Large-scale Exhibition Research Articles

Formnext 2018. Итоги масштабной европейской выставки по 3d-печати

Formnext 2018. Итоги масштабной европейской выставки по 3d-печати

Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable or The project of Damien Gerst as the focus of contemporary art self-positioning tendencies

Summary. The article presents and analyzes the large-scale exhibition of the world-famous and scandalously famous English artist Damien Hirrst, presented in the framework of the Venice Biennale 2017. It gives a brief overview of the artist›s creative path and the concept of the «Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable « project — a recent experiment in the style of the metamodernism, as well as a number of professional questions regarding the tasks and meanings of such projects.

9th Mercosul Biennial | Porto Alegre: curatorial and spatial practices, a dialogue with Sofía Hernández Chong Cuy

What sets the curatorial practice in a biennial exhibition model today? A question, among many others, raised during the project structuring of the 9th Mercosul Biennial | Porto Alegre, from September 13th to November 10th 2013, under the title, in Portuguese, Se o Clima for Favoravel (in Spanish, Si el tiempo lo permite; in English, Weather Permitting), is contained in this interview with art director and general curator of this issue, Sofia Hernandez Chong Cuy. The meeting, which took place during the unfolding of the event, shares with the reader the questions generated during the process of construction of a large-scale exhibition event. On one side, curating, and on the other, museography, considered from the professional activities performed by the ones involved in this conversation during the biennial edition, meet to, through open dialogue, establish an attempt to think critically about the experience of exhibition practices nowadays – amid design and materialization, debate and provocation, curatorial and artistic intentionality, interpretation and public presentation of contemporary art.

Rebranding a traditional housing company: The Flagship Group rebrand from initial research to implementation

Many businesses plough all their efforts into branding from a sales perspective — the in-your-face banners, money-no-object advertising campaigns and large-scale exhibition stands, not forgetting branded goods — the ‘trash and trinkets’ image of marketing. And why not — these efforts have worked well for numerous companies over the years and will continue to — just not in isolation. As the business world becomes even more value based, employees are asking questions around the company’s purpose, the benefits to its customer and to society. No longer is it okay to just serve customers; employees want to be proud of delivering that service and of being associated with the company. This means the business has to look at the brand, culture and its impact on employees, customers and communication as a whole — covering all interactions with all audiences. Creating a brand culture where employees feel connected, company values and strategy are understood and consistent will create a more effective and productive business. The rebrand exercise was an expression of Flagship’s renewed commitment to its growth ambitions ultimately re-engaging its people to the company’s purpose and reinforcing the close relationship between brand and culture.

The Politics of Display

What role should curators play in shaping and guiding political discourse? This article examines the consequences of political activism in museum display by investigating the Whitney Museum of American Art’s exhibition America is Hard to See (May 1 – September 27, 2015). The show asked visitors to reconsider American art as a reflection of a profoundly diverse nation, while effectively retelling the modern history of the country by use of juxtaposition and contextualization. The large-scale exhibition employed specific curatorial pronouncements that seemed to serve a political agenda, provoking a reconsideration of curatorial boundaries. This was most evident in the museum’s politically charged placement of Elizabeth Peyton’s portrait, Barack and Michelle (2008–13, fig. 1), which uncritically celebrated the 44th President of the United States and his wife. It is not the intention of the author to question the validity, importance, or artistic merit of Peyton’s contribution. It is understood that the unique charge of an artist allows for and encourages subjective responses. Yet for this reason curators are confronted with a difficult task when faced with the installation of politically oriented art. Depending on the associated text and display tactics employed, an artwork’s subjective appeal might preclude an extended consideration of relevant social issues. While it is generally standard practice for the art world to reflect Leftist ideals, this essay proposes a tempered approach in the curatorial treatment of political subjects. Such a method could foster a more nuanced and meaningful dialogue among museum patrons, as well result in greater inclusivity for the public.

Redefining Artistic Value in Communist China: Rent Collection Courtyard

In late August 1966, during the incipient stages of the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) in China, students and teachers of the prestigious Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing smashed with axes and shovels the school’s plaster cast collection of established sculptural masterpieces.1 Used as models from which the school’s students made sketches as part of their basic training, the plaster cast collection included Michelangelo’s David, the Venus de Milo, and the Apollo Belvedere, as well as Buddhist sculptures from various renowned cave temples in China. With the demonstrative destruction of the plaster casts of what were deemed canonical artworks, the scales for measuring artistic value in the still young Communist nation were symbolically and definitively overturned. A month later the large-scale exhibition of one of the most important works in Chinese modern art, Rent Collection Courtyard, opened in Beijing in the room once dedicated for ancestral veneration in the Forbidden City. Its occupation of the former seat of imperial authority and culture intimated a crucial turning point in modern Chinese art and values.

