Transcript Promoting collections through exhibitions real and virtual

Promoting collections through
exhibitions real and virtual
Geoff West,
formerly Lead Curator, Hispanic Collections,
British Library
WESLINE-COSEELIS Conference,
4 July 2016
Purpose
Why organize an exhibition?
– To make your collection better known, nationally and
internationally
– To reach a wider public
– To demonstrate public money is well spent
• In general; and more specifically:
• On a (research) project
• On a new acquisition
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General points
• Items for display, theme, content, audience, space and venue –
all are interrelated:
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Exhibits – why your collection?
Theme and content – adjust to audience; also to location and venue
Audience – whether general; informed; specialist…
Space – Shakespeare: material to fill a large gallery; Cervantes, Góngora,
probably not in UK
• Common sense… maybe, but easy to get carried away
• Special factors for foreign-language curators to bear in mind:
– Language: few visitors can read texts not in English
– Displays can benefit from visual enhancement – images, maps etc.
– Cultural difference: e.g. Don Quixote was a hidalgo (avoid!); and a knight errant
(explain)
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Essentials
• Exhibitions need:
– to be visually attractive, to catch the eye (avoid rows of books)
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– to have a clear narrative; ideally from a distinctive, novel angle
• In addition:
– (Ideally?) a single curator to lead – not a committee – even for a large
exhibition (e.g. BL’s ‘Breaking the Rules’)
– Curatorial support group: feed in ideas, source items (e.g. BL’s
‘Propaganda’).
– Foreign embassy support – highly desirable
– Press Office – keep informed – hence need to tell a clear story (‘elevator
pitch’)
– Use social media to publicize (exhibition and events)
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The right moment
• Possibles
– Anniversary: birth or death; publication; a World event. A couple of caveats
– New acquisition
– Launch of a project (e.g. Cambridge-BL/AHRC ‘Wrongdoing’)
– Other themes not time- or culture-bound: intriguing or complex concepts:
the Holy Grail; the Quest; propaganda; science fiction
• Right moment has plus factor
– Anniversary encourages mutually supporting events: seminars, lectures;
exhibition does not stand-alone
– Easier to get sponsorship
– More likely to inspire merchandise
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23 April 2016
• The right moment
– 23 April 2016, the 400th anniversary both of Cervantes’ death and of Shakespeare –
but they did not die on the same day
– Backing of Spanish Embassy, then of Instituto
Cervantes
– This enabled the organization of two joint
events:
A translation ‘joust’ around DQ
The launch of Lunatics, Lovers and Poets
+ Publicity for a third event: three talks on ‘DQ in words, pictures and film’
– The related events supported the exhibition, generating mutual interest and
momentum. Press and social media also had the material to keep the topic and
events in the public mind.
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Visually attractive; clear narrative
• Context for BL exhibition: (a) Cervantes’ masterpiece is in Spanish; (b) it is no longer
widely read.
• However, most people know DQ was mad and tilted at windmills. They also have an
image of DQ, Sancho and Rocinante in their mind.
• ‘Imagining Don Quixote’ focussed on the novel (cf. Biblioteca Nacional exhibition); as in
2005 display, great use was made of illustrated editions (notion: ‘most illustrated book…’)
– The exhibition narrative: how the changing image of DQ in illustration reflects shifts
in interpretation of the novel – a new approach (drawing on recent research)
But also:
– Many people have an image of DQ drawn from outside the novel: from paintings,
drawings (Picasso), statues, Lladró figurines, advertising, publicity, films and TV.
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Selection of items
• Display structured around four episodes of the novel:
– Reading books of chivalry; arrival at first inn; tilting at the windmills; the ride on
Clavileño.
– Follows brief introduction to the story (panel).
• Non-chronological structure permits contrasts:
– By placing side-by-side early illustrations, 18th and 19th-century re-interpretations,
Dalí’s surrealist vision and two very different graphic novels…
– Shock value?
– Each item should have its own place in the narrative and its own story
– Add variety – do not be afraid
– Use maps, prints, postcards
– Cartoons, advertising and promotional material
– And, if space permits, realia, e.g. figurines of Quixote, bookends, playing cards
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The book display was enhanced by back panels showing
representations of DQ by Goya, Daumier and Doré
Frustrations
• Be prepared to compromise if:
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You don’t hold a key item
Not everything will fit. Be selective.
Some items will not open adequately
Item is too tatty to display
– So be creative. Use images; write a blog.
• If all else fails… use an alternative medium
– E.g. ‘Wrongdoing’ – proposed as follow-up to the exhibition ‘Read all about it!’ at
Cambridge UL, but rejected by BL as it did not fit easily with the BL exhibitions
policy. (Different audience?)
– Obviously a virtual exhibition would have been the preferred alternative, but at the
time the BL web redevelopment prevented this.
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‘Wrongdoing meets Modernity’
Opted for series of 4 Facebook albums, showing how popular literature perpetuated
stereotypes from earlier street literature, e.g. in the representation of women (in particular,
violent crimes committed by women).
• https://www.facebook.com/britishlibrary/photos/?tab=album&album_id=101527008045071
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By-products and legacy
• Curating an exhibition (physical or virtual) has lasting benefits:
– Better knowledge of collections
– The images and texts can be re-purposed: e.g. BL ‘Viva la Libertad!’ (2010)
• A virtual exhibition – then, via outside funding, panel displays in local public
libraries
• An illustrated talk at the Instituto Cervantes
– Exhibitions live on in show-and-tells
– Content – text, like data – is never lost. It can be refreshed, renewed and developed
in an up-to-date format… (or even in a traditional medium).
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Many thanks
Any questions?