Exhibition Concept and Development

The checklists below sets out the questions that might be used to test an idea for an exhibition, both at the outset and at various stages during its development. Touring/tourability should be considered from the initial stages of any exhibition planning, in order to consider viability and will save time and energy at a later stage. The progress from initial idea to realisation should involve constant questioning and discussion, and up to an agreed milestone, the option should be available to halt development if the idea fails to meet the grade or looks impractical.

Answers to the questions will help to form a written outline for the exhibition, identifying its intention and scope. At various stages in the development of an exhibition, other colleagues, boards of management, funders and sponsors, potential lenders of exhibits, potential hirers of the exhibition and, eventually, the press and the public will need to be convinced of the exhibition idea and the desirability and feasibility of its realisation.

An idea for an exhibition should be tested against the organisation’s exhibition policy:

• How far does the idea fit the policy, and contribute to it more than other exhibitions would?
• How does it relate to other recent and planned exhibitions?
• How will it engage new audiences?
• How will it engage existing audiences in new ways?
• How far will either of these types of engagement apply to other venues in the tour?

The idea should also be examined against the overall background of exhibitions and other activity elsewhere:

• Has the subject been covered before in another exhibition elsewhere, and if so, how recently?
• How distinct is the idea from other projects?
• How far is it a response to a larger exhibition or public awareness, e.g. a local collection that is rarely shown may provoke renewed interest if an associated artist or collection has recently come under national scrutiny.
• What is the exhibition trying to achieve? Is it attempting to be comprehensive or authoritative on a particular subject, or is it being speculative or provocative? Is it providing a showcase for new artists/makers?
• What are the partnership opportunities? Is there an opportunity for partnership with colleagues in related fields such as libraries or archives? Such partnerships can increase knowledge of the subject, source potential objects for the exhibition, and develop touring partners and shared funding opportunities, including touring specific funding. This is worth considering at as early a stage as possible, to expand the scope of the exhibition idea.
• What are the opportunities for local groups or communities? An exhibition with a focus on educational or community participation may benefit from an early appeal for objects of interest, opening up new audiences for a venue and the possibility of additions being made at other venues during the tour. Consider that the participation of a community or education group will require additional support from the curator or outreach staff, and ensure this is included in the budget.

The checklist below can be used to assess the viability of the subject or theme of a proposed exhibition:

• How far has the organiser the time and the experience to research the idea, to visit potential lenders, to examine the contribution that particular loans make to the concept, and to test availability for the planned exhibition?
• What experts or specialists are there in the subject? It may be appropriate to bring in an external curator with particular knowledge of the subject, on a freelance basis, to shape the concept and contents (or to compile the catalogue). External curators can also be used to look at a subject, space, collection or audience with a new and fresh perspective; to take risks that internal members of staff may be unable to take. In the case of well-known individuals as external curators, they themselves can help to raise the profile of an exhibition or organisation as significantly as the content or approach of the exhibition.
• Is there the budget and the timetable to allow for research? If not, seeking funding for research and development could be considered, if other criteria suggest that the exhibition concept is worth pursuing.
• How far does the theme emerge from the proposed juxtaposition of exhibits? Exhibits are the all-important “material evidence”, selected (a) because of their intrinsic value, for the experience and/or information each individual item can convey, and (b) because together they contribute to an overall experience and/or more general story which reinforces the significance of each item. Why is it necessary to bring exhibits together at great expense and some risk? Direct experience of the real thing should be crucial, and the idea for an exhibition should be abandoned if the subject could be explored as effectively through an article, a book, a video, television programme, or web-based film/site/feature.
• How far does the idea hold up to the evidence of the objects? The idea may change in response to the research. How many or how few exhibits are needed to serve the purpose?How likely are loans? The first objective of any research, whether carried out in-house or by an external curator, is to draw up a “wish list” of key exhibits and their whereabouts. Small amounts of money spent on investigating the availability of loans at an early stage may avoid wasting more time and money on an impractical proposal.
• How dependent is the exhibition on the loan of objects from distant collections? The “wish list” will also define the resources needed to realise the exhibition and affect the feasibility of the exhibition. The costs of transport, packing, couriers and insurance may be very high if exhibits are to be borrowed from several widely-scattered lenders.
• How dependent is the exhibition on the loan of objects which are large, heavy, valuable, fragile or vulnerable to atmospheric changes? Exhibits require respect and care, and their owners may not be willing to make such objects available. Some material might also be expensive to borrow if the loan agreements specify special conservation or display measures.
• How far does the availability and care of fragile or vulnerable objects limit the extent of a tour or the choice of venues or partners to those which have the flexibility to accept them? Can allowances be made, e.g. can some items be substituted without diluting the exhibition’s message?
• How far are the policies of the lender(s) compatible with your aims, and are they likely to be sympathetic to your idea?
• How far has the selection of exhibits been influenced by what has been exhibited recently? Some objects may be difficult to borrow if they have been lent and exhibited in the recent past, as owners often restrict the amount of time that objects are on loan or even on display. Research could reveal comparable and possibly even better material that has not been seen for some time.

