To Clarify: The Continuum of Experiences

I have come to the conclusion that many exhibits (or events) have elements that are spectacular – but a small percentage of them are very powerful, transporting their visitors to places and times that they would not ordinarily be able to go. Few actually offer an experience that pushes the limits of the human imagination and causes visitors to forget momentarily the ordinary world outside.

Imagine a continuum of experiences, where “ordinary” experiences are at one end and “spectacles” are at another. For the sake of explanation, I have dropped a few exhibitions and events that I have personally experienced into just such a continuum. (Forgive the crude diagram below.)

Spectacle ---o-----o---------o----------o----------o-----o- Ordinary

According to my diagram, a live performance of Cirque du Soleil La Nouba is nearest to spectacle. From just about any seat in the theater, you feel like a part of the show. The music, the light, and the visually stunning performances of the actors are wholly unique and undeniably unforgettable.

U2 3D is also a very powerful experience, using design elements such as a wide-format screen, well-directed camera angles, the absence of light and groundbreaking 3-D effects to transport viewers to a concert in South America. U2 3D and La Nouba rank highest in spectacular design, most likely due to the nature of those types of experiences.

Dinosphere and the Tower of Terror – with the use of sound and light, take visitors back to the Cretaceous Period or into the Twilight Zone - have stronger spectacle design qualities than the U505 exhibition at the Museum of Science & Industry. In U505, the exhibition design first appears to build up to a grand finale, only to end in a disappointingly dull display of a giant artifact. (Where are the lights and sounds, I say? They totally could have gotten away with this here.)

Most museum exhibits in the world are more like the Dior exhibition I saw at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. I remember it fairly well, thanks to the discussion I was having with coworkers in the gallery – but I couldn’t tell you what the dresses looked like. I was too focused on the (yawn) unexceptional method of display. Imagine if it would have been designed to look like a runway… like you were in the front row of at the fashion show. But instead it looked like you were standing in a pale museum gallery staring at manequins. Which you were.


Now, admittedly, the continuum of experiences could vary from person to person. But something tells me that experiences like U2 3D and Dinosphere will always fall closer to the specatacular end of the scale, versus Dior.

The purpose of my research is to figure out what it is that can help ordinary exhibits, in design terms, become exceptional… I mean, SPECTACULAR!

Body Worlds - The Potential Irony of Spectacle

Since its first exhibition in 1995, the original Body Worlds has wowed visitors and museum professionals around the world. I recall checking into the exhibition after an article about it first appeared in a volume of NAME Exhibitionist in 2002/2003. The museum I worked for considered, if for a brief moment, hosting the exhibition. But, it was still too soon and too shocking for a lot of museums (particularly in the Midwestern U.S.) to actually pursue it.

I ordered the catalog anyway. I studied the wild forms in the photographs. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing – men and women, stripped of their skin and fatty tissue, in “action” poses, as if they were still alive. While I was interested, I was not convinced that I could see the exhibit in person. Ever.

According to Gunther von Hagen’s Body Worlds website, the exhibition goal is primarily to “educate.”

“…individual specimens are used to compare healthy and diseased organs, i.e., a healthy lung with that of a smoker, to emphasize the importance of a healthy life-style… to open up the opportunity to better understand the human body and its functions. The exhibits help the visitors to once again become aware of the naturalness of their bodies and to recognize the individuality and anatomical beauty inside of them” (Institute 2007)

After polling some colleagues in the field recently, I learned very quickly that it has become a phenomenon in the industry. Museum professionals often use words like “risk” and “shocking” and “extraordinary” to describe this exhibit. I received several recommendations to study Body Worlds for my research project. So, about two months ago, I conned some friends into driving to Milwaukee to see it with me.

It was a rainy day in Milwaukee. So, we were chilled to the bone before we ever stepped foot inside the gallery. Two of us had seen Body Worlds 2 prior to this visit. The rest were unaware, apprehensive, and/or curious about what lay ahead. It was a perfect storm for experiencing this exhibit, if you ask me.

