It’s not quite the rock and roll world of speaker stacks, mixing desks and lighting rigs, but museum and gallery exhibitions, whether temporary or touring, must go through an extensive design process.
In order for exhibition design to be successful museums and galleries need determine the following: why they doing the exhibition; the project’s key messages; and how the vision will be achieved and paid for says Pip Diment, the acting head of exhibitions and programmes at Amgueddfa Cymru (National Museum Wales).
“You also have to take into consideration who your main stakeholders are and what they might be expecting,” says Diment.
Then there are extra factors to take into account for touring exhibitions, such as how they can be adapted to fit a bigger or smaller space at another venue. Museums and galleries can refer to the Touring Exhibitions Group’s (TEG) guide to 350 exhibitions that can be toured and its research report Economics of Touring: Models for Practice.
TEG advises museums and galleries to explore three economic models before the design process starts: partial cost recovery, full cost recovery or for profit. It’s important to keep in mind that partial cost recovery might be balanced against other objectives such as reaching a wider audience, increased brand awareness or greater collections access.
“Probably the biggest trend is the movement away from just producing an [exhibition] product and listing it. Now they are actually thinking about who they are going to hire it to,” says Charlotte Dew, a researcher at TEG.
Another trend is the increasing use of audiovisual (AV) and interactive technology.
Katie Hall, the exhibitions officer at Birmingham Museums, says: “I do feel, particularly with the big shows, that it’s a lot about using the design to impact the visitor experience; it’s more than just graphic design, it’s 3D as well, so that the whole thing is an experience rather than just going to see some art work.”
Designers can really go to town if budgets allow and as exhibitions become more hi-tech, this can mean lead-in times of up to three years for the most ambitious projects. But the initial inspiration for an exhibition can sometimes be very basic and can begin with someone’s personal collection. For instance, The Civic Barnsley has become particularly adept at producing popular exhibitions, based on simple themes, such as The T-Shirt, Cult, Culture and Subversion, which can be hired internationally.
“Most of the time, there is no cost; just insurance and transport,” says Jason White, the assistant curator at The Civic Barnsley. “Most of the cost comes from licences for image use. Then there’s producing graphics and plinth build if you don’t already have them.”
With a bit of imagination, any museum team can make a name for itself with a decent exhibition and this year looks to be a good one for any museum or gallery intending to raise its profile with one, whether touring or non-touring.
Following lobbying by TEG and the sector as a whole, tax reliefs will be introduced from April that will apply to the creative and building costs of exhibitions. The measures, announced in the Autumn Statement, mean that museums and galleries can claim tax relief of 25% for touring exhibitions, while non-touring exhibitions qualify for a 20% rate of relief.
This relief is capped at £500,000 of qualifying expenditure per exhibition, meaning that a non-touring exhibition could claim up to £80,000 and a touring exhibition up to £100,000 – an incentive, perhaps, to start thinking of some new ideas.
In order for exhibition design to be successful museums and galleries need determine the following: why they doing the exhibition; the project’s key messages; and how the vision will be achieved and paid for says Pip Diment, the acting head of exhibitions and programmes at Amgueddfa Cymru (National Museum Wales).
“You also have to take into consideration who your main stakeholders are and what they might be expecting,” says Diment.
Then there are extra factors to take into account for touring exhibitions, such as how they can be adapted to fit a bigger or smaller space at another venue. Museums and galleries can refer to the Touring Exhibitions Group’s (TEG) guide to 350 exhibitions that can be toured and its research report Economics of Touring: Models for Practice.
TEG advises museums and galleries to explore three economic models before the design process starts: partial cost recovery, full cost recovery or for profit. It’s important to keep in mind that partial cost recovery might be balanced against other objectives such as reaching a wider audience, increased brand awareness or greater collections access.
“Probably the biggest trend is the movement away from just producing an [exhibition] product and listing it. Now they are actually thinking about who they are going to hire it to,” says Charlotte Dew, a researcher at TEG.
Another trend is the increasing use of audiovisual (AV) and interactive technology.
Katie Hall, the exhibitions officer at Birmingham Museums, says: “I do feel, particularly with the big shows, that it’s a lot about using the design to impact the visitor experience; it’s more than just graphic design, it’s 3D as well, so that the whole thing is an experience rather than just going to see some art work.”
Designers can really go to town if budgets allow and as exhibitions become more hi-tech, this can mean lead-in times of up to three years for the most ambitious projects. But the initial inspiration for an exhibition can sometimes be very basic and can begin with someone’s personal collection. For instance, The Civic Barnsley has become particularly adept at producing popular exhibitions, based on simple themes, such as The T-Shirt, Cult, Culture and Subversion, which can be hired internationally.
“Most of the time, there is no cost; just insurance and transport,” says Jason White, the assistant curator at The Civic Barnsley. “Most of the cost comes from licences for image use. Then there’s producing graphics and plinth build if you don’t already have them.”
With a bit of imagination, any museum team can make a name for itself with a decent exhibition and this year looks to be a good one for any museum or gallery intending to raise its profile with one, whether touring or non-touring.
Following lobbying by TEG and the sector as a whole, tax reliefs will be introduced from April that will apply to the creative and building costs of exhibitions. The measures, announced in the Autumn Statement, mean that museums and galleries can claim tax relief of 25% for touring exhibitions, while non-touring exhibitions qualify for a 20% rate of relief.
This relief is capped at £500,000 of qualifying expenditure per exhibition, meaning that a non-touring exhibition could claim up to £80,000 and a touring exhibition up to £100,000 – an incentive, perhaps, to start thinking of some new ideas.