When is an exhibition no longer an exhibition?
Unique experiences are a major driver in bringing visitors to museums and science centres. The more we incorporate artistic interventions, performance pieces, immersive design and festivals into our spaces and programmes the further our exhibition experience gets from more traditional object-focused display formats.
Through presentations from panellists from the worlds of exhibitions, experience design, and festival programming, we take a multifaceted view on the subject, bringing together diverse perspectives on staging creative science engagement experiences that challenge and exceed expectations of what is “allowed” to happen in our spaces. This panel will look at the similarities and differences to other, perhaps more traditional, approaches to museum spaces, explore how these approaches can support each other and consider the benefits of boundary pushing both for visitors and institutions.
Session speakers
Exhibitions and interpretation manager
In 2019 my team will bring a large public artwork into our Museum, instead of objects and labels from our collection we will be interpreting it with a creative partner, through the medium of performance and scripted audio.
It’s not an exhibition, or is it? I will take attendees through the process of creating this installation: getting buy-in, working with non-traditional partners and new ways of working, detailing the challenges and benefits of this approach.
Contemporary Science Events Project Leader
The biggest challenge for a museum trying to tackle the moral and ethical issues created by emerging technologies is the severe lack of objects. The solution? Festivals with the same carefully curated narrative and learning outcomes, but artistic and theatrical experiences instead of objects and interactives.
By blending science fact with science fiction visitors gain an understanding of a new technology, and crucially, start to form their own opinion about its potential impact on society.
Telling a story is good starting point for an exhibition. As experience designer I bring stories to life by designing a space. Should it matter to the visitors if the space is real or virtual, as long as they have a good experience? A digital experience can bring real magic, but bares the risk of losing hands-on interactivity - can we still call these digitally-heavy experiences ‘exhibitions’? I will show how I use technology to enhance exhibitions, while keeping a strong storyline and engaging activities.