An exhibition should be considered at the outset for its potential for touring to other venues. An idea for a touring exhibition needs to be tested against:

• Wider appeal: How relevant is the exhibition to other galleries? What message might it carry which other venues might wish to promote, or what method does it use that they may wish to try?
• Timeliness: What is the particular reason for organising it at this moment, e.g. an anniversary, a climate of interest or debate, a context of other exhibitions? What would be a better time of the year, e.g. to reach a particular target group?
• Availability of exhibits: Some material might not be available for a tour: how seriously would the removal of these exhibits affect the exhibition? If this material is available, is it still sensible to tour exhibits that are fragile, vulnerable to environmental changes, valuable, etc.? If so, how can the costs of the tour be contained, in terms of extra expense of transport, insurance, packing, couriers, display cases, framing, etc.?
• Optimum number of showings: How many venues should be planned? How long a tour will lenders tolerate? How does this balance with economy of effort and finance?
• Possible causes of offence: Some venues may be sensitive to issues of gender or race, perhaps involving culturally-sensitive material.
• Compatibility of venues: How comparable are the venues in terms of size, accessibility, environmental and security conditions? How can some flexibility be built into the selection, to allow for exhibits to be left out at some venues? This may be easier if exhibits are borrowed direct from artists, and may be more difficult for loans from private collections or from museums.
• Staff available: How will the organiser make available the human resources to manage the tour while running its own programme? What knowledge and experience does the organiser have to realise and tour the exhibition? How far should other specialists be involved who may know more about making and touring that kind of exhibition?
• Budget available: What financial resources does the organiser have to meet all the extra costs associated with preparing an exhibition for tour and then with managing this operation? What sponsorship and/or grants can be obtained in time to support the tour?

When you start to realise your exhibition, having established its viability from all appropriate perspectives, you may have sufficient in-house resources to undertake this, or additional assistance may be required. Widening the ‘partnership’ of the exhibition could be necessary; there are three main ‘directions’ this may take.

• Engaging an external curator: An external curator (or guest curator) can be defined as an individual from outside the organisation who is employed, for an agreed period, to work on any or all of the following: research and development, display and installation, management and administration of an exhibition and/or its tour. Typically an external curator would be an artist, an academic, a critic, or a freelance consultant with specialist knowledge in either the subject of the exhibition or the approach the organisation wants the exhibition to take. There are many reasons why an organisation might employ an external curator, and they fall into two main categories:

New Expertise: Ideas for exhibitions often present themselves without any in-depth knowledge of the chosen subject. It may be that an organisation wishes to create an exhibition on the subject of Egyptology, yet there is not a curator in the organisation with knowledge in this field. In such a case, an obvious solution to the problem is to employ an external curator with the necessary skills and knowledge.

Buying time: This second heading is a much more practical approach to solving an organisation’s problems. Depending on the external curator and the tasks they are made responsible for, an external curator can be employed in order to free up time for internal members of staff to work on other projects. Both curating and touring an exhibition can be very time-consuming tasks, and employing an external curator as a curator/tour manager can make it a more realistic activity rather than subjecting internal staff to pressure as they try to fulfil multiple roles.

There are many ways to approach selecting an external curator, the most obvious of which is having someone in mind for the exhibition as it is being defined. If there is no obvious person or if this person is not available, it is advisable to create a shortlist of possible candidates. If the exhibition has a significant budget and timescale, the research for such a list could be undertaken through advertising in relevant publications. Otherwise, relevant colleagues could be asked to suggest candidates. The final decision may be made by a small panel of two or three representatives from the employing organisation. If it is felt that the representatives of the organisation do not have enough knowledge of the specialist subject, then it would be sensible to invite a representative from a relevant external organisation onto the panel to advise. It is also important when selecting an external curator to consider how much support the employing organisation can offer and whether this is realistic.

As with employing any member of staff, the contract should be a clear and straightforward document. A significant part of this contract should take the form of a brief that defines the exhibition and its aims. Other areas that should be defined include how the external curator communicates progress back to the organisation and a detailed outline of what their responsibilities will be. The contract acts as a legal document but also as a specific guideline for both the external curator and the organisation, defining what is expected from each party, and should be referred to regularly throughout the life of the exhibition. The timescale in the contract should set key milestones for the exhibition and also should include the tour of the exhibition defining the responsibilities of the external curator during the tour, e.g. “the external curator will be expected to find at least two further venues for the exhibition”; “the external curator will be expected to oversee the installation of the exhibition at each venue at the expense of the individual venue”; “the external curator will be expected to be available to give one lecture per exhibition tour venue”, etc. In addition to the usual legal and statutory clauses the following list of headings should form the main content of the contract:

• Exhibition brief
• Role of the External Curator
• Role of the Organisation
• Timescale
• Budget
• Fees and Payment Schedule

Normal practice is to offer an external curator a fee based on a day-rate, multiplied by the number of days’ work expected. The final amount can either be offered as a flat fee, or as a daily rate for which the external curator keeps a time sheet. It is easier to keep within budget by offering a flat fee, but some projects are not quantifiable at an early stage and therefore a daily rate is more appropriate. Normal practice is also to put a further sum of money aside to cover any expenses incurred, although this can be included in the fee. It is important to explicitly state whether expenses can be claimed for. It should also be agreed at this point whether the fee includes VAT or not (normally it would be up to the external curator to organise their own tax contributions). The payment schedule should be agreed between the external curator and the organisation as a matter of courtesy. It is not uncommon to make several payments at different stages throughout the project rather than one single payment.

• Working in Partnership: Partnerships can be beneficial to a touring exhibition in terms of securing additional funding, drawing on wider expertise and expanding the content and scope of an exhibition. Further information on working in partnership can be found in the Collaborations and Partnerships Chapter.

• Funding: Additional funding may enable you to produce the exhibition in-house, or have sufficient funds to employ additional support, such as an external curator. For more information on exhibition development models see the Budgeting and Financial Planning Chapter, and for more information on sources of funding see the Funding, Grants and Sponsorship Chapter.

Author: Louise Hesketh (2015)