Last month, November 2011, officially marked my 20th year practicing … whatever it is I do. I was first hired to work on an exhibit design project (the Women’s Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls, NY) in November, 1991. I had no idea that it was a career, or that people even did it at all. Now I am at least somewhat more convinced.
So thanks, everyone, for helping me survive my first 20 years of it, and thank you in advance for helping me through my second 20 years of it. Whatever it is.
I will be in touch somewhat later, regarding my third 20 years.
I was recently in Germany and picked up “Scenography / Szenografie”, a compendium of work by the formidable Prof. Uwe Brueckner and colleagues at Atelier Brueckner in Stuttgart. In US stores in February, available for preorder now.
The book is rather spectacular, further evidence of the remarkable progress of exhibition designers around the world over the past generation, particularly in Europe, where Stuttgart is a veritable hive of brilliant firms. US designers would do well to get a copy of this book and others.
Mm, pretty: the new MoMA abstract expressionism iPad app.
Exactly what I’m supposed to do with it, I’m not quite sure. Is it a really big handheld guide for my next museum visit, or do I sit on my porch and use it, but not see the real art? If it’s the former, both my hands are already full of the little hands of my co-visitors. If it’s the latter, I’ll go for a coffee table book (bigger pictures, higher resolution).
Brilliant. I’ve been trying to convince someone to do this for years. And bravo, Mr. de Guzman.
“From close up, the headquarters of the senior curator of art at the Oakland Museum of California mostly looks the same. de Guzman’s laptop and phone occupy their usual spots on his glass-topped desk. The walls are covered with sketches and paintings. But instead of sitting behind a closed door in the museum’s administrative wing, de Guzman is on display to the public as he works at his desk alongside the art displays.”
Mesmerizing: CERN’s new interactive exhibition center on YouTube. (Run it full screen for full effect.) Do you know the designers? Please comment below. Design by the excellent folks at Atelier Brückner. (Thanks, Phillip Teufel!)
Also on Flickr here. And more here. Via the excellent PLOT.
After years of quietly enjoying my ever-growing collection of books on exhibit design, museum planning and interactive spaces, I have finally come up with a way to share my bookshelf with everyone. I hereby announce the Exhibit Designer’s Bookshelf (beta), courtesy of Shelfari.
Click the link at the very top of this page, or here, and enjoy. More fancy features to come, this is just a start.
Many thanks to Jessica Griscti, bibliographer extraordinaire, for helping to make this happen.
Suggestions? Missing books? Useful? Not useful? Comments open below.
“It’s the new way to find your way at the American Museum of Natural History,” says the AMNH (and several hundred blogs) about their new iPhone app, appropriately named “Explorer:”
More from the Museum:
Chart your own course at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City with AMNH Explorer—a new app that is part custom navigation system, part personal tour guide for the Museum’s world-famous halls. Providing turn-by-turn directions, AMNH Explorer takes visitors from the edge of the universe to the age of the dinosaurs. Choose from a variety of Museum-designed tours or create your own from a list of popular exhibits, specimens, or artifacts. AMNH Explorer also lets you share your adventures with friends and family by linking directly to your Facebook and Twitter profiles. Download AMNH Explorer now and start planning your next visit or use your iPhone® or iPod® touch to discover the Museum’s must-sees from anywhere in the world.
More from the New York Times here. Links to the entire media frenzy here.
If you can’t make it to Shanghai for Expo 2010, these three videos by the (accurately named) Shanghai Expo Timelapse Machine give a sense of the different kinds of pavilions on display. Germany: a deep, varied exhibition with a variety of completely different interactive zones in the interior:
Denmark, completely the opposite, with a beautifully designed building and little else to “do” (not that anything more is needed):
And finally, the hauntingly beautiful, award-winning UK pavilion, the “Seed Cathedral”:
It’s never easy to use the floor to communicate information in an exhibit, no matter what kind of glass floor, LED grid or temporary decals you try. First of all, things wear out when people step on them all day. But more importantly, if the exhibit is popular, the visitors themselves block the view.
This memorable floor tile installation, from the newly-opened Schindler’s Factory in Krakow, Poland (a branch of the Historical Museum there) works for several reasons:
it deliberately puts a offensive symbol underfoot so visitors can trample it
it uses a simple but powerful repeating pattern over the whole floor
visitors may not notice it right away: even better
cost of ownership: nearly zero, it is as low-tech as it gets
Frighteningly elegant. Read more in the New York Times. See a short video tour of the museum shortly before opening here.
Goooal! Three of the winning entries just announced in this year’s IDEA design awards were exhibit design projects. The judges might have had a case of World Cup fever: one of the projects hails from Brazil, the Museu do Futebol (The Soccer Museum); credited to designers Jair de Souza of Jair de Souza Design; Daniela Thomas and Felipe Tassara; and Mauro Munhoz and Leonel Kaz:
In case you missed it, Robin Pogrebin’s Brooklyn Museum article in the New York Times yesterday (“Brooklyn Museum’s Populism Hasn’t Lured Crowds”), has created quite a stir. The article itself is very much worth reading, if you are someone interested in successful visitor experiences of whatever kind. Just don’t expect pat answers, the jury is still out. Perhaps indefinitely.
One of the better responses I’ve seen thus far has been from the most mysterious, anonymous, hardworking museum twitterer around, @museumnerd, who posted this reply.
A lovely video from the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum (post from Director Bill Moggridge’s “Bill’s Blog” here) showing the way they got a (teensy) Tata Nano off New York City streets and onto a display platform inside the museum. Despite snow.
I promise you my best 140 characters on accessibility, architecture, education, exhibit design, graphic design, installation art, interaction design, museums, online exhibits, philanthropy, technology, video, and wayfinding. www.twitter.com/jonathanalger
Explorations of new developments in exhibit design, museum planning and interactive space by Jonathan Alger, co-founder of the design firm C&G Partners.