The exhibit space was created by the use of pipe and drape. Black walls, black ceilings, dark graphics, dramatic lighting, and poorly executed artifact arrangement. It was a rat maze. The first room looked like it could have been in one of those tiny museums of medical instruments you find crammed into the upstairs of an old building in Europe. It was boring – a line of cases with body parts and one or two basic plastinated figures.

But, in the next room, I began to hear the “oohs” and “aaahs.” Fingers pointed and kids stared at three body forms - a basketball player, a weightlifter walking out of his skin, and a smoker. In the following rooms, figures began to take on more dramatic poses. Three that stand out in my mind are The Phoenix, The Flayed Man, and Horse and Rider. The Flayed Man was disturbing. When I saw this, I really felt that von Hagens’ educational purpose was lost on his new found art hobby – human body sculptures. In fact, in my opinion, if it wasn’t for people simply taking the time to engage in discussions about what they saw, I find it hard to believe that anyone could walk away with new knowledge or understanding of their bodies.

After surveying my friends, I learned that they had a similar experience to mine. Some noted that the visitor path appeared to be a “slow-moving river formation.” Others commented on the lighting – that it “created an illusion of life-like but not real” and was “dramatic.” Some noted that they couldn’t help but watch other visitors – how it was not apparent that they were interested in the anatomy as much as the display of the anatomy.

The exhibit creators say that over 25 million people have seen their exhibits worldwide. A variety of quotes from celebrities on the exhibition website proclaim that the exhibit is “extraordinary” and serves as a reminder to not take your body for granted.

A quick read through the visitor log at the end of the exhibition tells you that others, too, experienced some sort of self-actualization and renewed interest in caring for their bodies.

I feel that Body Worlds did not successfully impart knowledge. (What decade of the museum world is this, anyway? People aren’t empty basins waiting to be filled with anyone’s superior knowledge or expertise.) However, the exhibit DID cause conversation.

Which leads me to my point: Perhaps the appropriate way to use spectacle is to use design elements to “inspire” visitors to think, react and converse.

To me, the bodies inspired conversation that resulted in learning – like a sculpture at an art museum – where visitors turned it into the experience they wanted it to be. THAT’S what museum exhibits are all about.

Body Worlds may dance a fine line between freak show and tastefully dramatic exhibit design… but it sure caused some people to think.



References:

Institute for Plastination (2007). Gunther von Hagen’s Body Worlds: The Original Exhibition of Real Human Bodies. http://www.bodyworlds.com/en.html. Accessed June 2008.

(As a side note, I would like to point out that “plastination” and any derivative are not yet found in the dictionary.)

In case you are unfamiliar with U2 3D:

About Captain EO and U2 3D

When I was 10, I made that epic journey to Walt Disney World with my mom and my brother, not unlike most kids at that age. With the exception of losing my favorite purse in a public restroom in the pouring rain, I only recall one distinct and vivid memory – seeing the Captain EO movie in 3-D.

I remember standing outside waiting on the show and playing in the dancing fountains (the kind where the water jumps from one place to the next). My brother and I were fascinated by this, but only until we piled into a room with a crowd of kids and parents. I seem to recall standing for the entire show, but surely we sat down at some point! Everyone wore those ridiculous 1980s 3-D glasses and stared at the giant screen in the front of the room. If you don’t recall this show or were never privileged to see it in person, you may not realize that it starred Michael Jackson as space traveler. The film featured a variety of characters, but I remember most the appearance of Captain EO at the court of the “Supreme Leader.” Now, I do not remember the entire story, but I do remember being blown away by the visual effects of 3-D, something that I had not been exposed to before that particular film. In fact, I distinctly remember a point where a winged friend of the Captain seemed to fly out of the screen right within arms reach of me… a small child standing in the back of the room. I am sure I said “Woah!”

Needless to say, I begged my mom to buy me the t-shirt and a button… my brother got a Captain EO baseball cap. We’d never forget it.

