Museum of Fine Arts: Contextualization

Exhibit: SMFA @ Tufts Archive & Autobiography

Exhibit

Thought that the exhibit was rather well contextualized, it consisted of 5 pieces that were unique to the artist’s background and they had interesting backstory in the description of the pieces
- Each artist had their own “Color that corresponded with their piece”
The exhibit itself was also well described (See description below)
Made me think about the third person and the formal tone about captions
- The exhibit pieces themselves are rather personal and all relate to the thoughts and emotions of the artists, but the formal captions only really introduces how the artists came to create their work while lacking a close connection to the artists as human beings
- When an exhibit is about personal experiences, how can one write in a way that may be more relatable
- Who are they speaking to? to the general public, to the critics, ect
The layout of the exhibit posed a challenge: it was difficult for us to realize the initial context of the exhibit when we saw the pieces
- may have also had to do with the idea that the exhibit had multiple (~¾) entrances
- The biography of the artists were hidden from view at first since it is on the wall right next to the entrance we went through

The labels feature a good-sized font and an acceptable length.
Include short sections in the label text to feature the artists’ own voices to initiate a deeper conversation with the visitors
Technology is not employed. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but narrating a story is one effective use of technology in this area.
- Audio from the artists themselves would be a nice addition
Perhaps the addition of audio will create an emotional experience as the audio will narrate the background of the artwork, its creation process, and the artist’s inspiration. It will bring humanness to the artwork.
Would still keep the color coding as it carries an emotional depth and content