Top Ten 2022 Takeaways from ExhibiTricks
One cool thing about my ExhibiTricks blog is that it lets me capture and share ideas. It's fun as the end of the year approaches to look back at 2022 and see which ideas stood out and "clumped together" in different posts.
So here (in no particular order) are Ten Takeaways from 2022 -- and their related blog posts, in case you missed them the first time around!
1) Museum folks can leverage learnings from pop culture "hits" like TikTok and Wordle
2) Museum installations require flexible thinking
After all the COVID delays, museum activities and exhibition installations have come rushing back through the project pipeline, which prompted three 2022 posts about the installation "mindset"
3) Just One Thing about Exhibits (JOT@Exhibits)
One of my favorite 2022 "side projects" was a set of short videos asking museum folks from all around the world to share "Just One Thing" about exhibits. Check out my POW! YouTube channel (and let me know if you'd like to do a JOT video with me in 2023!)
• JOT@Exhibits Videos on YouTube!
• JOT@Exhibits Videos on YouTube!
4) Museum Workers Unite!
Museum workers continue to unionize to get fair workplace treatment and liveable wages. Shame on the museum executives and boards who will spend money on union-busting law firms but not on their workers!
5) Awesome Museum/Exhibit/Design Tools!
One of the best things about the museum business is the willingness of so many colleagues to share tools, techniques, and resources they use in their work. That notion of "sharing" continues to motivate my blog. Here are some awesome tools that popped up in 2022 ExhibiTricks posts:
6) The Exhibit Cheapbooks are now FREE books!
In the spirit of sharing, I still think it's wonderful that nearly 100 free exhibits "recipes" originally contributed by museum colleagues from all over the world into the Exhibit Cheapbooks are now available to download FOR FREE from the POW! website.
7) Newsletters are great repositories for ideas and inspiration I love newsletters because they help me encounter ideas and people I might not have come across otherwise
8) Exhibits for children are not simply "piles of toys" I'm biased, but I think some of the most innovative and imaginative exhibit design work comes out of projects geared towards children (and their adult caregivers.) So perhaps it's not surprising that three 2022 postings touched on exhibits for kids. (A special shout-out to Margaret Middleton, whose work features in two of these posts.)
9) We Missed In-Person Conferences (and they sure beat Zoom!) Of course, I caught COVID before InterActivity, so I couldn't attend -- which was worse than a Virtual Conference!
10) But don't miss the wonder in our work!
Our work, like all work, sometimes brings stress or frustration but don't let those things override the amazing things we get to encounter in our museum work
Here's wishing all ExhibiTricks readers a peaceful close to 2022 and a healthy, happy, and CREATIVE start to 2023!
Paul Orselli writes the posts on ExhibiTricks. Paul likes to combine interesting people, ideas, and materials to make exhibits (and entire museums!) with his company POW! (Paul Orselli Workshop, Inc.) Let's work on a project together!
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