Exhibitions: Designed to Inspire and Engage, WLIC 2022
Join RBSC and P&C at WLIC 2022 for Exhibitions: Designed to Inspire and Engage (Session 068)
Room: Liffey Hall 2
Tuesday, July 26, 13:15 – 14:30
This joint IFLA program will address the shared institutional challenges and opportunities of exhibitions in twenty-first century, post-pandemic cultural heritage institutions. Libraries are increasingly tasked with finding spaces for public exhibitions, and the line dividing libraries and museums is increasingly blurred. Enviably, the increased demand for exhibitions has also increased the demand for loans of cultural heritage objects, regardless of institutional size and staffing. This session is a recognition of this changing institutional landscape and the need to convene authoritative voices in the field of libraries and museums to acknowledge our shared responsibilities for object safety and culturally inclusive exhibition interpretation.
Speakers and Abstracts
Georgia Wohlleben
M.A. MLIS, State and University Library Hamburg
Current position: State Library Officer / International Relations Officer
Bio: Georgia Wohlleben works as State Library Officer and Adviser to the Head Librarian at State and University Library Hamburg, Germany. She also serves as International Relations Officer. Before working at State and University Library Hamburg, Wohlleben was Head Librarian at Central Law Library at the Faculty of Law at Hamburg University. Wohlleben holds a Master’s degree in Literary Studies and Law and also obtained a Master’s in Library and Information Science. In her current position, Wohlleben is co-responsible for the preservation of cultural heritage for the city and xounty of Hamburg. She is also responsible for the interpretation of cultural heritage through exhibitions, cultural events, and other activities throughout the library.
Talk: Innovation and Tradition in a New Format of a Permanent Exhibition – the “Borchert Box” at State and University Library Hamburg
Abstract: The new exhibition “Dissonances – Wolfgang Borchert (1921 – 1047)” can serve as a best practice example of an innovative format for a permanent exhibition. The exhibition opened in 2021 to mark the 100th anniversary of the well-known German post-war-writer and playwright Wolfgang Borchert, whose literary remains are curated by State and University Hamburg. The so-called “Borchert-Box” is a presence both on site in the library as well as virtually online. The exhibition shows Borchert´s study and many personal objects. It also provides digital information about the author and access to digitized material. Additional educational offerings include: example teaching concepts, a satellite exhibition on the Hamburg-Harbour-ferry “Wolfgang Borchert,” as well as virtual and physical cultural events. Running throughout the course of the anniversary, these events are important sustainable elements of the overall exhibition concept. This talk will present the project from planning to realization to public reception, with a particular focus on interpretation, digital dimension, and cultural embedding.
Sónia Casquiço
Conservator and restorer at Art Library and Gulbenkian Archives
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon, Portugal
Bio: Sónia Casquiço has a degree in Conservation and Restoration from the Polytechnic Institute of Tomar and a specialization in Documental Sciences by the School of Arts and Humanities of Lisbon University. Since 2017, she has worked as conservator and restorer at the Art Library and Gulbenkian Archives at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon, Portugal. Before that, she worked as a photography conservator and as a Professor at Nova University of Lisbon, Polytechnic Institute of Tomar and Sintra Professional School of heritage rehabilitation of Sintra, as well as many other institutions.
Talk: Condition Reports: Methodology of observation and exhaustivity at The Art Library and Gulbenkian Archives
Abstract: Nowadays, libraries, archives, and information centers are increasingly facing more challenges. In addition to their fundamental responsibilities, they are called upon to produce exhibitions and bibliographic presentations. To organize and produce an exhibition is an extremely complex task that requires compliance with a set of formal procedures. This often means requesting, producing, and analyzing documents, such as loan forms, facilities report, insurance policies, as well as making the condition reports for selected display items.
The Condition Report is an essential tool for identifying the item being lent. They describe its propriety, description, physical characteristics, conservation condition, packaging, transportation and individual assembly and display needs. With so much relevant information, Condition Reports are an essential document that accompanies each item through an exhibition. However, do we use the same methodology for each object? And should we apply the same level of exhaustivity to every item? In this presentation, Casquiço will share her experience of the Art Library and Gulbenkian Archives of Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in producing these type of documents.
Céline Allain
Emergency Preparedness and Response Coordinator
Bibliothèque Nationale de France
Bio: Céline Allain has been the Emergency preparedness and response coordinator at the BnF since 2012. She served as project leader at the ISO technical committee responsible for the drafting of a standard for emergency preparedness and response for museum, archives and libraries, published in august 2019 (ISO 21110). She regularly gives lectures and training sessions in different institutions or schools of conservation. She is the secretary of IFLA’s Preservation and conservation section.
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Ivan Grassias
Exhibition Manager
Bibliothèque Nationale de France
Bio: Ivan Grassias is Exhibition project manager at the BnF since 2015, and involved in the issue of sustainable development in the production of exhibitions from 2020, Ivan Grassias led projects to create or renovate museums in the East and in Île de France before joining the BnF.
Talk: Temporary Exhibitions and Their Carbon Footprint
Abstract: Temporary exhibitions have a strong impact on the museum’s carbon footprint. Following the Grenelle de l’Environnement in 2007, the BnF had a pro-active approach and took practical measures to improve its practices. In 2020 a full assessment of the situation resulted in the development of a new program direction by supporting the increased re-use of the scenic design elements. We will present the transformation of the production process that is involved and the multiple challenges to overcome.
Garrelt Verhoeven
Head Curator of Special Collections
Leiden University Libraries
Talk: Visualizers, Virtual Exhibitions and Videos: Public Outreach in times of Corona
Abstract: Garrelt Verhoeven started his new job as head of Special Collections with a mission: improving the outreach program of Leiden University Libraries using the vast special collections. However, by the time he started at May 1st 2020 corona made it impossible to have exhibitions, tours or any public events in the library. So to be able to continue activities they decided to organize a digital outreach program, including new facilities for the presentation of rare materials in classes and presentations, a series of digital exhibitions using a new platform and developing two video-series on YouTube to show the backgrounds and uses of special collections in education and research. Garrelt will address these new virtual outreach efforts and discuss the do’s and don’ts in post-corona times. He will also speak about this year’s activities when Leiden is European City of Science 2022, including two major real exhibitions and parallel publications: Books the made History and Maps that made History.