lalita’s maybe? Lacks relevance

·      Text next to the work was an intriguing part of the exhibition

·      Good amount of audience

·      Logo was bold and strong as our brand, the play with the tfl design she liked.

·      She believes that we may have done better during the virtual exhibition than we could have done in real life, based on the variety of audience we were engaging

Rakesh:

·      Believes our work/project theme definetly upgraded

·      Engagement and venue has done considerably better, the project got to a good place over the time/ pressure

·      Enjoyed the use of our software – Artsteps

·      White cube tradtional galley space worked well for us, as our photograohs looked good on the walls

·      Challenge was a great strategy, talk about it a bit more.

·      We were all well- spoken during the presentation

How the presentation went: The presentation overall went well, the group worked effectively to speak there part and share the information we had gathered. The one main piece of feedback that we had was that we should have played the video a little bit longer during the presentation, as we sped up the recording. Further Feedback in the next post.

Neve Journal 07/05/20 – Exhibition day!

Today was the day of the launch for our 5-day exhibition, which we streamed via you tube to our audience – via various links on our Instagram page @ldnculture which had gained almost 60 followers alone. For me, the exhibition was a nervous but exciting anticipation. I was nervous for it to run smoothly and for everything to work the way we wanted it too, but also to finally showcase everything we’d put into it over the past couple of months.

At first, we experienced some technical hiccups, which delayed the exhibition live stream a few minutes, however this was quickly resolved, and the exhibition successfully took place.

Gaining momentum, our live stream got to around 20 views, with regular comments, encouraged by us by asking questions about what they were seeing and their opinion. At first, I didn’t think much of this form of gaining feedback but later, I realised this is one of, if not the, most important and most effective ways of receiving feedback as it is the only way of getting live and direct feedback from our audience. Without this, it would be difficult to get an idea of the mood towards it which is essential.

What was a completely new programme to most of the group, artsteps proved easy to navigate and walk through. However, it could be improved by having actual figures, that represent people, walking round the gallery – perhaps making it seem more exhibition like and less like a stream.

As it was one person going around the exhibition, to improve the walkthrough, it could have been rehearsed with the group, perhaps. In order to get a better understanding of how long to stay at one set of images before moving onto the next, and the order to do it in.

The layout of images, in terms of what set came before and after the others worked really well. I thought the organisation of images worked effectively as a sequence and coherently formed a narration of London life. However, perhaps the venue itself could have been smaller to emphasise the images more, seeing it on the live stream made the images appear extra small – which without control on artsteps may have been annoying for the audience to view. Despite this, it was suggested via whatapp to zoom into the images which improved this issue and I believed improve the whole exhibition experience. But this minor critique, doesn’t distract the fact that the work itself looks great and I’m really proud of what we created.

What went well?

The reaction/responses from the audience were all positive and constructive. To create something with limited interaction with one another, at first for me, was an intimidating idea that lowered my confidence because I was concerned at how it would pay off and how an audience would perceive it. However, everyone seemed really understanding and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Frequent communication with one another, about certain problems led to quick solutions.

What could have been done better?

Perhaps the idea of a smaller space could have enhanced the exhibition a little more.

Neve Journal 27/05/20 – Exhibition final presentation preparation and delivery

In preparation for the final presentation to present our exhibition launch, and its outcome, to our peers, we decided it would useful to make another group call to decide what we will each talk about. I had been assigned the role of recording live comments and views as our exhibition played out, checking the exhibition page every day to check the viewer count and this is what I would be discussing in the presentation. Others chose other ideas that were essential in our exhibition process to talk about.

In terms of the actual presentation, I feel as though it was a success, we all took part and did was required of us to do. With sufficient explanations for each slide and what everything meant, so that everyone could follow.

What went well?

Concerning the presentation preparation, for me, it was organised. It was clear what each person had to do, which made it less of a scary experience as we had time to make notes and comprehend what we had to explain to people. Making it simple but still clear enough, for those who hadn’t seen the exhibition but could still make sense of it through our explanations and screenshots.

A list of the slides with numbers was also published the group chat, which was something that was effectively brought forward from before, to clearly label who was doing what slide and what we had to prepare for, in order to make the presentation a success. A screenshot of this is attachment below:

The presentation delivery, for me, was a success. Considering the lack of contact time we have had, with the group and peers, the outcome of the exhibition and its presentation was organised, and we delivered everything we wanted to discuss. Overall, we have worked well as a group and got things done, even if we do work at different paces!

What could have been done better?

{Pedro starts by showing video}

{Maya shows video from viewers perspective} 

Maya (opening slide) 

Lalita ( video slide (shown already) ) 

Lalita ( Artsteps screenshots ) 

Lalita ( detail of submission ) 

Pedro ( live stream ) 

Pedro ( live stream ) 

Neve  ( view count )

Neve ( comments ) 

Maya  (title page)

Maya ( Instagram)

Maya  ( audience ) 

Maya ( press release ) 

Maya ( website ) 

Lucrezia ( our photos ) 

We have included all the contributing factors to the curation of the virtual exhibition - event. And the actual video of the exhibition space from our perspective and the viewers perspective, as well as link to our website and social media presence. 

We have added videos, screenshot and information all gathered while presenting and prior to presenting. We have used Instagram as our main source to gain viewers, as well as sending a out private invites to family and friends about the virtual tour being held on Youtube. We gave out enough information about the exhibition, brand and concept of the event, through our website page which was on our instagram page. 

There is information of our Reach, Impressions and profile visits in our presentation to show the amount of people we have managed to engage with at different times. Prior to the exhibition we held a competitive activity on instagram to engage the general public and a wider audience. This was very successful and managed to help gain us viewers and people that would share our page to their followers - expanding our reach. 

For the virtual exhibition we held on YouTube we have including view counts, analytics and comments. As well as including the increasing view count of our Artsteps account, which was the platform for our exhibition from the 7th - 15th May. 

We have also inserted images of our photography as we all have pushed the boundaries of this module by creating a body of work each that will directly connect to the theme of London Culture. Unlike other groups we had decided to display our own work, so we have also incorporated shots of our work in the space and the actual images themselves - for reference. 

Neve:

Journal 02/05/20 – Group Call

Having been working on various other projects that were due, we hadn’t discussed progress in a while. However, as our exhibition deadline was coming up, we decided to make a group call to discuss and refine details of the exhibition – to make sure we all know what we are doing, come the day of our exhibition.

I couldn’t attend the call, however, notes that were made of the discussion were so helpful and a sort of to-do list was made to make it clear to everyone what we had to get done in time.

What went well?

A clear list of objectives was set, for everyone to consider before the exhibition date. As well as, who is doing what once the exhibition is launched. And, further clarification on how the exhibition will look to the audience, and how it will be presented. This decreased the chances of error and more likely success, which for me, made me feel more confident in conducting this exhibition.

What can be brought forward, to help in the future?

This first screenshot shows the view count of our virtual exhibition within the first day. 

This screenshot shows Karin in the actual space (figuratively) while we were streaming live on YouTube.