I thought that it was relevant to include my exhibition statement on this blog because it a reflexive/ explanatory piece of text which states my intentions with my final show. The text talks about each element of my design and my reasons for choosing such reasons.
Below is a short piece of text that justifies my choices made when designing my virtual exhibition with the intention to design my final show in the same way.
Statement
The layout of an exhibition is of great importance to me, I believe the viewer should be taken into account when deciding each individual element of the design.
I start by talking about the order of the photographs, something that took a great deal of time editing down and deciding which image to place in which order. Through a number of different editing sessions both with other photographers/ peers and also by myself, I was able to use test prints to experiment with the order of the photographs. This was a very worthwhile exercise as it enabled me to become better educated in how to order a body of work more successfully. It is important that whilst editing down to the final set of images that a photographer gets other peoples opinions, these opinions can bring new ideas or ideas that the photographer might not have seen initially. Physically printing out the test prints enabled me to visualize the photographs as a sequence and it was easier to decide the order from doing so. The photographs needed to have some sort of continuity about them, many exhibitions that I have visited have considered the way that a viewer reads a body of work. I therefore decided to use one landscape-orientated image followed by a portrait image and so on, this gives the viewer a reoccurring pattern.
Using the virtual online exhibition software, Exhibbit, enabled me to visualize my work as if it was being hung on a gallery wall. This was a great experience as it enabled me to practice how I would like my photographs to be presented during the final show. The software had several downsides however; it was very basic and only enabled the user to make basic changes to the layout. From the very beginning of my assignment I decided that I would exhibit my photographs on one single white wall with no separation by other walls, this was mainly due to the way in which the viewer would experience and read the images without being distracted. Although we have not been allocated a space for the final show as of yet, I have requested a long plain white wall so that I would be able to exhibit my images in one long sequence. I produced a mock up design using the software, the images of which can be seen within the folder named “DESIGN 1”. It is obvious to see that the images within this design are very close together, this is not how I will choose to exhibit my final prints, I intend to have a larger are of white space separating each image. The final 9x A1 size images would not have been able to fit on the wall within the Exhibbit software and the user is unable to change the size of the space. This design does however show how I intend to display my final images once I am given a longer wall at the final show.
As a precaution, and incase I am not allocated a single long white wall to exhibit, I have designed another layout using the software. The second layout can be seen within the folder named “DESIGN 2”.
This layout incorporates two different walls into the design and through designing this I have been able to practice the layout incase I am allocated 2 different walls or more. I consciously decided to separate the images onto two walls so that they looked equal, the two landscape orientated images either side of the portrait orientated image works successfully.
In terms of the framing that I will use for the exhibition, I have chosen to incorporate the forge into the production of the brackets that will hold my work onto the wall. I will encase each print within two clear A1 size pieces of Perspex/ acrylic sheet. This frame will then be attached to the wall by the brackets made by the engineers at Risley Forge, the company at which I have been photographing. This is a great way of incorporating the highly talented engineers work into this project, which is all about the praise of these men.
The scale of the prints has been of great importance to myself throughout this project, as the project is a praise of these engineers and their way of life, I intend to have large-scale prints. Due to the high quality photographs that I have produced, it enables me to have the images at size A1, which will give the viewer a chance to see the enormous amount of detail in each photograph. As mentioned on my blog, I have chosen to have white boarder around each image to frame each image and enable them to stand out. The white boarder will be only a couple of inches wide due to personal preference.
I believe that the body of work along side the display choices that I have made for the exhibition will create a flowing and well designed exhibition that will give the viewer a professional quality experience.
The detail of each element of the design is shown in more detail on my blog,