Notes towards the critical biennale

Abstract The periodic large-scale exhibition can be uncritical or critical, but it is essential to understand, when it is critical, where its critical agency is located. An exhibition of critical artworks is not necessarily the same as an exhibition consisting of works by critical artists, and an exhibition organised by a critical curator does not necessarily consist of critical works or critical artists. Indeed, the critical agency of the critical curator may be antagonistic to the critical artist. As such, this essay considers the location of criticality within the structure of the biennale itself rather than locating critical agency within the critical artist or critical curator.

Review: Wien wird Weltstadt: Die Ringstraße und ihre Zeit; Vom Werden der Wiener Ringstraße; and Ringstraße: Ein jüdischer Boulevard

Wien wird Weltstadt: Die Ringstrase und ihre Zeit Austrian National Library, Vienna 21 May–1 November 2015 Vom Werden der Wiener Ringstrase Vienna City Library, Vienna 30 April–13 November 2015 Ringstrase: Ein judischer Boulevard Jewish Museum, Vienna 25 March–4 October 2015 In 2015, Vienna celebrated the 150th anniversary of the opening of the Ringstrasse, arguably the city's most important contribution to nineteenth-century art and architecture. In addition to a large exhibition at the Wien Museum (reviewed separately in this issue by Christoph Holz), three exhibitions explored the theme in contrasting ways. All of them faced the challenge of interpreting and presenting the mammoth undertaking represented by the Ringstrasse; all sought to give a comprehensive overview and, at the same time, to present new information at a level of detail that would add to our general knowledge of the era. Unfortunately, the exhibition makers relied for the most part on materials stored in their own collections, without making much use of objects kept by others. It was obviously not their aim to organize one comprehensive large-scale exhibition on the Ringstrasse era comparable to such groundbreaking exhibitions as Traum und Wirklichkeit: Wien 1870–1930 (Kunstlerhaus Vienna, 1985) or Burgersinn und Aufbegehren: Biedermeier und Vormarz in Wien 1815–1848 (Kunstlerhaus Vienna, 1988). The exhibitions of 2015 appeared instead like separate contributions to a transdisciplinary conference highlighting different aspects of a common theme. The Ringstrasse, the symbol of Vienna's transformation into a modern metropolis, was opened on 1 …

Offering to P. Tchaikovsky. Anniversary of the Composer at the Russian State Library

The article describes the events of the All-Russian Conference “Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The 175th Birth Anniversary”, conducted by the Department of Music Publications and Audio Records of the Russian State Library. There is presented the large-scale exhibition, combining unique materials on great Russian composer from different collections of the Russian State Library.

Greenhouse gas emission and its potential mitigation process from the waste sector in a large-scale exhibition

As one of the largest human activities, World Expo is an important source of anthropogenic Greenhouse Gas emission (GHG), and the GHG emission and other environmental impacts of the Expo Shanghai 2010, where around 59,397tons of waste was generated during 184 Expo running days, were assessed by life cycle assessment (LCA). Two scenarios, i.e., the actual and expected figures of the waste sector, were assessed and compared, and 124.01kg CO2-equivalent (CO2-eq.), 4.43kg SO2-eq., 4.88kg NO3−-eq., and 3509m3 water per ton tourist waste were found to be released in terms of global warming (GW), acidification (AC), nutrient enrichment (NE) and spoiled groundwater resources (SGWR), respectively. The total GHG emission was around 3499ton CO2-eq. from the waste sector in Expo Park, among which 86.47% was generated during the waste landfilling at the rate of 107.24kg CO2-eq., and CH4, CO and other hydrocarbons (HC) were the main contributors. If the waste sorting process had been implemented according to the plan scenario, around 497ton CO2-eq. savings could have been attained. Unlike municipal solid waste, with more organic matter content, an incineration plant is more suitable for tourist waste disposal due to its high heating value, from the GHG reduction perspective.

