ExhibiTricks: A Museum/Exhibit/Design Blog: 2023

Sunday, December 31, 2023

New Year, New Games!

Our family just received some new games over the Holidays that I'd like to recommend.**

Good games, like good museum exhibit experiences, share a few common traits:

1) Easy to learn and play.

2) Fun for a variety of age levels.

3) Challenging, but not too challenging.

4) Interesting enough to play again and again.

So here, in no particular order, are some games that you might like to check out. (The link attached to each game name brings you to Amazon.)

Charty Party

Charty Party is a card game for adults that reminds me of another card-based game called Apples to Apples. During each round of Charty Party, one player is chosen to be the judge and flips over a chart card. The other players then anonymously play their funniest orange card to name the Y-axis of the chart. It's an easy but often hilarious game.

Wingspan

As the name of the game and the picture below implies, this is a game about birds! You play against other players to collect bird cards, get different types of food, and gather eggs in various ways. Wingspan is a gorgeous-looking game, with each one of the beautiful playing cards showing an accurate picture of a real bird. Wingspan feels educational but not boring -- with interesting, solid gameplay.

We like the game so much that we bought one of the "expansion" packs -- in this case, the Asia Expansion set, which adds a whole new flock of birds to learn and play with!

Mantis

Brought to you by the same people who developed the "Exploding Kittens" game, Mantis (named after the super-cool oceanic creature the Mantis Shrimp) comes with a bonus physical copy of the comic book, "Why the Mantis Shrimp is My New Favorite Animal."

The aim of the game is to be the first player to get 10 or more cards into your score pile. You do this by collecting matching sets of colorful Mantis cards and/or stealing those same cards from your opponents! Mantis works as a card game for kids but is also one of the adult party games you’ll want to play again and again.

King of Tokyo

If you've ever imagined yourself tearing up Tokyo like Godzilla or blasting New York City from an alien spaceship, this is the game for you!

A dice-driven game with a good combination of both luck and strategy needed to win, you compete against fellow "monsters" to collect energy points and avoid losing health points. Each round plays relatively quickly, so it's a great game for people at a party to jump in and out of.

Here's hoping your 2024 gets off to a fun and playful start!

As I mentioned above, each game name leads to a link on Amazon where you can purchase your own set! (** Note: Commissions may be earned from the Amazon links above.)

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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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Thursday, December 21, 2023

Museums and Restaurants

As the end of the year festivities approach, I'll be spending time with my extended family. We will no doubt be enjoying many wonderful new museum and food-related experiences, so I thought I'd share this "encore" of one of my most popular posts that ties together the similarities between great dining AND great museum experiences.

ENJOY!

Let me tell you about Bigelow's. It's a little "hole in the wall" sort of place near my home on Long Island known for its fried clams. Bigelow's has been in business in the same spot since 1939. I went there for lunch today with my son, Philip, and in between our sighs of pleasure and chatting it up with our fellow diners, I was reminded of how much a great dining experience is like a great museum experience.

1) Everyone Knows Where It Is

I know you can use Google Maps or Yelp, but if you ask somebody at a hotel front desk or a taxi driver where a local restaurant or museum is, they should be able to tell you right away. If the place is really good, they should also be able to enthuse about a memorable experience that they or a friend had there recently. I remember visiting a city whose (unnamed) museum was practically across the street from the well-known professional football stadium, and not one taxi driver knew where that museum was located or had even heard of it. That's sad.

2) You Feel Welcomed Right Away

Even if it's the first time you've been there, a great museum or dining spot makes you instantly feel welcomed and at ease. It's a combination of the physical entry sequence (starting in the parking lot) and the staff people at the entrance that do the trick. You feel like you are in the right place and are starting out your visit in a positive way. Think about the qualities of the places that always make you feel welcomed (and the ones that don't!)

In the case of Bigelow's, you see the stools around the horseshoe-shaped counter (so you know where to sit right away) and the straightforward menu board lets you see your options (so you can start thinking about what you'd like to eat or drink as soon as you sit down.)

Contrast that with some museums where you have no idea where to pay your admission, or how to figure out which things you want to do or pay for.

Welcome to Bigelow's!

