Dialog in the Dark

Today I was a visitor. It doesn't happen enough these days, that I step from behind the scenes to in the scene, but the buzz about an exhibition at the local science center was too much to let pass by. So with high hopes for a great concept, an experience of daily life minus my essential sense of sight, I locked up my light emitting personal belongings in the locker provided, picked up a cane, and with a group of 9 other sighted people set out on an (at times uncomfortable) adventure totally blinded by the darkness.

In the waiting area there were labels about the power of the senses which we rely on little in comparison to our sight, but that we would soon find out would provide multiple layers of information that would allow us to function (at least on some level) in the experience we were about to have. (Of course I was the only one I saw reading these labels). A volunteer guide helped the group pick out a cane appropriate for their height and showed us how to use it before she seated us in a room that gradually faded to black. The exhibit guide, a visually impaired women (all of the guides are blind or visually impaired) came into the room and introduced herself, and started the conversation about the other senses we had to rely on for the next hour. This was smart, it broke the ice and got everyone acquainted, which was important since for the next hour I relied pretty heavily on conversation with these strangers. This exhibit achieved the type of audience interaction between strangers that exhibit developers so often strive for with little success. When reflecting on it a couple hours later I realized that in minutes after walking in I was talking to people that I would probably never would have talked to in the lobby because, I will admit ashamedly, of how they looked (they dressed to identify as a part of a particular group).

In the dark was terrible at navigating. In fact, the only way I was capable was by following the voice of my tour guide. The darkness completely eliminated my sense of orientation (straight, left, right). While this was disconcerting, the controlled environment of the exhibit made the discomfort fascinating. As a visitor I felt challenged but not defeated because there were plenty of other opportunities for me to feel like the experience was rewarding. I was quite surprised how much I could identify and visualize after only feeling, smelling, or hearing (there is also an opportunity to taste). Overall the exhibit was compelling. The experience will drastically change with each tour group and guide. My primary criticisms would be that all the great information in the labels were left outside of the exhibit. The science of the senses could have been integrated in a more thoughtful way. And that a more meaningful dialog with the guide would have been great, but it was impossible because she was too busy providing instructions to all of her sight-dependent followers.

I definitely have a new found empathy for those around us that participate in life with less than five senses, and a new curiosity about how I use my five senses to participate in my life. As a artist, a visually critical person, I found myself missing an entire level of information for the first time in my life. This was liberating, but bothersome. In fact, at the end of my tour I found myself dying to know what my tour guide looked like. Over the past hour I had built an entire image of her in my mind based on her voice and personality and I wanted to know how far off I was.

This is an experience that has left me with something to chew on that is far greater than most exhibits I have visited.

Adventures in Lighting Design

It's often a LONG way up.

Settled In

Here is my desk. I'm not there too often... just long enough to make a mess most days.

Feature Exhibit Opens

Art in the Age of Steam: Europe, America and the Railway, 1830–1960 opened today. My tiny little part in the exhibit was working on the lighting.

I’m most impressed with the diversity of work in the show. There is variety in terms of media, subjects, styles, and time periods. The group of work is happily dense, and for me the increasing modernity of the work was a wonderful surprise at the end of the exhibit. While I tend to be critical of chronologically ordered experiences I felt as though it was a driving force in this exhibit and created an exciting pace and dramatic build.

I was excited to hear that the exhibit will be featured in a segment on Sunday Morning (one of my favorite TV shows). With Union Station and the still active train yards, Kansas City is an excellent host city and heightens the poignancy of the exhibits theses and messages.

View from the Top

My first weeks as museum exhibition designer have been focused on learning about lighting design. As a jack-of-all-trades (and a control freak) I am excited to be adding another piece of the puzzle to understanding the totality of exhibition design. Lighting is indispensable to creating mood and atmosphere, beyond visibility and legibility.

While I took a class on lighting design I have not had previous practical experience. The first days were as basic as learning about the different line voltage, low voltage, and fiber optics fixtures used at my museum. We use 2 primary vendors: Lightolier and Edison Price. It took a bit of practice to learn how to replace lamps, lens, filters, screen, etc. in the various fixtures. It was pretty simple on the ground with a fixture in clear sight; however, it seemed much trickier at 20 feet while gently swaying in a lift.

An afternoon in a blank gallery hanging fixtures and experimenting with various lamp and lens combinations was invaluable, but the real understanding didn’t occur until trial and error illuminated what worked in an exhibition setting. I spent approximately 6 days working in a small team to light a large exhibit composed of paintings, photographs, posters, books, and prints. If it wasn’t enough to be conscious of each object light level restrictions the entire project was complicated by the ever-shifting light in galleries with many areas of beautiful sun exposure.

It's Official!

I have become a participant in the daily grind. I am working as an exhibition designer at a Midwestern encyclopedic art museum. It's a great place for my first gig. I am still in awe most days when I walk through the building.

Today's Adventure

I have just returned from NYC. I visited the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in the A.M. It was an exciting time at the institution, which is the coordinator of National Design Week. I went to a very interesting talk by a museum educator / public programmer on their staff. She elaborated on the museum's educational mission, especially its responsibility as the "National Design Museum" to educate a broad audience. It is no surprize that the rather small museum has turned to the web to connect with their largest audience, defined as people that cannot visit the museum. While this is unusual for a museum that is related to the arts, one that you would expect to be object-centered (it does in fact have amazing and expansive collections), it works. The educator attributed their success on the web to their focus on "design thinking" and "ideas of design." The objects and exhibitions are expressions of the discipline of design, but they are the end product of a rich creative processed from which equally as much can be learned off-site. The new website launched in tandem with this week's festivities features the new Educator Resource Center. There are discussions, lessons plans, and documents that explore why design should be adressed in the classroom, and how it can be applied in dynamic cross-curriclar situations.
Here is a link:
http://www.cooperhewitt.org/EDU/index.asp

The afternoon I spent in awe of the work of Zaha Hadid mounted at the Guggenheim. While she is an "architect" if she must be labeled, her work blurs the boundaries of two-dimensional (graphic) and three-dimensional (spatial) design, and four-dimensional (interactive) design. Simultaneously, her work is as much sculpture as is architecture. The exhibition afforded me the clearest understanding of a very personalized artistic process that I have ever seen. I found myself engaged by the smallest lines and specks of color despite the overwhelmingly huge collection. Her sensitivity to, and exploitation of media, materials, and processes in turn elevated my level of awareness and perception.

Testing

Tap Tap Tap... is this thing on?