The Exhibitionists

A model of a museum gallery [opens in new window]

Drawing board

Next we plan how our exhibition will look. The curator and exhibitions officer work with a designer to plan where everything goes.

Most exhibitions will have a ‘story’ and we will want visitors to take a particular route around the gallery so the story makes sense, eg you may need to see an artist’s early work first so you can see how their style developed.

We also think about:

• how many display cases we need and how they fit in the gallery
• emergency exits
• wheelchair access – we aim to leave gaps at least 2 metres wide
• the changes we need to make to the gallery, eg painting walls

The designer creates plans and models of our exhibition, including things like display cases and information panels. Models, like the one above, are better than plans as they help us see how the gallery will actually look.

You can try planning a gallery in ‘The Case Game’ or can carry on with the tour.

Making Plans | Continue the tour