The Night Circus and The Fusion Museum

Last week I woke up in the middle of the night in a hotel room with "The Night Circus" and ideas of a "Fusion Museum" whizzing around my head.

Fusion is a great concept --- the idea of taking a number of different things and combining them into one entity.  It's no surprise then that "fusion" can meaningfully turn up whether you're talking about music, art, cooking, or science.  And notions of "fusion" and Erin Morgenstern’s brilliant novel "The Night Circus" might actually both point toward new ways of thinking about what museums can do, and how.

(A slight diversion first to say a few words about The Night Circus:  it is a novel that sucks you in from the start; the structure of interconnected stories and narrative pathways echo the structure of the titular circus itself.   And what a circus it is!  I kept thinking: "this would make a great exhibit" or "it would be cool to create an environment that lets visitors do this."

Obviously, The Night Circus is a novel, not a museum how-to manual, but museum folks will find much to enjoy, and think about here.)


There have been interlocking ideas in the zeitgeist of how passive audiences --- in theater, in museums, in consumer culture --- can become more active participants.  These ideas have been bubbling up and taking hold in museums, especially the elements of Maker culture and immersive theater.  I'm not talking about only event or program driven museums here, but rather places that are combining exhibits, programs, and environments in new and artful ways.

The City Museum seems like a good example of one possible type of fusion museum to me --- it crosses between art, science, and history in its content and it allows visitors to move through a wide variety of spaces and experiences at their own pace.  Turn a corner guided by the smell of toast and you might find yourself in an exhibition about toasters.  (With a volunteer at the back offering to make you a piece of toast using a vintage toaster.)

Several museums have partnered with the folks behind MAKE magazine and the Maker Faires to create experiences for their audiences to actively explore ideas, tools, and materials.  In addition to Maker Faires (and mini-Maker Faires) which pop up and pitch their tents (like the Circus!) and then move on to the next venue, museums have been looking for ways to develop permanent exhibition spaces that move beyond the traditional make-and-take areas using recycled materials.

Notable examples of spaces that give visitors the space (both intellectually and architecturally) to play with ideas and materials include The Tinkering Studio at the Exploratorium and MAKESHOP at the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh.  These spaces are not driven solely by content (although content is clearly there) but rather by process.

If you're thinking of the possibilities of fusing participatory workshops and programs with exhibition spaces a Maker-oriented space should definitely be on your agenda.  A word of caution however, fusion spaces and experiences require a certain amount of "care and feeding."  If your organization doesn't yet have the internal capacity to maintain and evolve the things you set into motion, they will eventually stagnate, if not outright fail.

If you go to any museum conference or gathering of museum professionals, you will inevitably here the term "immersive environment" come up.  But like most buzzwords, the real question is "Yes, but what does that actually mean in practice?"  I would contend that if you are looking for a fusion of interesting objects, evocative environments, and passionate theatrical storylines and techniques, that you would be well served to consider the work of the UK group Punchdrunk.  (Interestingly, Erin Morgenstern recognizes Punchdrunk in the acknowledgments to The Night Circus ...)

In their own words:  "Punchdrunk has pioneered a game changing form of immersive theatre in which roaming audiences experience epic storytelling inside sensory theatrical worlds. Blending classic texts, physical performance, award-winning design installation and unexpected sites, the company's infectious format rejects the passive obedience usually expected of audiences.

Lines between space, performer and spectator are constantly shifting. Audiences are invited to rediscover the childlike excitement and anticipation of exploring the unknown and experience a real sense of adventure. Free to encounter the installed environment in an individual imaginative journey, the choice of what to watch and where to go is theirs alone."

Punchdrunk currently has a show in New York called "Sleep No More" which uses Shakespeare's Macbeth as its starting point.  Participants (not merely audience members) move through an old hotel and explore spaces or interact with actors in a non-linear way.  Put simply, Punchdrunk's work will leave you discombobulated, but in a good way.  More importantly for museum people, and especially exhibit designers, attending a Punchdrunk performance will force you to reexamine your notions of what is possible inside exhibitions and museums --- how much freedom people can have to explore ideas and spaces simultaneously.  If you are near NYC and you hurry you still might be able to get tickets!

I would be remiss if I didn't insert a sincere tip of the hat here also to Seb Chan and his blog post,  "An exhibition is a mixtape"  which seems to cross over into a (perhaps?) related notion for a radical shift in the making of museum exhibitions (and he also name-checks "Sleep No More" in his blog for good measure!)

So here the blog post comes to an end.  Is there something to the notion of creating "fusion" experiences in museums that woke me up in the middle of the night or was it all a bit of a fever dream?



