Museum exhibitions play a unique role in the dissemination of historical knowledge. They are more than books on the wall; they are visual narratives that combine and reframe information to convey it to audiences with diverse backgrounds and interests. A well-conceived, innovative exhibit will challenge visitors to think critically about complex issues and provide a window into the dense research that goes into composing a history.
Unlike scholarly monographs and popular history books, exhibitions allow museums to explore a wider range of historical topics in more imaginative ways than can be done through traditional pedagogical methods such as classroom presentations, lectures, or public events. Often, they address core social values and ideas that are not easily defined or canonized, such as home, family, liberty, freedom, faith, and community.
As a result, they can communicate important research results, socio-political messages, and other complex subjects in an engaging manner that is both intellectually and emotionally accessible to a broad audience. Moreover, they often communicate these messages through more than just text; ancillary materials such as catalogues, videos, public programs, and even living history presentations can also contribute to an exhibit’s overall message.
While the intellectual underpinnings of an exhibit are important, it is equally crucial to examine how the exhibition is experienced and perceived by visitors. This is especially true when an exhibit addresses controversial subjects or uses visual storytelling to raise complex questions about the past.
Exhibition reviews will seek to evaluate an exhibit from the dual perspectives of scholar and visitor, to assess whether it successfully conveys the complexity of its subject in a form that is readable by a general audience and to analyze how the exhibition’s design and layout help or hinder this goal.
The first in a series of exhibition reviews in Perspectives on Histolircal Exhibits will explore an intriguing exhibition that traces the cultural and natural history roots of dragons, griffins, and other legendary creatures across the world. The exhibition uses sculptures, paintings, textiles, and other cultural objects to explore how ancient peoples imagined and depicted these awe-inspiring land, sea, and air creatures.
The next installment in this exhibition review column will explore an exciting show about African art that was crafted by artists from Northeastern Zaire in the turn of the century. The exhibition examined a variety of sculptural and carving styles that were produced by Mangbetu, Azande, Barambo, Bua, and other ethnographic communities in this part of the world, including ivory, terra cotta, wood, and fiber objects such as harps, knives, knuckles, and pottery. The show highlighted the development of a distinctive, finely crafted style that emphasized the bound, elongated head, favored by some Mangbetu rulers. It also addressed the relationship between these arts and various aspects of life in northeastern Zaire such as war, love, and spirituality. The exhibition included over 400 objects. It was a collaboration between two institutions: the American Museum of Natural History and the Royal Museum for Central Africa, both in Antwerp, Belgium.