From Outsider to Participant: Developmentally Disabled Dialogue in Socially Engaged Art

How can the museum incorporate the voice of the developmentally disabled artist? How can the very idea of dialogue be reconsidered through the interactions that the museum curator might develop with artists that have atypical cognitive abilities? I trace these questions through an examination of a video and the circumstances around it, entitled CREATE: The Artists Are Present (2011), which showcases a series of interviews with developmentally disabled artists from Creative Growth in Oakland, Creativity Explored in San Francisco and National Institute for Art and Disability (NIAD) in Richmond, California. The interviews were conducted by self-identifying physically disabled artists as a reaction against the lack of self-representation of the interviewed artists in the large-scale exhibition, CREATE (2011), co-curated by Lawrence Rinder, Director of the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archives (BAMPF), California, and Matthew Higgs, Director of White Columns, New York. This paper argues that the very nature of artist/curator dialogue and socially engaged art practices in the museum can be deepened and enriched by much more variegated forms of communication amongst those typically occupying the margins.

Research on Exhibition Logistics Information Platform Construction

Learning from the successful experience of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, modern logistics industry offers tremendous opportunities. Under this condition, the paper predecessor analysis on the basis of the design of large-scale comprehensive exhibition logistics network operating programs, solutions of the logistics industry is pointed out faced with the logistics of the extended time, the complicated logistics and other issues. A well operated exhibition logistics system and its information system are designed with several advantages.

Numerical Simulation on Airflow Field in Large-Scale Exhibition Hall with Different HVAC Vent Configurations

Numerical Simulation on Airflow Field in Large-Scale Exhibition Hall with Different HVAC Vent Configurations

Brian: The Typographical Error that Brought Early Career Neuroscientists and Artists Together

The divide between the arts and sciences is a relatively modern phenomenon. One can look at Renaissance collaborations between naturalists and artists, including the rich body of botanical art from the 1500s, as historical examples of such interdisciplinary collaborations [1]–[4]. But as both fields have evolved, it's not surprising that they have become more compartmentalised and culturally segregated. Today, art and science subjects are taught independently from an early age, the divisions often solidifying over time [5]. Indeed, it is a great generalisation to limit definitions to merely “science” and “art,” with so many distinct categories within each field. Projects that enlist scientists and artists to incorporate both perspectives have the potential to promote scientific research in the public arena, enrich the creative component of science, stimulate artists, and engage diverse communities in dialogue and discourse, while developing exposure for both fields. Do You Mind?, an art-science collaboration started by researchers at the University of Auckland Centre for Brain Research and the arts management business The Busy Nice, was initially inspired by the imagery produced within neuroscience as tools to start conversation—from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans of the human brain to the recording of electrical signals from brain cells in culture to fluorescent microscopy images of cells (Figure 1). Figure 1 Examples of representative images produced by participating scientists in their research and corresponding artworks. Do You Mind? paired early career neuroscientists at the Centre for Brain Research with newly established local artists. Collaborators started with the scientists' research, but were free to discuss any aspect of the brain and brain research. Artists then produced artworks for exhibition in response to this interaction and research. The direct outcomes of Do You Mind? included a large-scale public exhibition and a publication documenting the project, with images and responses from all participants. Overall, developing Do You Mind? as a community project, using collaborative approaches, multi-media engagement, and documentation throughout the project, helped ensure high-profile media promotion. Anecdotal feedback from both the artists and scientists suggested that involvement had a positive effect upon their perspective and professional practice. The high level of public and media interest not only increased awareness of current neuroscience research at the Centre for Brain Research but also captivated fresh audiences for both research and art in Auckland.

Unearthing Origins: The Use of Art, Archaeology, and Exhibitions in Creating Korean National Identity, 1945–1962

The 1957 exhibition, Masterpieces of Korean Art, suggests that the promotion of Korean cultural artifacts as innate and inherent representations of Korean national pride is a relatively recent phenomenon with a traceable history. Curated by Alan Priest and Robert Paine, the show made its debut in Washington, DC, and toured the United States and Europe over a five-year period. Crafted with a Western audience in mind, Masterpieces nevertheless served many interrelated and competing constituencies. As the first large-scale exhibition of Korean artifacts sent abroad, the show became the battleground for the assertion of a specifically South Korean identity separate from its then recent history as a Japanese colony during the early part of the twentieth century.

