“The client’s role is not to solve the problem — it’s to state the problem.” Amy Weisser (Deputy Director for Strategic Planning and Projects at Storm King Art Center) joins host Jonathan Alger to discuss “The Client Side of Major Projects.” ...

What do exhibitions cost today, compared to before the pandemic? Compared to right before the pandemic, exhibition fabrication bids are still slightly higher today than they would be from inflation alone. But how much higher, and will that last? ...

Exhibitions, like documentary films, are primarily visual. You can watch a good movie with the sound off. Some films have no words at all. But you can’t have one with only words. Exhibitions are the same. Let’s test that real quick. ...

A student once asked me, “What percentage of technology should an exhibit be?” I replied, “37%”. When the student wrote this down, I rushed to say I wasn’t serious. I gave the real answer: it depends. It’s not 37%. But I will tell you another number that isn’t it: 100%. ...

Religion. Politics. Gender. Discuss. Controversial topics are part of the museum mission. And they attract public interest. But divisive themes can also cause bad PR, and jeopardize the mission. How can an exhibition court controversy with less risk? …

L is for Location. Organizing content by location is a common approach in exhibitions. An ancient art show organized by region, a hall of fame organized by state, a World’s Fair organized by country. But that’s just the start. Here are seven more. …

Which is more important? A. Space for what we exhibit. B. Space for our visitors. The retail researcher Paco Underhill became famous a generation ago when he identified the “butt-brush factor”. It’s something our visitors hate, but don’t consciously realize. …

In art, the Latin term “horror vacui” (fear of empty space) refers to the urge to fill a visual composition, leaving no areas empty. Exhibition planners often grapple with it. In modern art exhibitions, less so, but with most other types, it’s common. Beware the horror vacui! …

What’s awe? A blockbuster movie might be “awesome”. And we might be “in awe” of someone’s “awe-inspiring” talents. But what is it? An emotion. Awe is a hybrid of fear, veneration and wonder. Recognize that face? You see it a lot — in exhibitions. …

Can you get big press with a small budget? (Hint: Yes.) This episode is packed with literally dozens of ideas from a master of scrappy PR. Sarah Maiellano (Founder, Broad Street Communications) joins host Jonathan Alger to discuss “Scrappy PR for Museums”. …

Douglas Hofstadter is a scholar of cognitive science, physics and comparative literature. So what does he have to do with making cultural projects better? Hofstadter is known for many things, but the only law that bears his name is about project management. …

Let’s be honest. Lots of cultural project teams come up with lots of great ideas, have no idea what it will all cost, and wait until some milestone down the road to find out. Is it any surprise that “what comes back” is crazy high? Here comes the budget axe. …

Sure, we may say we’re in education. Or we’re in preservation of material heritage. Or we’re in advocacy. But exhibitions — call them experiences, or whatever you like — are the core reason most of our visitors visit. [Whispers:] We’re all in entertainment. …

It’s the one-year anniversary of one of the highest-traffic posts in the archive: The Fork. Here it is. + + + + +. A curator pulls a key from her cardigan to unlock a dark, quiet storage room. She walks to drawer F138, opens it, and sees … a fork. Or does she? …

Before they come to our experiences, there is one thing our visitors see a lot of: glowing rectangles. They’re everywhere. The sheer number is huge, and growing. In less than one day, it would be totally normal for you to consume information from the following: …

Have we lost a sense of playfulness in our work … and could we get it back? Jonathan Goldstein and Kyle Talbott (Principals, Skyhouse Studios) join host Jonathan Alger (Managing Partner, C&G Partners) to discuss “Six Keys for Unlocking Your Most Playful, Creative Work.” …

Aaaaargh! I am watching a budget train wreck happen to a cultural project team. (Not mine. No, really.) And it was avoidable. Budgeting and cost control don’t happen to a project. They are the project. You seem nice. Take these tips — and use them. …

Time, money, quality: the three basic factors in exhibition project delivery. But these are interdependent and interlocked. Given normal time and normal money, we can deliver normal quality. True. But what if something isn’t normal? Here’s a rule of thumb for that. …

A college student I know told me he’s planning to take a friend to see an exhibition in Berlin: Yadegar Asisi’s panoramic “The Wall”. He saw it before, as a middle schooler. But then he told me the first time gave him nightmares. Why go back? “They were good nightmares.” …

An exhibition of rare books and manuscripts is a flock of beige butterflies. The books are beige paper. Wings spread, perched in rows, floating above the decks of tabletop display cases. And what is the most common background we put them on? Beige. Why? …