However good most museum exhibitions are, it is rare to find an exhibition that is radically different, and very few that, as holistic experiences, deliver on their potential to leave visitors with a truly memorable experience.
Museums are staying within a comfort zone, partly because of practicality. Other than glass cases, illustrations and written labels, how do you put together object-based displays?
Also, most galleries needs to be delivered on budget and to a deadline. This leads to a risk-adverse approach, which seems to have permeated into the designs used and the designers employed. But is this hindering a more innovative approach?
When I first saw the Imperial War Museum North's immersive sound and light shows, I imagined no new museum gallery would ever be quite the same. But it was not to be.
Audiovisual elements have seen some exciting advances, such as those that can be found at the London Transport Museum, but they continue to be largely modular rather than holistic. This conservatism means we are failing to make museum spaces the inspiring experiences they should be.
This is where the concept of excellence as sketched out in the McMasters report may be just what the sector needs. In every exhibition project in which I have been involved, the initial curatorial and designer ideas have had an element of innovation, yet this is always diluted in delivery.
The most exciting ideas are the first to be dropped. I sense a reluctance by museums to engage innovative designers, or to allow them to use innovative ideas.
Excellence in design should not just be about innovation and risk. It will also be about appropriateness. The Masterpieces exhibition at the Rijksmuseum uses only a few objects and words, but the objects are so wonderful, and the words so carefully chosen, that the effect is brilliant.
Similarly, although quality of material and objects is an ingredient of excellence, it is not essential. The terracotta army exhibition at the British Museum is excellent, but its excellence was not guaranteed. At the other extreme, Brent Museum achieves excellence by embracing the concept of the community museum.
The first measure of a gallery's success is that it comes in on budget and on time. Next will come a hope that it fulfils its curatorial brief. But we should be moving beyond this.
Risk management should not mean being risk adverse, but creating a climate to embrace risk. This will involve engaging a wider range of designers and allowing them to explore more innovative approaches.
All museums should not only start with the expectation that they will be innovative and have the potential to be life changing, they must ensure they deliver on this by making it a measure for success.
Hedley Swain is the director of programme delivery and head of museum policy at the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council
Museums are staying within a comfort zone, partly because of practicality. Other than glass cases, illustrations and written labels, how do you put together object-based displays?
Also, most galleries needs to be delivered on budget and to a deadline. This leads to a risk-adverse approach, which seems to have permeated into the designs used and the designers employed. But is this hindering a more innovative approach?
When I first saw the Imperial War Museum North's immersive sound and light shows, I imagined no new museum gallery would ever be quite the same. But it was not to be.
Audiovisual elements have seen some exciting advances, such as those that can be found at the London Transport Museum, but they continue to be largely modular rather than holistic. This conservatism means we are failing to make museum spaces the inspiring experiences they should be.
This is where the concept of excellence as sketched out in the McMasters report may be just what the sector needs. In every exhibition project in which I have been involved, the initial curatorial and designer ideas have had an element of innovation, yet this is always diluted in delivery.
The most exciting ideas are the first to be dropped. I sense a reluctance by museums to engage innovative designers, or to allow them to use innovative ideas.
Excellence in design should not just be about innovation and risk. It will also be about appropriateness. The Masterpieces exhibition at the Rijksmuseum uses only a few objects and words, but the objects are so wonderful, and the words so carefully chosen, that the effect is brilliant.
Similarly, although quality of material and objects is an ingredient of excellence, it is not essential. The terracotta army exhibition at the British Museum is excellent, but its excellence was not guaranteed. At the other extreme, Brent Museum achieves excellence by embracing the concept of the community museum.
The first measure of a gallery's success is that it comes in on budget and on time. Next will come a hope that it fulfils its curatorial brief. But we should be moving beyond this.
Risk management should not mean being risk adverse, but creating a climate to embrace risk. This will involve engaging a wider range of designers and allowing them to explore more innovative approaches.
All museums should not only start with the expectation that they will be innovative and have the potential to be life changing, they must ensure they deliver on this by making it a measure for success.
Hedley Swain is the director of programme delivery and head of museum policy at the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council
