Sustainable Exhibitions
As I progress through this year of study, I find myself questioning what it means to be a curator. Although the job description can be quite straightforward, I like to pay special attention to the nuances the position holds. Curators are tasked with presenting work, as I am now tasked with presenting Winnie Herbstein’s work in the Traveling Gallery come February. I, with my group, am charged to display her work and her message in an impactful and fulfilling way. To do so, I must first understand her message and the impact that she is trying to create. For inspiration and study, I have looked at the Stedelijk Museum’s exhibition It’s Our F****** Backyard. This exhibition presents design work as a tool for social and political change. My aim is to dive into the way that they present an activist issue in the context of museums and art.
“Designers are increasingly drawing on their creativity to address social, political, and environmental issues. Their innovative approaches encourage us to rethink ways of using materials so that we reduce our impact on the planet—designers look beyond current technology, and show us ways in which we can produce and consume better and pollute less.” -Rein Wolfs
Here, the director of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam explains the role that designers play in addressing the issues of our modern world. This quote is in direct reference to the exhibition It’s Our F****** Backyard which aims its attention on the climate crisis (Stedelijk 2022). The exhibition gathered eighty separate pieces of work from designers and companies from around the world to display innovative ways to create new products. The designers showcased in the exhibition use all sorts of materials in their work which included: algae, cow’s blood, old and broken ceramics, and much more (Stedelijk 2022). Most draw on the power of nature and use these unusual materials to create new and functional work. The techniques used range from innovative approaches to antiquated crafts. These products are not only prototypes but include products that are already on the market (Burgos 2022).
In addition to the responsibility the exhibition puts on designers to create work that utilizes materials and resources that are sustainable and cognizant, it also addresses the role of colonialism on the environment. Experts in the field of climate change and colonialism like Raki Ap (one of the founders of Indigenous Perspectives on Climate Change in the Netherlands) and Chihiro Geuzebroek (an expert in the field of climate change, Indigenous sovereignty, colonialism, and art) were consulted for the exhibition (Stedelijk 2022). With their specialized perspective, the exhibition emphasized how colonialism has exploited, appropriated, and eradicated people, animals, and land. In addition, it discusses the process in which local/native practices of production, in comparison to those of a more technologically advanced society, can have a more symbiotic relationship with nature (Stedelijk 2022). Overall, the exhibition tackles a variety of potent topics that are integral to a progressive and convalescent world.
Events and exhibitions eat up a great deal of resources and often generate a significant amount of waste (Li, et. al. 2021). Audiences are now expecting and leaning towards organizations that are more sustainable (Li, et. al. 2021). Sustainability can be defined as the effort to meet the needs of the present without jeopardizing the needs of the future (Lee, et. al. 2018). The efforts that a museum or institution takes in order to make their exhibitions more sustainable is extremely important to the overall outcome (Han-sol 2021). Curators and officials need to take into account the materials they use and how they get them where they need to be (Han-sol 2021). There is a growing attempt throughout the museum sector to implement more sustainable practices within their exhibitions (Li, et al. 2021). However, the majority of the research done on sustainability in museums is widely catered to stakeholders and their consumeristic approach to looking at the situation. The people are interested in sustainability so we must be too. Even so curating a sustainable exhibition is in part radical and leans heavily into curatorial activism.
Winnie Herbstein takes great care in the materials that she uses for her work. She even took the time and effort to turn her USB drives into miniature bricks (see below). Her current research focuses on the gendering of labor with an emphasis on how we can live sustainably and be more conscious of the materials that we use to support ourselves. It’s Our F****** Backyard addresses this issue thoroughly. The exhibition has a large emphasis on how we use materials and what we do with them when we are done. It challenges designers with this task and shows their work in the context of climate change. Although the overall theme of Herbstein’s work is mostly catered to that of housing and gender, a lot can be said about the correlation between climate change and housing. According to the United Nations, climate disasters are responsible for displacing an estimated 20 million people a year from their homes (United Nations 2022). People experiencing homelessness or those who lack access to resilient housing are the most adversely affected (United Nations 2022).
This case study is great guidance and gives considerable insight on how to approach our exhibition with the Travelling Gallery. The literature on sustainability in museums is greatly skewed in the direction of consumerism and capitalism. With museums competing with other leisure activities they are actively taking into account what visitors want to see (Li, et al. 2021). Ultimately sustainability is an activist issue. In order to emulate the work done by the curators at the Stedelijk we must pay active attention to where we source our materials and what we do with them when we are done.
References
Burgos, Matthew. ““It’s Our F***King Backyard” Urges People to Rethink Climate Crisis and Justice.” Designboom | Architecture & Design Magazine, 27 May 2022, https://www.designboom.com/art/its-our-fking-backyard-05-26-2022/
Daily, Dutch Design. “It’s Our F***ing Backyard” Dutch Design Daily, 4 July 2022, http://dutchdesigndaily.com/complete-overview/its-our-fing-backyard/
“IT’S OUR F***ING BACKYARD DESIGNING MATERIAL FUTURES.” ITSLIQUID, 2 July 2022, https://www.itsliquid.com/itsourfingbackyard.html
Lee, Tsung Hung, et al. “Sustainability of the Exhibitions: A Stakeholder Framework.” International Journal of Development and Sustainability, vol. 7, no. 11, 2018, pp. 2797–2806.
Li, Xi, et al. “The Environmental Sustainability of an Exhibition in Visitors’ Eyes: Scale Development and Validation.” Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, vol. 46, 2021, pp. 172–182., https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2020.12.006
“Event Archive WInnie Herbstein.” David Dale Gallery & Studios, 31January 2022, https://www.daviddalegallery.co.uk/programme/winnie-herbstein/
Stedelijk Museum. “IT’S OUR F***ING BACKYARD.” Www.stedelijk.nl, 26 May 2022,
https://www.stedelijk.nl/nl/tentoonstellingen/its-our-fing-backyard-3
United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner, “OHCHR | Climate Change and the Right to Housing.” OHCHR, 2022. https://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/sr-housing/climate-change-and-right-housing