3) Friendly Staff Anticipate Your Needs

You never wait for your water glass to be refilled, or twiddle your thumbs waiting for the check at a great restaurant. That's because the people who work there are alert and genuinely attentive to their customers' needs. Great museums have actual floor staff interacting with visitors, not just chatting in a corner by themselves. Wonderful dining and museum experiences share an important social component. A positive interaction with a staff person often adds to the overall experience.

4) You Tell Friends About The Place And Want To Take Them There

A fantastic experience at a great place is one you want to share with other people. There's a reason "word of mouth" advertising is so sought after --- you can't fake it or spend your way there. If you had a remarkable museum experience you tell other people about it. And you want to go back there to share that positive experience with people you care about. I've visited "museums worth a special trip" -- those places you would travel out of your way to go see based on a friend's recommendation. I would definitely put places like The City Museum in St. Louis, or Chanticleer Garden outside Philadelphia in that rarefied category.

Bigelow's is worth a special trip!

5) Memory Makers!

The best museums (and restaurants!) are memory makers. They are the places that are part of every story that starts with "Remember the time we ..." They are the places that you want to post on Facebook or Instagram because you felt the experience was worth capturing and sharing. The picture at the top of this post shows my friends Bistra and Nadia from Bulgaria after a lunch we shared at Bigelow's. They asked for me to bring them somewhere that was real "Long Island." And even though they both grew up thousands of miles away, they loved it! And what business can ask for more than that?

As you are starting out your New Year and thinking about ways to improve the museum(s) you work with and for, maybe a trip to your favorite local restaurant can give you just the right kind of "food for thought" to inspire making some memorable changes for your visitors. Cheers!

Instagram-ready "food for thought" from Bigelow's!

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!

If you enjoy the blog, you can help keep it free to read and free from ads by supporting ExhibiTricks through our PayPal "Tip Jar"

Tuesday, December 12, 2023

The Other 99%

I've never received a congratulatory message about the 99% of exhibits in a project that are working wonderfully and that visitors are enthusiastically enjoying.

Instead, understandably, people (whether they are visitors or clients) want to tell you about things that aren't working.

Continually focusing on the things that need to be fixed can sometimes cause us to miss the bigger picture -- all the many, many parts of a project that ARE working.

So how can we hold these two aspects of our creative working lives -- the things that need to be tinkered with or improved, as well as all the cool things we've accomplished -- in a helpful balance, or at least a sort of peaceful coexistence?

I'll offer two ways of thinking about this creative tension between improvement and accomplishment:

1) SNAPSHOT VERSUS MOVIE

If you had to graph a creative lull or a tricky part of a project, it might look something like this:

And at that particular moment in time, it might feel awful -- even hopeless. You might even feel like quitting. And that's the "snapshot." A moment in time.

When you are in that snapshot moment, it can be hard to have the proper perspective on the path of a project, which, often, if you take a moment to step back or evaluate afterward, looks more like this:

Let's be honest, there are crappy movies. And maybe your project is one of those "Rotten Tomatoes." Or maybe the scene you're in right now just needs to be rewritten or reworked a little bit. You might need to force yourself to step out of the snapshot to find out.

2) LOOKING BACK TO MOVE FORWARD

A retired school superintendent named George was one of my all-time favorite Board Members, and he would often remind us of something during tense meetings when we would be talking (or arguing!) about things that needed to be improved in, or added to, our museum.

George would say, "Yes, these are things we need to improve or programs we need to add, but let's stop and take a look back at some of the things we have accomplished in the past few months, or the past year. What can we take away from looking at how we made those things happen?"

It was a very wise strategy because it shifted the focus from the often contentious present and the uncertain future. We would be reminded that in the past few months or past year, we had actually accomplished a lot of positive things together. And that we could add and improve more new things together if we used our past experiences to guide us forward.

Years later, I realized that George's approach was very much in the spirit of Sankofa.

As mentioned in this Wikipedia article about Sankofa, the notion of "looking back to move forward," is used by the Akan people of Ghana. They often use an adinkra symbol, of a bird with its head turned backward to symbolically capture an egg depicted above its back, to represent the same concept. It symbolizes taking from the past what is good and bringing it into the present to make positive progress.

So, as we come to the end of another year, I hope you will be able to see not just snapshots but also movies. I also hope you will be able to look back at 2023 to move forward with learnings for the New Year and beyond.

P.S. You know that tricky project you finished this year? It is AWESOME!

