Emma: Gallery layouts on Day 9

7th March.

I thought yesterday was overwhelming! Eight galleries in one day is a lot! Especially because we traversed through a larger part of the city then we have seen in the past few days (It was still only 10 minutes to the furthest gallery on the train!)

Being able to see so many galleries in one day meant that I started to notice all of the different ways that exhibitions can be set up.  

Aftermath of Jewellery at the Museum Villa Stuck had (at a guess) 2m high walls that had shelves going all the way through the wall and out both sides. The work sat on these shelves with glass boxes over the top, which meant that you could see the pieces from different angles.

The next exhibition, Five Men, had lots of very architectural jewellery pieces that were really fascinating but my favourite part about this one was the concept and technical sketches on the walls. Each artist displayed his drawings near his work and I really liked being able to see the different drawing styles and methods of each artist. Some were really technical and accurate (1), some were just conceptual sketches in charcoal (2) and some were in between these (3). [note: I'm really sorry that I didn't write down who did which drawings but if I can figure it out I will update the post!] It was intriguing in that I could look at the drawings and the work and see how the pieces turned out in comparison to what the artists had planned.

(1)

 (2)

 

 (3)

At ConSpiracion, an exhibition of Spanish contemporary artists who are alumni of the Art and Design College of Valencia (EASD Valencia) and Barcelona (Escola Massana), I really liked the way the brooches on the walls were displayed. There were black and white photographs of different people but instead of the brooch being in the photo it was attached to the photo itself. I liked that you could get a sense of where the brooches sat in relation to the human body and its size, but you also got to experience the piece in its three dimensional form, not the 2D form you usually get when people combine photography with jewellery.

 [I lost my memory card with the photos I took so for now I've borrowed this photo from SIERAAD Art Fair's Facebook page]

The last exhibition whose layout and design really interested me was Lunatic Swing with Australian artist Laura Deakin and 5 other artists who have graduated from the Academy in Munich. This exhibition captivated my attention because the walls split into two little pathways to explore; not only this, but the walls themselves bulged out in various heights and shapes along the wall, making me feel like I was in some kind of weird cave. At first I thought the walls were solid but after a quick touch I discovered that they were not! Fabric had been stretched over some kind of solid structure that the artists had built in the large space. All the work was sewn on at different heights so you really had to bend down or look up to see the details - I enjoyed the interactive nature of this.

In all, I'm starting to see how important exhibition design is. The ones I remembered the most from today were the ones with more interesting layouts with features that enabled you to interact or to be more involved with the pieces by being better able to observe them. It's something that I've been thinking about since Ruudt Peters talked to us about - exhibition layout was really important to him and helped him to add more layers to his pieces. In this same way, I think the exhibitions I've mentioned add different facets and illicit more curiosity because of the way that they have been set out.