What Makes a Great Exhibition?

by Paula Marincola (Editor)

For better or worse, museums are changing from forbidding bastions of rare art into audience-friendly institutions that often specialize in “blockbuster” exhibitions designed to draw crowds. But in the midst of this sea change, one largely unanswered question stands “What makes a great exhibition?” Some of the world’s leading curators and art historians try to answer this question here, as they examine the elements of a museum exhibition from every angle. What Makes a Great Exhibition? investigates the challenges facing American and European contemporary art in particular, exploring such issues as group exhibitions, video and craft, and the ways that architecture influences the nature of the exhibitions under its roof. The distinguished contributors address diverse topics, including Studio Museum in Harlem director Thelma Golden’s examination of ethnically-focused exhibitions; and Robert Storr, director of the 2007 Venice Biennale and formerly of the Museum of Modern Art, on the meaning of “exhibition and “exhibitionmaker.” A thought-provoking volume on the practice of curatorial work and the mission of modern museums, What Makes A Great Exhibition? will be indispensable reading for all art professionals and scholars working today.

Genres: Art, Art History, Nonfiction, Museums

184 pages, Paperback

First published February 16, 2007

Reviews

[Sofia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Posted on my book blog.

This book is a collection of essays by a myriad of professionals in the field, selected and edited by Paula Marincola of the Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative. As a student of Museum and Curatorial Studies, it caught my eye at the bookstore, and surely enough, less than a month later, in class, we started studying a couple of the essays included.

Theoretically, the essays attempt to tackle the extremely vague and open question that lends itself to the title of the book, and in order to do so, the editor sent a list of questions to the contributors for them to work as they saw fit (this list is available to the reader in the form of a bookmark, besides being part of the cover's original design). However, I found that a lot of the essays didn't actually attempt to answer that question, and instead explored other themes related to curating; that wasn't a problem to me, since they were still interesting and informative, it just feels a bit strange to be told that the book will be something and then find out it's different (if only slightly).

The essays themselves were of mixed relevance and quality. A few of them were in need of revision, with errors in grammar and phrase construction (English isn't my first language and yet I still noticed them), but overall the quality was excellent, and a few of them explored issues and details of exhibition making that I haven't seen explored elsewhere. Ingrid Schaffner's essay on wall text, and Robert Storr's "Show and Tell", were particularly useful.

A great resource for students and professionals.

[Inês Ariana Pita · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 ⭐

[Cynthia Day · Rating 2 out of 5]

I only read this because of a college class. Some of the works were interesting, but most weren't. I'm not an art major, nor do I have a deep understanding of art (which I'm sure plays a role) so a fair amount of the articles in the book were either tedious or I didn't fully understand what I was reading.

Note* I had to read this for a class titled Curatorial Studies.

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

A series of essays by curators, art historians and museum directors about what they believe makes an exhibition "great".

Highlights so far include Mary Jane Jacob's "Making Space for Art," and Ralph Rugoff's "You talking to me? On curating group shows that give you a chance to join the group"

[Amalie]

Found it mentioned in «thinking contemporary curating» by Terry Smith