Monday, December 4, 2023

How to "Expand" Time at Your Museum

Sometimes, when I'm speaking with a new consulting client, our perceptions of the time needed to complete project tasks on-site at their museum are very different.

Usually, my contact will express that there is "no way" we will complete all the activities I've proposed at their museum in the allotted time. It doesn't matter whether the time involved is two days or two weeks.

However, I know a little museum consultant trick that "expands" time. Well, it's not really a trick, but rather a way of playing with an all too common reality for museum folks -- they don't get regular large blocks of "uninterrupted" time to do their work!

No matter if someone works in Exhibits, Education, Development, or Administration, they seem to be constantly pulled away or distracted by meetings, building concerns, visitor complaints, board issues, malfunctioning exhibits, etc., etc.

However, when everyone knows a consultant is coming (especially from out of town!) staff working at the museum make a commitment to create blocks of "untouchable" time to meet, prototype, brainstorm, or whatever with the consultant (like me!)

And, unsurprisingly, when talented and creative museum folks dig into challenges together for those uninterrupted blocks of time -- LOTS of cool stuff happens.

There are also ways to "hack" your work calendar to create these "time-bending" calendar blocks. Some folks prioritize their "high concentration" tasks at the beginning of their work day (ideally before the museum opens) to maximize their workflow. If possible, some folks shift their starting times an hour earlier to maximize concentrated quiet time or even book standing meetings with themselves to build in those blocks of focused time.

All of this begs the question of whether all those workplace "interruptions" are really necessary. Of course, if a real emergency like a water pipe bursting happens, it requires immediate attention. But could other work events or meetings, be put into a temporal "parking lot" to be dealt with at specific times -- after lunch or two hours before closing, for example -- leaving the rest of the day for concentrated bursts of thinking, creating, and problem-solving?

It's worth spending a little time thinking about how your workdays normally flow -- or don't.

Or you could just contact me to work with your museum so we can bend time together!

Monday, November 27, 2023

What's Your Favorite Museum Work Poem or Quote? (Plus a HOLIDAY GIVEAWAY!)

Do you have a poem or quote that you keep coming back to that inspires or resonates with your museum work?

I do. It's a poem called "The Real Work" by Wendell Berry.

The Real Work

It may be that when we no longer know what to do we have come to our real work,

and that when we no longer know which way to go we have come to our real journey.

The mind that is not baffled is not employed.

The impeded stream is the one that sings.

It seems that so much of our museum work often brings us to places and ideas that we don't quite understand yet. And I guess that's part of the reason that "The Real Work" resonates with me, and why I keep Berry's poem on my phone so I can share it with my creative partners.

And now the HOLIDAY GIVEAWAY!

In the spirit of quotes and poems, I'm going to give away three of Harry White's "Exhibit Aphorism" card decks to some lucky ExhibiTricks readers!

For your chance at one of those three decks, just email me your favorite quote or poem that drives and inspires your museum work before December 11, 2023. And tell me a little about what the words mean to you and your work. I'll choose three winners from all the responses submitted.

Depending on the number of responses, I'll put together a future ExhibiTricks post sharing some of the inspirational poems and quotes.

GOOD LUCK!

Thursday, November 16, 2023

Sharing Stories (and Sticks!)

I'm still reeling a bit from the loss of Brad Larson, whose tragic death is a tremendous loss to the museum community and beyond.

But if you'll indulge me a bit, I'd like to refer you to this YouTube video from a few years ago when I had a conversation with Brad featuring great suggestions about how to gather stories from visitors -- both inside and outside your museum. (Plus the video comes with a bonus "Work From Home" (WFH) tip on how to break up your routine -- using a stick!)

Please take a few moments to check out the video and spare a kind thought for Brad and the family and friends he leaves behind.

Saturday, November 4, 2023

Remembering Brad Larson

My friend (and long-time Museum Conference roommate) Brad Larson just died in the past day or two.

Of course, it's sad when anyone dies, but I'd like to remember the joy and spirit that Brad shared with others, rather than the unfortunate circumstances of his passing.

I will always remember Brad with a big stick or staff because he loved the practice of Shintaido. As well as being a practical martial art, Shintaido aims to be a form of artistic expression, a healthy exercise, and a path of self-discovery and transformation. I remember being with Brad at many conferences where he would get up early in the morning to run or move in a local park with his Shintaido staff (or even a big stick he found!)

