Exhibiting: Spaces, Design and Audience Experience
From studio to gallery
Exhibiting asks candidates to understand how artworks become an exhibition. Key concepts: curatorial rationale (the idea that unites works), selection and sequencing, spatial layout and sightlines, hanging heights and spacing, lighting (levels, direction, UV damage, glare), wall and plinth placement, labelling and interpretation, and audience movement and accessibility.
Design decisions that carry meaning
Placement is not neutral. A work on a freestanding wall reads differently from one in a corridor; clustering works creates dialogue, while isolating one gives it emphasis. Consider scale relationships, sightlines on entry (what the viewer sees first), grouping by theme versus chronology, and negative space on walls. Conservation matters too: works on paper are light-sensitive, textiles sag, and sculptures need stable plinths and safe clearance.
Traps in questions
- Describing a gallery as "white and spacious" without analysing how layout shapes interpretation.
- Ignoring the audience: questions about exhibition design usually want consideration of viewer experience, flow and accessibility.
- Confusing a curatorial theme with a simple list of works in the same medium.
Worked example
Asked to justify a layout, a strong answer reads: "The largest work was placed on the far wall, visible on entry, to establish the exhibition's theme immediately; smaller related studies were hung in a tighter cluster on the adjacent wall so viewers could compare them, with bench seating opposite to encourage extended viewing."
Rule of thumb
For every exhibition decision, state the intent, the design choice, and the effect on the viewer.