In this article, Rita Mukherjee Hoffstadt, Assistant Director for Traveling Exhibits and Special Projects at The Franklin Institute, summarizes the conversations discussed at the American Association of Museums (AAM) awards session for the 23rd Annual Excellence in Exhibition Competition held at the AAM annual conference in Houston, Texas in May 2011. The winners all embraced and managed an element of risk in the process of creating their exhibitions.
In this article, Nathalie Caplet, from Cap Sciences in Bordeaux, France, outlines how French and European museums in general cater to young audiences in exhibitions while otherwise targeting the general public. Caplet provides examples of how institutions engage children using old or more innovative techniques.
This article explores the use of exhibit development as an instructional strategy in the school and in the museum and how both approaches offer innovative alternatives to traditional learning. Linda D'Acquisto, managing owner of Kid Curators, LLC, discusses her work and the value of school museums. Marie Scatena, Youth Programs Manager at the Chicago History Museum, discusses the Teen Chicago project.
This article features critiques of the Darwin Centre, a state-of-the-art science and collection facility at the Natural History Museum in London. Stephen Pizzey, Director (and Founder) of Science Projects in London, Ian Simmons, Science Communication Director at the Centre for LIfe in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, and Harry White, Science Centre Consultant at Techniquest in Cardiff, Wales, UK, share their analysis of the exhibition and assess its strengths and weaknesses.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Stephen PizzeyIan SimmonsHarry White
This article focuses on traveling exhibits with special attention to budgets and contracts. Cathy Ferree Bork, Associate Vice President of Exhibits at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis, and Tamara Wooten-Bonner, Director of Exhibitions and Publications at the Dallas Museum of Art, discuss the nuts and bolts of budgets. Michelle Torres-Carmona, Director of Scheduling & Exhibitor Relations at the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, and Whitney Owens, Traveling Exhibitions Director at the Field Museum of Natural History, focus on contracts.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Michelle Torres-CarmonaCathy BorkTamara Wooten-BonnerWhitney Owens
In this article, John Chiodo, Design Director at Gallagher and Associates, identifies areas of friction that can develop between team members from within institutions and with consulting firms during the collaborative exhibition process. Chiodo provides several examples and shares observations and recommendations based on his 25 years of experience working in teams made up of in-house museum staff and design consultants engaged in developing new interpretive exhibitions or museums.
In this brief article, Frank Madsen, President of Teller Madsen, Inc., describes how his team created stand-up labels--labels positioned at a nearly 80% angle immediately behind the flat object being described--for the Newberry Library's recent exhibition on Abraham Lincoln. Madsen describes how these unique labels improve the object/label relationship and provide more space in the display cases showcasing many flat documents and books.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Frank Madsen
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
In this article, Phyllis Rabineau, Vice President for Interpretation and Education at the Chicago History Museum, explores the tensions that are unique to history exhibitions. Rabineau shares highlights from conversations with Chicago History Museum colleagues, who have been in the field for 10 years or longer.
In this article, Robert Kiihne, Director of Exhibits at the USS Constitution Museum, describes the planning and research process associated with the "Sailors Speak" and "A Sailor's Life for Me!" exhibitions. The team studied how to encourage Family Learning through hands-on, minds-on, exhibit elements. This article describes research results and makes recommendations about how to better engage multi-generational groups in the educational experience.
The article is a summary of the comments and discussions from the NAME-hosted "What's Going On? Hot Topics in Exhibits" session at the 2006 AAM conference. Paul Martin, Vice President of Exhibits at Science Museum of Minnesota, Janet Kamien, President of Janet Kamien Museum Consulting, Tamara Biggs, Director of Exhibits at the Chicago Historical Society, and Eugene Dillenburg, Exhibit Developer at the Science Museum of Minnesota, as well as other participants addressed the diverging attitudes between new and older exhibit professionals.
This article features critiques of the "Goose Bumps! The Science of Fear" exhibit at the Liberty Science Center. Brenda Cowan, Chairperson of the Graduate Exhibition Design program at SUNY/Fashion Institute of Technology, Paul Orselli, Chief Instigator of Paul Orselli Workshop, and Martin Weiss, Science Interpretation Consultant at the New York Hall of Science, share their analysis of the exhibition and assess its strengths and weaknesses.
In this exhibition review, Barbara Cohen-Stratner, the Judy R. and Alfred A. Rosenberg Curator of Exhibitions for The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, examines the "Abolition200" project, programs and exhibits that commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Parliamentary act that ended British participation in the Atlantic Slave Trade. Cohen-Stratner focuses on three major exhibitions--one that commissioned a new art work, one that relabeled elements of its permanent display, and one that combined these methods--to discuss how museums can develop exhibitions and reinterpret