Brad also loved to dance! Because he was so tall, it was not unusual to see Brad's head bobbing above the crowd near the front of the stage at many a conference dance party.

Brad especially enjoyed writing haikus. So I'll end this remembrance by sharing one of the last haikus he wrote on his Facebook page:

Trail Run Haiku 10/26/23

Time to catch my breath

breathe in breathe out, stand and watch

golden leaves falling

Thursday, October 26, 2023

Four Qualities of Great Creative Partners

I've just returned from Blagoevgrad, a large city in Bulgaria, where I helped lead a week-long series of professional development workshops (called MUSE Academy) for Bulgarian colleagues working in museums and allied cultural organizations from across the country.

One of the things I've been thinking about after this most recent trip to Bulgaria is how to recognize the four qualities that make for great Creative Partners.

For me, the best Creative Partners are the ones that 1) Have Fun; 2) Think Big; 3) Work Flexibly; and 4) Get Stuff Done. Below are some of the ways that the MUSE Academy fostered Creative Partners, and the four qualities below are important indicators to keep in mind when working with partners on any creative and challenging project.

1) Have Fun

My memories of working with my two MUSE Academy co-instructors, Christina Ferwerda and Jamie Lawyer, are filled with laughter. We all really believe in working hard during our trips to Bulgaria, with extensive planning ahead of time. And yet, our work is enjoyable because we have fun together.

2) Think Big

Our creative partners at the America for Bulgaria Foundation sponsor the MUSE Academy, and we are so lucky to have Nadia Zaharieva and Yuliana Decheva as the point people from the Foundation driving everything forward. Nadia and Yuliana push for us to "think bigger" and to create more opportunities for the MUSE Academy participants and, in turn, build even greater capacity in the Bulgarian museum and cultural sectors.

3) Work Flexibly

In every project I've ever worked on, unexpected events occur. Our time in Blagoevgrad was no exception, as a few "Bulgarian surprises" came up during our week there. Despite this, I was sure that my Creative Partners would be flexible and figure out ways to overcome any challenges rather than complaining or pointing fingers.

4) Get Stuff Done

Можело is a Bulgarian word meaning roughly, "This can be done!" We strive for a spirit of Можело during our week together with MUSE Academy participants -- to push against the notion of "This is not possible" and to accomplish a lot together and challenge ourselves creatively.

Here's hoping you can find wonderful Creative Partners that meet all four of these criteria when you put together your next project!

Wednesday, October 11, 2023

Back to Bulgaria for MUSE Academy!

I'm excited to be heading back to Bulgaria in a few days to kick off the second edition of the MUSE Academy program sponsored by the America for Bulgaria Foundation (ABF).

The MUSE Academy will equip Bulgarian professionals from museums and other cultural organizations with the tools to create compelling exhibits and tell powerful stories that will keep visitors returning for more.

I am doubly excited to share the MUSE Academy teaching stage with colleagues Jamie Lawyer and Christina Ferwerda!

Check out this recent article from the ABF website that shares more information about my work and the new MUSE Academy. Also, follow me on Twitter (X), Facebook, and Instagram as I post live updates from Bulgaria!

Tuesday, October 3, 2023

Is Inspiration Hazardous to Exhibit Development?

“You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” ~ Jack London

As I was touring through a new exhibition at a very large museum recently, a person from the Exhibits Department complained to me that they didn't have enough time or money to prototype their interactive exhibits.

"So how do you work out which ideas to put into your exhibitions?" I asked. The Exhibits person admitted that they spent a large amount of time gathering exhibit notions together that the designers felt "inspired by" and produced those things to create the final exhibition --- generally leaving no time or money for remediation, if technical or content aspects fell flat.

I immediately thought of the Jack London quote at the top of this post and considered how slippery the notion of "inspiration" is. And how the best exhibit components often come about from spending time with visitors and ideas and materials figuring out what works (and what doesn't) and stumbling onto serendipitous avenues that would never have been found in mind-numbing exhibit development meetings or the reveries of creating slick computer renderings to show potential donors.