Relationship quality between exhibitors and organizers: A perspective from Mainland China's exhibition industry

Despite the fact that many destinations around the world have invested significant resources to build large-scale exhibition centers and host exhibitions to gain both economic and non-economic benefits (e.g., Jago and Deery, 2010), there is a paucity of research on exhibitions in general, and on the relationships among key stakeholders in particular. This study aims to address this research gap by investigating the relationship between exhibitors and exhibition organizers in view of its potential to significantly affect the success of a particular exhibition, and in the broader context the success of exhibition destinations. A survey collected 616 responses from exhibitors exhibiting at nine trade fairs in four cities in Mainland China. Study findings confirmed that exhibitors’ relationship quality with organizers is a second-order construct composed of four factors: (1) service quality and relationship satisfaction, (2) trust and affective commitment, (3) communication, and (4) calculative commitment. Furthermore, perceived relationship quality differed significantly, depending on key characteristics of organizers and exhibitors. Potential reasons that might contribute to these differences are explored and implications are discussed.

大規模展示会を対象としたライフサイクルCO2評価

大規模展示会を対象としたライフサイクルCO₂評価

On the exhibition of the Breuer Marcell Doctoral School, Pécs

The predecessor of the Breuer Marcell Doctoral School has been founded in 2004 at the Pollack Mihaly Faculty of Engineering, University of Pecs. This Doctoral School had the authority to issue DLA degrees in the artistic field of architecture. In January 2010 the Doctoral School has been named after Marcell Breuer and since then it has the authority to issue both DLA and PhD doctoral degrees.The Doctoral School has introduced itself to international forums in the past years several times. For example it has been invited to organize a large-scale exhibition in the Collegium Hungaricum Berlin and another exhibition at the University of Stuttgart.The governance of the Doctoral School has decided that the results of the past years produced under the supervision of the Doctoral School and the future plans of the school should be exhibited at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. It was also the intention that this exhibition should also be an opportunity for all Hungarian architects to get to kn...

Babette Mangolte in conversation with Elena Filipovic

With a keen sense of the historical, Babette Mangolte's installation How to Look, on view at the Whitney Biennial in New York from 25 February to 30 May 2010, reworks an exhibition of Mangolte's held at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center in 1978, transforming its objectives and the context in which it will be shown. The original installation focused on the idea of choice: the viewer was presented with a wall covered with 41 black-and-white photographs organised in panels that, from left to right, went from figurative portraits to composite images bordering on abstraction, and two identical sets of 52 photographic playing cards, laying on a table, that could be manipulated and re-organised. In the 2010 show, the wall has been re-installed, the photo cards on the table are encased behind glass, and a film shows the manipulation of the photocards. The installation tests how ones look at photographs when they are in a context that alternates between large-scale exhibition and small variations in theme, while the f...

Coded Ornament: Contemporary Plasterwork and the Use of Digital Technologies

ABSTRACTThe ornamental plaster industry is predominantly driven by the reproduction of traditional designs and by restoration work. The manufacturing technologies used in this industry have developed little since the nineteenth century. The current resurgence in the use of decoration within interior and exterior architectural design along with the author's interest in digital technologies prompted him to undertake a practice-based research project which sought to investigate the role of digital technologies in the design and production of contemporary ornamental plasterwork.The research took the form of a collaborative project involving the author (a maker and researcher) and an ornamental plasterwork company (Hayles & Howe). The author was interested in not only the productive potential of digital technologies, but also their role in creating new forms of sustainable practice for independent makers. The specific questions addressed by this project were:1. By working in collaboration with an established manufacturer of decorative plasterwork, can an independent designer-maker be instrumental in developing an innovative new range of products or create the potential for new markets/contexts for architectural plasterwork?2. Can the integration of CAD/CAM technologies with the traditional skills and processes used in this industry help promote innovation and create the potential for mass customization?This project involved the author working within the workshops of the plaster company in order to gain an understanding of their ‘traditional’ production processes and assess how digital technologies could potentially extend their current working procedures. He then went on to undertake four small projects employing a range of different digital technologies (including laser cutting, 2D and 3D CNC milling and rapid prototyping), in order to develop new design and production procedures and a number of new plasterwork prototypes. The project culminated in a large-scale exhibition of the new work developed, a documentation of process and demonstrations of some of the technology employed.This paper takes the form of a case study report on the project. It will describe the aims, providing an illustrated description of the processes used to develop the new work and reflecting on the author's experience of the collaboration. The conclusion will discuss to what degree the questions posed have been addressed, with a focus on issues relating to new product development, and highlight any generalizable outcomes which may be of relevance to independent makers undertaking collaborative projects with industry.