#cassonmann

Who builds the exhibition?

The designer does the plan, concepts et cetera, Then the contractor realised the design

 Educational or people’s engagement?

The most important thing is the audience engagement because they will only pay attention and learn once they are engaged.

In the UK, you must convince the UK National Lottery that the exhibition will attract visitor to get funding.

 How would designers access the technology and do designers need to learn about it?

You do not need a lot of knowledge. If you need a certain technology for your design, you would need to consult a specialist. However, it is better to have the people to be part of your team or to learn it yourself.

Do research on technology. Go out and see the technology for yourself.

 Should you value the objects or the space/experience more?

There is a constant fight between the designer and the curator. For the designer, it is the experience that is most important, but it is the other way around for the curator. Therefore you need to find a balance and you need to consider how do you allow the audience to intellectually accessed the objects.

 Are there other ways to make costume alive?

-       Pepper’s ghost

-       Projection

-       Posing

-       Motion and inhabit by a character

-       Wigs, but they are difficult work with as it is extremely hard to get the hair right

 Can you not have a glass case?

No glass case is normally allowed in temporary exhibitions. If there is no glass protection, the object must be one arm length away from the audience.

You can also investigate the materials of the case. There is special no-reflection glass (low iron) that can lower the sense of a barrier.

Why are the Theatre and Performance so dark?

Costumes have to be in 50 lux, anything over will damage the items. Also constantly changing from light to dark when traveling through the gallery is straining to the eyes. So your design has to work with the gallery and darkness.

Additional notes 

think about the continuity and cohesiveness- how do you ensure the visitors always know that they are in the V&A

sometimes, less is more- what is the message you want to communicate?

Casson Mann is one of the leading museums, exhibition and interior design company in the UK. Founded in 1984, their goal is to “transform space, content, and media into beautiful, engaging environment.” We were fortunate to have Gary Shelley, director of Casson Mann to come and give us a specialist lecture on exhibitions they have created and their design process.

Hollywood Costume, V&A, Autumn 2012

Working with the V&A, Casson Mann designed the Hollywood Costume exhibition showcasing 100 years of costumes and characters and portraying the process of creating characters. Gary explained that when working on this project, they worked closely with the client to work out the space and to develop the narrative of the objects (which is the costumes).

I was awestruck when I saw the images of the exhibition. Casson Mann has wonderfully combined the art of costume design with the art of exhibition design to bring together a beautiful and extravagant visual feast to the audience’s eyes. The dark environment conveys a sophisticated atmosphere that is reminiscent of a film studio with all the studio lighting and visitors were transferred to the location where the magic happened as soon as they have set foot onto the exhibition. Each gallery has a theme so as the visitor travels through the exhibition, they will follow the journey of the creative process where they can read the scripts, see the sketches and hear the conversations with the directors and actors.

As seen in the image above, these interviews and sketches were also presented in an extremely creative and unconventional manner. Instead of just displaying them in a glass case, they have projected them onto tables and chair to create the scenery of a rehearsal and meeting room. These types of presentations add extra layers to the overall narrative an helps to create an immersive environment.

Technology

Using technologies such as projection mapping, they have incorporated film footages of the characters, animations, and typography beautifully to tell a complete and easy to understand narrative. With a single viewing, the audience can instantly understand the characters (and costumes) and their background without having to read a long paragraph of writing.  This is a perfect lesson on the correct way of using technology in exhibition design for myself and everyone. Technology should be used for a clear reason in the design and not just for the gimmick.

 Bringing costumes to life

Apart from their use of technology, the aspect that I’m most impressed with is how they have managed to bring the costume “back to life”. Gary used the analogy in his podcast with the V&A that designing for this exhibition is like “putting the shredded skin back onto the snake”, the skin doesn’t look nice on its own but it looked good on the snake. The costumes need to be worn by the character in order to show their full colours and be alive. Obviously, they can’t have the actuals actors to wear the costume, therefore, they have to find a method to solve this problem.

The first solution they have come up with is the pose. “Costumes should always be posed” as Gary has explained to us. This will give a sense of movement to the costume and shows that it is a functional item rather than just a beautiful but dead thing. So, the costumes were posed in the manner of the characters. However, this is not enough.  A face must be present for the audience to recognise the iconic characters, thus with the aid of technology again, they have put a digital image of the characters’ faces onto the costumes without damaging them.

Hearing this design process, I have learned that a major part of exhibition design can be simply broken down to problem-solving. As a designer, you must identify the problems- what works well, what didn’t, what you want to communicate etc. After that, the thing you need to do then is to solve the problems with your design.  

 Side Note: Having an insight with a working professional was such a beneficial experience as it showed me the possibilities of exhibition design and how I should approach it. I was so inspired by all the work that Casson Mann has created and the depth of layers behind all the design decisions. I have more understanding of the quality that I should strive for with my designs and the criteria for my designs to be successful.

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