I wonder if the oft-repeated complaint of "no time or no money" for prototyping and testing components/concepts/whatever (or for fixing things after an exhibition opens) is just a convenient excuse to cover the fear of the unknown. Is waiting for the clouds to open and inspiration to strike just a similar sort of excuse?

New ideas are fragile things, especially ideas centered around approaches that have never been tried before. Doubts start to creep in: What if your ideas fall flat before your peers during a presentation meeting? What if visitors don't like the ideas? Many museums speed through, or try to short-change, the often messy and plain hard work of really trying ideas out even though the final exhibition is often better for these early uncertainties. These museums want the inspiration, but they aren't willing to go after it with a club.

So here's an idea for your current (or next) exhibition project: take one exhibit idea, even if it's not fully formed and truly "inspiring" and just try it out for at least 30 minutes with visitors inside your museum. You can test or show your idea with paper, tape, and a pen (stuff you already have near your workspace) Ask your visitors questions. Let them make suggestions. You do have time (30 minutes) and money (near zero) to do this!

Who knows? You might even get inspired!

"The advice I like to give young artists, or really anybody who'll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself. Things occur to you. If you're sitting around trying to dream up a great art idea, you can sit there a long time before anything happens. But if you just get to work, something will occur to you and something else will occur to you and something else that you reject will push you in another direction. Inspiration is absolutely unnecessary and somehow deceptive. You feel like you need this great idea before you can get down to work, and I find that's almost never the case." ~ Chuck Close

Monday, September 25, 2023

Don't Demolish the Ontario Science Centre!

In April 2023, the Ontario provincial government announced that it plans to demolish the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto and construct housing on the museum site. The plan includes moving the "contents" (like amazing site-specific exhibits!) from the Ontario Science Centre to the "redeveloped" Ontario Place project. This controversial declaration of demolition without public consultation is opposed by heritage, housing, and environmental advocates alike, including the National Trust for Canada. (You can read more about the situation in this article from the National Trust.)

From the outside, the whole plan seems like some fishy political deal. Many, many of my Canadian museum colleagues have spoken out about this action.

I'd also like to speak out about this plan, but for a more personal reason.

Around 1971, my family took a trip to Toronto. Just a few years before, in 1969, the Ontario Science Centre (OSC) opened up and immediately started changing ideas about what an interactive science museum could be. (In one of those zeitgeist-y moments in history, the Exploratorium in San Francisco opened in 1969 also.)

I'm not even sure how my parents found out about OSC and knew to take my two younger brothers and me there, but from the moment we rode the escalators "through the trees" to enter the exhibit halls we were all excited and showing each other new things we had found. In addition to the interactive components, I know I was especially fascinated by the live demonstrations --- somebody just blew a hole through a brick with a gigantic laser!

After we returned home to Detroit, I wrote a "fan letter" to the scientists at Ontario Science Centre and asked them if they could send me science experiments that I could do at home. To my delight, a week or two later, I received a kind reply on official OSC letterhead with a little booklet of cool chemistry demonstrations. WOW!

One of the experiments explained how to create a "carbon snake" with sulfuric acid(!) and sugar. I showed my grade school science teachers the letter and chemistry experiments and asked if they had any sulfuric acid I could borrow. They did! So I took the big brown glass bottle with the faded label home as fast as my purple Sears bike with the banana seat would carry me.

I didn't have any beakers, but my mom thought an empty Mason jar would do the trick. So I went into the basement laundry room with my supplies and started pouring sulfuric acid into the jar that had some sugar in the bottom. Once the acid hit the sugar, bubbling and smoking commenced, and an evil-looking black cylinder snaked up and out of the mouth of the jar accompanied by the strong smell of burning sugar. "Look! look!" I said to my family as I showed them the "carbon snake." I tried other variations of the experiment with different amounts of sugar and acid to see how I could change the resulting "snake." Everything was going great until I had the bright idea of quickly pouring some of the sulfuric acid into the jar with sugar in it and then screwing the lid on to see what would happen.

BOOOOOM!

Thank goodness the laundry sink was deep and made of sturdy metal since I hadn't been wearing any gloves or goggles. After the smoke cleared, I cleaned up all the broken glass that the deep sink had captured after the jar exploded (and after my mom was done freaking out!) I learned a valuable (and memorable!) lesson about the effects of containing a strong exothermic reaction in a closed jar.

