March 10, 2020
We are now done with the exhibition and I would like to reflect on our challenges and successes. Overall, we feel that the exhibition was a success, even though a few things we were hoping to achieve were not entirely successful, such as the initial set-up of the room and more objects on display. On the other hand, one of the most successful things that we have done in this exhibition was definitely the conversation corner. Most visitors felt welcome and relaxed in the space, and the whole look of the exhibition became different. As Barbora Kramlova later described it to me, it felt more like an experience than an exhibition visit.
I got to discuss the exhibition and the questions it raised with several visitors and quite a few people found the iPad behind the glass a provoking idea, but it did not make them as uncomfortable or surprised as we initially expected. What was fascinating is that people found the conversation corner to be a truly inspiring and innovative idea. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that a lot of people were eager to participate in the discussion. Moreover, the ones who did were a lot more likely to fill out the survey about the exhibition. It seems that one of the best ways to collect feedback from people is to create a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere for them, where they can share their thoughts and feel involved in the process.
Even though we had a few issues with the set-up in the morning, since the octanorm pieces the Library provided us with differed in measurements from what we were promised initially, it turned out for the best. The room ended up looking cosier yet bigger at the same time, as the octanorm broke it down into separate sections. Moreover, even though the canvas for the installation was a bit different from what we initially expected, some of the visitors pointed out to us that they actually liked the way the text was placed.
I also thought that it was nice to always have at least two curators in the room, as one of us needed to be in the conversation corner, while the other could give tours and be available to answer any questions people outside of the conversation corner had. The idea to have curators interact with the visitors seemed to appeal to every one of our visitors and I greatly enjoyed the experience as well. I think one of the ways to change the old notions some of us have about museums being inaccessible and even snobbish is to let people see that anyone is welcome behind those doors and that every one of them can contribute something to the process.
These past few months were incredible, and I am very grateful to my team and the Library’s staff, as well as Dr Kirsten Lloyd, for this project!
Featured Image: Photo by Hannah Olinger on Unsplash