Creating your own experiments in museum fusion?  Tell us more in the comments section below, or send me an email directly.  I'd love to hear more about these sorts of ideas. 

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The Exhibit Doctor's Next Case: Wrangling iPads

After several queries recently about how best to deploy iPads in exhibitions, I thought I'd set up another case for The Exhibit Doctor.  (You can see some previous Exhibit Doctor postings --- one on temporary walls and mounting solutions and another on exhibit label "flipbook" solutions by clicking on the links.)

The way these Exhibit Doctor posts have been working is that I gather some background information about the topic, and then solicit input (especially practical "visitor tested" examples) from ExhibiTricks readers and then do a follow-up post containing the collected images, examples, links, and wisdom into one convenient package.

First off, there are a variety of commercial "frames" that lock and/or contain iPads (such as these) but most of them have limitations --- slots that visitors cram stuff into, or designs that still leave ports or the "home" button exposed in some way.  That doesn't mean that there aren't "off the shelf" solutions out there (somewhere!) that people have used or liked.  Let us know your favorite iPad protection device in the "Comments" section below, or by emailing me directly.

Secondly, there are "home-brewed" possibilities for locking down iPads that could be created that both prevent theft and mischief to the apps and iOS.  Have some tricks that worked well for you?  Let us know about those as well.

Lastly, perhaps the best way to utilize tablet/touch technology in exhibitions is not to lock down the devices at all, but instead to use them in staff-moderated ways.  I'd love to hear about success stories for facilitated ways to use iPads that go beyond merely helping people use vaguely-related apps next to a physical exhibit component.

So that's the plan --- send your practical examples of how to use iPads in exhibitions my way via the "Comments" section or email, and stay tuned for the follow-up post that collects all the ideas in one place!


Speaking of which --- don't miss out on any future ExhibiTricks posts! It's easy to get updates via email or your favorite news reader. Just click the "Sign up for Free ExhibiTricks Blog Updates" link on the upper right side of the blog.

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ReWind: The Cake Boss is a Great Prototyper!

What could an expert cake baker teach you about prototyping your exhibit design projects?

Find out by reading our latest ReWind posting below.  (And if you need help "cooking up" some ways to improve your museum's prototyping practice, feel free to contact me directly!)



Learning to be a good exhibit prototyper is a lot like learning to be a good swimmer or a good baker.  You could read about any of those skills, but to really catch the nuances and notice the little tricks, it helps to watch somebody else model the techniques a few times before you start out yourself.

So where can you find a TV show with a funny Italian guy on the East Coast to teach you some great prototyping approaches? (No, not me!  But feel free to contact me if you'd like me to run some in-person prototyping workshops or exhibit test sessions with the staff and visitors at your museum.)

No, I was actually thinking of Buddy Valastro, better known as the "Cake Boss" from the cable TV show of the same name.  I'm serious --- this guy is an ace prototyper!

So what are some things you can learn about exhibit prototyping by watching a few episodes of Cake Boss?


1) Know your customer
Before Buddy starts making a specialty cake, he sits down and has a conversation with the client to find out more about the things they like, and to bounce initial ideas around.

Obviously, you won't be having a chat with everyone who comes to your museum, but how can you leverage your museum's social media sites (like Facebook or Twitter) or your newsletter to let visitors know you'll be working on new exhibits, and would like their ideas?  Similarly, asking for help as you test out actual physical prototypes inside the museum is fun and exciting for visitors, and you can learn a lot from the conversations and comments around such prototyping sessions.



2) Prototyping can be a team sport
Usually after some initial sketches and rough ideas about a cake are prepared, Buddy gathers his team to solicit input for things to try, and for which sections of the cake people would like to work on.  Lots of little ideas and input from the bakers and designers result in cool cakes like the "Aquarium Cake" below that includes a real fish-filled tank behind it!

Similarly, when you're putting together ideas and changes for prototype exhibits, give your staff a sense of ownership and pride in the process by soliciting input and showing that even if you haven't incorporated every single idea into the final product, you were willing to sincerely try things out. 



3) Stay loose, and keep a good supply of "stuff" nearby
Don't give up on "crazy" ideas --- even if they seem impossible at first.  The Cake Boss crew wanted to make a cake for retired fire fighters.  Once they knew that their intended audience (firefighters) wouldn't be satisfied with just a plain cake, they started talking about fire engines with flashers and a building/cake with smoke billowing out.  That's great, but how do you do it?   Buddy sent somebody out to buy some toy fire engines and a theatrical smoke machine to create the finished cake. (He stripped out all the electronics from the toy and incorporated them into an edible fire truck cake.)