Somewhere along the line, that letter and booklet of chemistry experiments have gone missing, although I had kept them for a long time. I often wonder if any museum would be foolish enough to send some kid experiments using sulfuric acid anymore. Probably not.

I also think of all those letters I sent to museums (in pre-email and Web days!) asking for a job when I was about to graduate from college. And how much the letters that offered even a small bit of encouragement or an idea or suggestion meant to me, especially compared to the obvious form letter rejections --- or no response at all.

Those messages that we as museum workers send, intentionally or unintentionally, can have a big impact on our visitors, and our potential future colleagues.

Electronic communication and the worldwide reach of the Web means that I often get messages from people asking for advice or for jobs, and I really try to give a thoughtful answer to each one of those folks who took the time to write me --- because I still remember how much receiving that letter from the Ontario Science Center meant, and I suppose still means, to me.

Thanks, Ontario Science Centre for putting me on a path to a career in the museum business!

I hope you get to stay right where you are now for another 50+ years.

Monday, September 18, 2023

Are (Some) Art Museums Becoming More Playful?

I recently read with great interest some articles excitedly announcing the opening of the "81st Street Studio" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

As the avalanche of press coverage makes clear, the 81st Street Studio is a fun and playful space for children and their adults that deals with many science-focused experiences. An exhibition space geared towards Play, Fun, and Science in (gasp!) an Art Museum?

For Heidi Holder, chair of education at the Met, much of the business of this prestigious Art Museum is Science, especially in the Research and Conservation departments. Holder wanted the new exhibition space to allow young visitors to do what they normally can’t do in the Met’s existing family programs: drop in unscheduled, and touch what they see.

Of course, all this sounds very much like the sort of thing that both Children's Museums and Science Centers have been doing successfully for many years with much lower budgets and much less breathless press coverage. (Note to the New York Times -- there are other types of museums in addition to Art Museums!)

One of the articles also mentioned that Cas Holman, an artist well-known for creating playful toys and spaces, will be bringing new play-focused exhibition experiences to the Queens Museum in 2024 (Check out this previous ExhibiTricks post about Holman's work on the "Wobbly World" exhibition at the Liberty Science Center.)

It may be that all this news of "play" and "touching" in Art Museum spaces will have some purists clutching their pearls and decrying the "dumbing down" of the museum-going experience.

Nevertheless, it seems like Art Museums are catching on to the value of creating some playful, active spaces for children and their adult caregivers (and other young-at-heart visitors!) as an additional way to enjoy the artful content inside -- without preventing curmudgeons their opportunities to gaze pensively at 19th-century oil paintings inside the hushed galleries elsewhere.

Saturday, September 9, 2023

Conversations with Museum Pros on the POW! YouTube Channel

Over the past few years, I've been fortunate to chat with museum professionals from all over the world on my POW! YouTube channel.

Click on over to YouTube to find videos about such topics as "The Definition of Done" with Christian Greer, and "Using Language as an Interpretive Tool" with Amparo Leyman Pino.

There is a growing library of over 100 videos to choose from, so why not browse the POW! YouTube channel and discover what interests you? And if you have recommendations for people that I can bring to my YouTube channel (maybe even yourself?) please let me know!

Wednesday, August 30, 2023

Our Real Work

I keep this poem on my phone because it helps me reflect on my museum/exhibit/design work.

“Our Real Work” by Wendell Berry

It may be that when we no longer know what to do

we have come to our real work,

and that when we no longer know which way to go

we have come to our real journey.

The mind that is not baffled is not employed.

The impeded stream is the one that sings.

What helps you reflect on your own work? Let us know in the "Comments" section below.

Monday, August 21, 2023

Halls or Malls?

What kind of exhibition spaces (and, by extension, museum experiences) do you want to create for your visitors -- Halls or Malls?

HALLS

Many large museums (like the Louvre or the American Museum of Natural History) can feel like an endless procession of hallways. You sense that the gallery themes and spaces are changing around you as you walk along, but the experience feels a bit like one long, continuous march. It can also be difficult for first-time visitors to gauge the length of their visit and how to break their time into manageable chunks. You will often pass weary-looking tourists who seem determined to walk through every square foot of gallery space because "who knows when they will come back to this museum again?"

