ExhibiTricks blog

• 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.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Don't miss out on any 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.
  
  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"

• 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!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Don't miss out on any 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.
  
  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"

• 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.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Don't miss out on any 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.
  
  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"

• 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.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Don't miss out on any 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.
  
  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"

• 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/
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Don't miss out on any 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.
  
  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"

• "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!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Don't miss out on any 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.
  
  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"

• 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?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Don't miss out on any 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.
  
  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"

• 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? 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Don't miss out on any 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.
  
  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"

• 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!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Don't miss out on any 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.
  
  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"