To be able to realize the exhibit equivalent of a "Fire Engine Cake" be willing to throw some crazy ideas against the wall to see what sticks.  But to prototype those wacky ideas it helps to have some simple building stuff (masking tape, paper, cardboard, markers, etc.) handy so you don't lose the enthusiasm and momentum of the moment.



4) Sometimes you drop the cake

Occasionally, something catastrophic (cakeastrophic?) happens on the Cake Boss show. Somebody drops a finished cake down a flight of stairs.  Someone else delivers the wrong wedding cake.  Yes, there may be some yelling, but after everyone calms down they take a deep breath and figure out how to solve the problem.

Sometimes, try as you might,  a favorite exhibit idea is a flat out bust.  Or you follow an idea into a dead end.  Fuhgedaboutit!  There will be prototyping flubs, and exhibit mistakes.  Admit up-front that there will be unexpected challenges to resolve.  That's part of the fun (but leave some time and money in your budget for remediation...)


Now I hope I've inspired you to watch a little Cake Boss and to do a little more prototyping in your museum.  Hey! Maybe TLC should start a new show --- Exhibit Boss!


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Exhibit Design Toolkit: Sonic Sites

Sometimes a design project needs the perfect sonic punctuation --- the sound of a zombie munching a brain, or an elephant's trumpet, for example --- to feel complete.

It's been a while since we've done a post on websites that offer sound effects and other aural delights for designers, so find below a new batch of sites that can supply just about anything you might need for your next sonicly-oriented design project:

Soundcli.ps  is a great website that allows users to share or download audio clips.

SoundBible.com offers thousands of free sound effects, sound clips, and straight-up sounds.

AudioFormat.com allows you to convert audio file to other formats online using nothing more than your browser, and it's a free resource allowing you to convert wav to mp3, mp3 to wav, video to mp3, wmv to wav, wav to wmv, and more.

Free-Loops.com serves as an online audio toolbox that you can access anytime.

SoundJax.com is a semi-autonomous sound search platform that indexes and renders waveforms, tags, and catalogs audio from the Web.

So give the sites above a try (and a listen!) and let us know what you think, or tell us if you have another "sonic site" to recommend in the "Comments" Section below.

(Special thanks to Trixie Lee from Soundcli.ps for suggesting we let ExhibiTricks readers know about these Web resources.)


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Exhibits In An Archive: The Austin History Center

Steve Schwolert, the Exhibit Coordinator at the Austin History Center, recently sent along some interesting comments about the differences (and similarities!) between museums and archives that I'd like to share with ExhibiTricks readers.  As you'll see, Steve also sent along some cool photos and descriptions of a simulated Kinetoscope that he's made using iPods!

Enjoy what Steve has to say below:


The Austin History Center is not, strictly speaking, a museum.  We hover somewhere between museums and libraries.  We are, rather, a research institution that collects archival documents (records of all types, including over a million photographs, films and videos).  It is a distinction that most people miss who do not use archives on a regular basis.  Exhibits in our setting function to educate, promote our collections, and as a vehicle to encourage citizens to donate archival materials that record Austin’s history.  Through our exhibits, and Community Liaison program to underserved communities, we’ve unearthed a number of significant collections that record our area's history.  In many cases, it is unusual to have a vibrant exhibits program in archives, unless perhaps you are one of the big boys like the Harry Ransom Center or the National Archives.  Though we rely on the skills of all our staff for research, I am the entire “official” exhibits staff.  I do all the design and fabrication as well as the promotional graphics.

Figuring out how to make the distinction between archives and museums clear is something we at the Austin History Center are working on all the time.  We need better “elevator speeches” and have put some effort into marketing ourselves in the last couple years.  All that said, I get a lot of good ideas and inspiration from being a “fly on the wall” around people in the museum world.  So the long and short is that there is some crossover, but archives are still a bit different.  I will say that with the success of our exhibits program in the last few years, exhibits are now a core service whereas they used to be ancillary/optional.

Creating exhibits for an archive is unique in that we deal with 2D “objects” almost exclusively.  Any 3D artifacts are usually more complimentary of the materials we collect – photos, documents, letters, architectural drawings, maps, film and video.  I often joke that my world is one of arranging rectangles.  Coming up with ways to present the materials in a dynamic way is always challenging.  But we have found that exhibits serve to help us expand both our place in Austin’s cultural community and as a vehicle for expanding our collections, with our overall goal being to collect, preserve and provide access to the primary source materials that record our local history.