MALLS

Other museums, even though they might be quite large -- like the Indianapolis Children's Museum, for example -- break up their exhibition spaces into discrete areas akin to the way malls are divided into different shops. It becomes easier for visitors to orient themselves and "dip into" a gallery and decide how much time to spend there before moving to the next space. These differentiated spaces also build up a physical and conceptual rhythm as part of the museum experience.

So maybe instead of overwhelming our visitors with exhibition halls, we might be better served just trying to "whelm" them with exhibit malls.

Friday, August 11, 2023

ChatGPT and the Creative Process?

I'm on the road this week, so just a quick nod to this post on Nick Cave's "The Red Hand Files" about ChatGPT and the effort essential to creative work:

https://www.theredhandfiles.com/chatgpt-making-things-faster-and-easier/

Tuesday, August 1, 2023

"Old School" Exhibit Inspiration

A friend recently shared this super cool article about the development of the "Zenith Space Command" television remote control (pictured at the top of this post.)

Unlike modern remote control units that use infrared light, the Space Command did not even need batteries to function!

Instead, when you clicked a button on this "old school" remote, a little hammer struck a tuned aluminum rod that created a slight audible click, but that also sent out an ultrasound tone to the receiver unit inside the television that controlled functions like volume and changing channels!

(You can see the operation of a typical Zenith Space Command remote by watching this YouTube video. Below is an image from that same video giving an end-on view of the metal rods inside the remote's case.)

Since we so often default to digital or electronic solutions to exhibit design challenges, the Space Command is a reminder that often ingenious mechanical or analog exhibit design solutions await.

Here's to "Old School" Exhibit Inspiration!

Thursday, July 20, 2023

Museum Street Art?

I recently came across the work of an Amsterdam-based Street Artist called Frankey (whose work is shown throughout this post.)

I was at turns inspired and delighted by everything I saw on Frankey's website and Instagram page, but his work also got me thinking about how (and why) museums might like to install Street Art around their neighborhoods.

I'm not talking about bringing exhibits or other museum tropes to the streets (which are often boring) but rather engaging with artists to create Street Art that ties back conceptually to a museum in some way.

There are some things that often set Street Art apart from museum exhibits or commissioned public art pieces:

Street Art tends to be whimsical, not serious.

Street Art slows people down and rewards them for careful observation.

And Street Art tends to provide wonderful unexpected moments.

How could you leverage a Street Art approach for your museum or next exhibition project?

Thursday, July 13, 2023

The Most Important Exhibit Development Question

What's the most important question to ask when you are starting to develop an exhibit or exhibition?

I'd say the most important question is, "WHO CARES?"

You may think the topic or content related to your exhibition is interesting, but will your audience?

To find out, you need to drill down into the WHO part of different kinds of Who Cares? questions.

WHO are the people that come to your museum already?

WHO would you like to come to this new exhibition? (Not necessarily the same answer as the previous question ...)

WHO might feel excluded (or even offended) by this topic?

WHO would be so excited by your exhibition that they would want to bring their family or friends back to see it?

The thing about finding the answers to WHO CARES? questions is that you need to speak with potential visitors about their ideas and feelings before you set too many design wheels into motion.

And perhaps the most important variation of the WHO CARES? questions start internally. If you and your project team can't generate sincere enthusiasm for the ideas in the exhibition under development, why in the world do you think your visitors will be interested in what you create?

Monday, July 3, 2023

Don't Let Them Off The Hook!

Here's a networking tip for you -- when you contact someone to ask about a job or to introduce yourself, don't just leave it at that.

Provide some additional value in the form of an article you've written, some information about a particularly interesting or innovative aspect of a recent project, or even a link to a Web article about the museum world that you found interesting.

Similarly, even if your primary purpose is inquiring about a potential job -- don't let them off the hook! If you only ask about a job, and there's no job available, then that's the end of the conversation. However, if you ask for some additional advice or ideas about your next steps, you might get some useful information that you otherwise might never have received.

For example, you might say or write, "Even if you don't have any current job openings, do you have any suggestions for colleagues I might speak with or recent books or articles I could read to expand my knowledge of the museum field?" Most museum folks are generous and willing to provide a little advice -- and it sure takes the sting out of a rejection notice!

In that vein, I'm always happy to hear from ExhibiTricks readers! Feel free to contact me directly to introduce yourself. Who knows? We might be able to cook up a project to work on together!