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Student Response.01: Manifest Installation

Note: The students in our Gallery Management 404 class submitted papers that responded to their experience working on the Manifest: Colonial Tendencies of the West installation. I selected two of the best papers to publish on the Gallery’s blog to give you some insight on what we do here in preparation for an exhibition opening.

It is odd to walk into a situation and think to yourself, “been there, done that.” This is exactly how I felt when I went to my first day of set up for Manifest. I had already had experience in the museum and gallery setting, but this experience was like no other. As a student in the Gallery of Contemporary Art I feel that I was taught a lot throughout the entire week. There was quite a lot of patience flowing throughout the space, but everyone handled each other and the art itself like pros. Its not often that a group of inexperienced students are thrown into such a demanding position so close to the beginning of the semester.

I learned more about gallery management in the minimal eight hours I spent setting up the exhibit last week than I have thus far in my education.

We all have worked from the beginning of the semester to gain as much knowledge as possible by questioning every “what if?” scenario and reading as thoroughly as possible to make sure our inexperience in the physical aspect of gallery preparation didn’t triumph over our mental knowledge. It was a well thought through learning tool for the students to handle the art from the beginning. By opening crates, writing condition reports and viewing initial paper work, we were able to truly grasp the importance of the task ahead, and get to know each piece on an individual basis. Writing from what I’d like to think of as an unbiased stand point I have to say that this exhibition was one of the most smoothly run, calming, relaxed, and efficient experiences I have been a part of when it comes to gallery preparation.

I learned more about gallery management in the minimal eight hours I spent setting up the exhibit last week than I have thus far in my education. It was a nice change to have the “hands on” approach given to the students. I was appreciative that we had the opportunity to learn by doing, while reading about the large and minor details that go into a large installation of work. From written standpoints, things can seem so boring and monotonous, but once a person is actually involved it becomes thrilling and almost exhilarating to take an empty space and turn it into something aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Manifest was the perfect beginner’s exhibition. There were many different mediums, sizes of artwork and installation methods. There were also challenges that we needed to realize actually can and do happen, and aren’t just things that are written about in books. Pieces can, and will get damaged and some of us learned the appropriate ways to handle these matters along with learning how to deal with them if the work itself can’t be replaced. I really enjoyed Manifest because of its challenges. It was an interesting way to start in a new field for many.

Working in the space we had was a great thing to be a part of; having an area that you can manipulate with movable walls and furniture pieces is helpful. It is easier to visualize the ending outcome by being able to place things exactly where you need them in order to make everything fit. It was great to have the feeling that your input actually mattered in these times as well. Manifest was a great exhibit to learn prep-work on considering all the different mediums throughout the show. It was a great learning experience to be challenged with hanging art in different ways. We used anything from d-rings, hooks, all the way to cleats to display the art. Although taxing, and sometimes intimidating I felt that the challenge was exactly what I needed personally so that I could gain a new knowledge. It’s not very often that a student actually gets to handle each medium in its entirety to learn as much as possible about proper displaying and handling methods. I felt the largest challenge over all throughout the set up was just making sure that all objects were hung at the correct level and at appropriate distances from each other. There is always a great fear of putting a hole where it doesn’t belong.

. . . [A]ll of my peers would agree that we are all one step closer to becoming well rounded gallery managers

Not only was hanging a new experience but gaining knowledge of the digital arts was very important to this exhibit. With digital art on the rise it was perfect to be able to handle it right off the bat so that our class would be able to manage it in any situation. Projectors are becoming a part of almost every exhibition I have visited lately, as well as something hands on for the audience like the video games on the computers. We had the opportunity to learn how to incorporate digital mediums along side of traditional fine arts without taking away from either element. By creating viewing rooms, and sound barriers, we gained a greater knowledge of how to handle digital arts, versus fearing their individual impact on the entirety of the remaining exhibit. These are such important aspects of art that need to be taught more often since they are beginning to consume every medium.

Over all I feel that the Manifest set up was extremely successful. I am fairly confident that set up went really well, and that all of my peers would agree that we are all one step closer to becoming well rounded gallery managers. I felt I was very trusted and actually a contributor to what was going on. The well thought out plan that was placed before us with specific instructions, and well rounded insights were so helpful in our learning. We all couldn’t have done it alone, but as a group we were extremely successful.

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