In this article, Ian Kerrigan, Assistant Director of Exhibition Development at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, articulates the importance of the 9/11 Memorial Museum being located at the World Trade Center site. Kerrigan goes on to explain how the museum is also serving as a archaeological site, how artifacts will play a pivotal role in the Museum's public spaces, and how the Museum's primary artifact is the site in and of itself. Kerrigan also describes how media is an integral element of the exhibition space that reflect the media age of era and allow visitors to share and
In this article, Ted Ansbacher, museum consultant with Science Services, presents a model for experience-based learning, based on the ideas of John Dewey. Ansbacher also presents an interpretation of "meaning making" and implications for exhibit development based on this model.
In this article, Michael Spock, a Research Fellow at the Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago and consultant, presents a collection of stories about museums. These anecdotes shed light on what it takes to create really meaningful exhibits and why efforts so often come up short.
In this article, John Russick, Curator at the Chicago Historical Society, shares his adventurous experience participating in an archeological dig at a remote site in central Turkey. The experience taught Russick four important lessons related to exhibit development and foreign travel.
In this article, Minda Borun, Director of Research and Evaluation at The Franklin Institute Science Museum, discusses how and why exhibit designers need to design experiences for multi-age groups (families) not individual users. Borun sites exemplars from the field who've successfully created immersive experiences for multi-generational visitors.
In this article, Janet Petitpas, assistant director at the Bay Area Discovery Museum and President of the Youth Museum Exhibit Collaborative, discusses how the group of North American children's museums share and manage traveling exhibits between the United States and Canada. Petitpas addresses the challenges associated with international exhibitions and offers suggestions based on her experiences.
This article highlights four controversial exhibits from various institutions who, in the end, used controversy to their advantage. The authors include Kimberly Louagie, Curator of Exhibits at the Outagamie County Historical Society in Appleton, Wisconsin, Saudia Muwwakkil, Public Information Officer at the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site, Diane Perlov, Senior Vice President for Exhibits at the California Science Center, and John Russick, Curator at the Chicago Historical Society.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Kimberly LouagieSaudia MuwwakkilDiane PerlovJohn Russick
In this article, Julia Rose, Director of the West Baton Rouge Museum, analyzes increased efforts by museums to include references of slave life histories into their interpretations. Rose discusses the strategies used by museums and challenges they face when presenting the tough stories of slave life.
In this article, Brenda Baker, Director of Exhibits at Madison Children's Museum and Founder and Director of greenexhibits.org, examines the practices, success stories, observations, and challenges faced by children's museums trying to "green" their exhibition programs. Baker offers idea about rethinking how the field builds and designs exhibitions based on green standards.
In this article, Mikko Myllykoski, Experience Director at Heureka, The Finnish Science Centre, describes the exhibit design and approach of a new exhibition gallery, Heureka Classics, which honors the museum's 20th anniversary. The idea behind the exhibition was to recycle some of the museum's best exhibits within a simplistic Nordic design featuring electronic labels.
This article features critiques of the Tusher African Center at the California Academy of Sciences. Marjorie Schwarzer, Chair and Professor of the Department of Museum Studies at John F. Kennedy University, Margaret Kadoyama, Principal of Margaret Kadoyama Consulting and Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Museum Studies at John F. Kennedy University, and Sheila Pressley, Director of Education at the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, share their analysis of the exhibition and assess its strengths and weaknesses.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Marjorie SchwarzerMargaret KadoyamaSheila Pressley
This article analyzes discussion exhibits as a method for garnering visitor feedback. Authors Ben Gammon, of Ben Gammon Consulting, and Xerexes Mazda, Head of Learning and Audiences at the British Museum, critique the experimental use of this kind of exhibit in the Science Museum, London. They describe both the advantages and disadvantages of this method.