I am notorious for trying things I’ve never done before, so with our latest exhibit  called “The First Picture Shows: Historic Movie Houses of Austin,” I wanted to give our visitors a sense of what it was like to watch movies in a context that has vanished.  Giving a broader context in which to set the stories found in a local archive is something we try to do in each exhibit.  Reading the ExhibiTricks blog inspired me in this way, and so I thought “why not?” and built a version of the Kinetoscope – the first device created by Edison and widely distributed in the US for watching movies.  Edison actually imagined it first as a way to generate interest in his Phonograph, and thought movies would only appeal to a viewer more like an arcade entertainment.  Edison’s Vitascope projector came along in 1896 and was the first system that was commercially successful in the US.

Our Kinetoscope runs on iPods – two for digitized Edison films from the National Archives and one for audio, all set to loop continuously.  The iPods (Nano, 3rd and 4th generation) are AC powered using adapters and have been running continuously for well over a month now with no signs of quitting.  The two iPods for films are rigged in a box approximately 12” deep with a glass magnifying lens scavenged from older magnifying glasses inserted halfway between where the viewer looks and the iPod itself.  The boxes are then mounted into a sleeve inside the cabinet which I can remove as needed.

One concern was with accessibility, so unlike an original Kinetoscope, I made a window in the front of the cabinet for those who cannot look in from the top.  To loop the media, I simply put the films and music into a playlist on iTunes and set it to repeat.  The audio is a recording of an old piece of Ragtime piano music from our collections composed for the opening of Austin’s Paramount Theater in 1915.  Ironically, movies, not to mention music, are moving back to the individual experience of the personal device much like the Kinetoscope was in its day.  Maybe Edison understood something about film that only the technology of our era has been able to actualize.

We’ve discovered that movies really hit a nerve with just about everyone, and so we have created a way for visitors to contribute their own “Movie House Memories” by giving them a place to post them in the exhibit.  I am periodically posting these memories on our Facebook page, taking that conversation one step further.   Our tagline is “Discover Your Story” and it is my desire to create experiences that bring viewers deeper into our shared history as a community by sharing their own story.  When a collection is donated to the archive and then used for research, this is exactly what is happening.  Figuring out how to reflect that in our exhibits is “the dream” you might say.  And I want that experience not only to be insightful, but fun.  That’s why I built the Kinetoscope – for fun.  Why not?

Thanks Steve!  You can find out more about the Austin History Center by visiting their website or by checking out their Facebook page.


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Hayao Miyazaki's Ideas About Museums

Hayao Miyazaki is a film artist who has created some amazing animated films for Studio Ghibli in Japan.  (Some of my favorites include "Spirited Away" and "My Neighbor Totoro".)

To capture some of the spirit and history of the films and the film studio, there is a Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, Japan.  I've haven't had the pleasure of visiting the Ghibli Museum in person (yet!) but as I was perusing the Ghibli Museum website, I noticed a link to "A Few Words from Executive Director Hayao Miyazaki"on the home page.

The Link leads to a mini manifesto from Director Miyazaki entitled, "This is the Kind of Museum I Want to Make!"

I think it is wonderful (and gutsy!) for the director of any museum to share the guiding principles behind the creation of their museum in such an up-front way, but I also thought some of the Director Miyazaki's thoughts were worth sharing here:

This is the Kind of Museum I Want to Make!
A museum that is interesting and which relaxes the soul
A museum where much can be discovered
A museum based on a clear and consistent philosophy
A museum where those seeking enjoyment can enjoy, those seeking to ponder can ponder, and those seeking to feel can feel
A museum that makes you feel more enriched when you leave than when you entered!


To make such a museum, the building must be...
Put together as if it were a film
Not arrogant, magnificent, flamboyant, or suffocating
Quality space where people can feel at home, especially when it's not crowded
A building that has a warm feel and touch
A building where the breeze and sunlight can freely flow through

The museum must be run in such a way so that...
Small children are treated as if they were grown-ups
The handicapped are accommodated as much as possible
The staff can be confident and proud of their work
Visitors are not controlled with predetermined courses and fixed directions
It is suffused with ideas and new challenges so that the exhibits do not get dusty or old, and that investments are made to realize that goal

The museum shop will be...
Well-prepared and well-presented for the sake of the visitors and running the museum
Not a bargain shop that attaches importance only to the amount of sales
A shop that continues to strive to be a better shop
Where original items made only for the museum are found

This is what I expect the museum to be, and therefore I will find a way to do it



This is the kind of museum I don't want to make!
A pretentious museum
An arrogant museum
A museum that treats its contents as if they were more important than people
A museum that displays uninteresting works as if they were significant



What do you think of Haya Miyazaki's ideas about museums? (Let us know in the "Comments" section below.)

Personally, his words make me want to visit the Ghibli Museum even more now!

And Director Miyazaki's mini manifesto also begs a question: What sort of message to visitors does your Executive Director post on your Museum's website?



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