The Disruptive Annotations Trick
What can we do when …
a display is old …
and culturally out of date …
but we have no resources to refresh it?
Many exhibitions have this problem. One solution is to …
demolish it …
and replace it with something new …
using extensive resources.
Of course, that’s expensive, so the usual approach is …
do nothing …
spend nothing.
But in some cases, there is a clever temporary way to refresh a display:
Don’t change it.
Add a layer of simple, eye-catching graphics to annotate it. Even stickers, but disruptively visible.
These must explain how the exhibit is culturally outdated, and use the old display as a historic object to comment on the present.
Here’s the thing:
Updating obsolete displays is expensive. Disruptive annotations just might temporarily solve the problem.
Warmly,
Jonathan
P.S. I was reminded of this trick at a lecture given by Dr. Jona Piehl at the SEGD Exhibition + Experience Design Symposium 2024. For more on Jona:
https://www.htw-berlin.de/hochschule/personen/person/?eid=12663
https://www.amazon.com/Graphic-Design-Museum-Exhibitions-Narrative/dp/1138350362
P.P.S. No MtM newsletter tomorrow (Independence Day in the US). See you next week!
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NEW: Categories are coming to the archive at www.makingthemuseum.com. So far, see everything on budgeting, content, technology … and Phil & Monique.