Just a few months ago, I saw U2 3D at the IMAX theater in the Indiana State Museum. I have seen several 3D shows since my first experience in the 80s… but NOTHING like this one. Most IMAX films allow audience members to feel as though they have taken on a perspective (flying in a plane over cliffs, swimming in the ocean with whales), but few have ever completely convinced me, if only for a moment in time, that I was at a concert in Brazil. I was there. I was watching my favorite band play – live.

My husband and I saw this show together. We once again wore cheesy 3D glasses – which, I think, were intended to look like Bono’s famous shades. They were unsuccessful… but function over fashion, right?

The opening scene of the show was more of a transition for me from the real world to an IMAX world. I was like the girl running across the screen, into the concert arena. I too was about to experience a live music concert and I was pumped. My heart raced with her. There was darkness for a moment and then the flicker of camera flashes and lights started to sprinkle the screen. Before I had time to think about how beautiful the image was – like stars in the sky – the music began. Bono’s voice grew… Edge’s guitar, the drums, the bass penetrated the darkness. It was official. I was there.

During the show, I felt a strong connection to the underlying message created by the song choices and order. It was mostly because of a recent trip to Israel, but I am not sure how one could not have been moved by the live performance of Sunday Bloody Sunday followed by Love and Peace or Else. Even if you weren’t moved by the messages of the songs, you might have been moved by the audience perspective you had. I (and others I talked to afterward) found myself ducking my head around the people standing in front of me – those crazy people in the front row who decided to sit on each other’s shoulders – but then, I realized IT WASN’T REAL PEOPLE! They were on screen! How much more real can you get? Oh! How I wanted to clap, sing along, and dance in the aisles – only to have to remind myself that this wasn’t real. I was still in the theater. I felt that if I was a kid, I may not have stopped myself. Honestly.

At the end of the film, there is a “finale” song. Before the song began, when the band was conjured back onto stage by the chanting of the audience members, you could hear the band members whispering things to each other. It was just like being there. Like Captain EO, the editing, the setting, the effects, and the sound of this experience will never be forgotten.

By [my] definition, these two experiences are spectacles. What might exhibit designers gain from examining this type of experience? Maybe it’s a how to cause that “transition” from the ordinary world into an extraordinary one. IMAX films use perspective and peripheral vision to change the viewer’s sense of place. Lighting, sound effects, and maybe even visual effects can help create an experience that is unforgettable.


Reference Information:
Wiki Info on Captain EO: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_EO
Official Site for U2 3D: http://www.u23dmovie.com/

What is an exhibit spectacle?

I have spent the last few months studying an idea that came up over bagels and coffee at Starbucks - the exhibit as spectacle. I feel that, before I begin to post thoughts I have had since inception of my research, I should probably start by explaining what an "exhibit spectacle" is (in my opinion).

“spectacle erases the dividing line between self and world, in
that the self, under siege by the presence/absence of the world, is eventually
overwhelmed; it likewise erases the dividing line between true and false,
repressing all directly lived truth beneath the real presence of the falsehood
maintained by the organization of appearances” - Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle

A spectacle, according to the dictionary, is a “public show or display on a large scale” or “anything presented to the sight or view, especially of a striking or impressive kind” (spectacle Feb. 2008). The Online Etymology Dictionary explains that spectacle is derivative of the latin word spectaculum which is "a show, spectacle" (spectacle Jun. 2008).

In order to be spectacular, an experience (in this case, an exhibit) has to “arouse feelings of awe and wonder” and be “highly anticipated and highly impressive.” It should also create an alternate “world” where the visitor experiences excitement, awe, and wonder, in a sense forgetting about the “real world.”

The trick is designing an exhibit to be this memorable without losing the message...


References:

• Debord, Guy (1995). The Society of the Spectacle. New York: Zone Books.
• spectacle. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Retrieved February 03, 2008, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/spectacle
• spectacle. (n.d.). Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved June 16, 2008, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/spectacle