Exhibition Design Brief for Collections People Stories The Redevelopment of the Anthropology Galleries at the Horniman Museum and Gardens

Transcription

1 Exhibition Design Brief for Collections People Stories The Redevelopment of the Anthropology Galleries at the Horniman Museum and Gardens 1.Introduction 1.1 Summary The Horniman Museum & Gardens is planning a major redevelopment of its Anthropology Galleries, to be completed by the end of Through the creation of new, world-class displays, we will provide spaces better able to engage with the complexity and rapidly changing diversity of London s population, ensuring we remain at the heart of our London community and can respond to the challenges and opportunities presented by London as a global city. The redevelopment will span three gallery spaces, covering circa 700 square metres, over two floors within the Museum and the total budget is circa 2.5 million. The budget for exhibition fit-out is circa 1.35 million. 1.2 Horniman Museum In 1901 Frederick Horniman gave the Horniman Museum and Gardens as a free gift to the people for their education, recreation and enjoyment, this vision still remains central to the Horniman today. A blend of high quality collections spanning the natural, multi-cultural and musical worlds; 16 acres of wellmanaged urban open space; community based educational and leisure programmes and a wide range of performance, events and activities provide an unrivalled opportunity to encounter and understand the richness and variety of the World in which we live. The Horniman audience is local, national and international and it actively seeks to attract users of all ages, backgrounds and abilities. It is a much loved community resource for London and the South East. It has an exceptional record of educational achievement and works with a range of partners to develop its learning programme and encourage participation from as wide a range of people as possible. 1.2 Collections People Stories Anthropology Re-considered This project will deliver a world-class re-display of our Anthropology collections, exposing their breadth and quality, and facilitating powerful dialogues and interactions with contemporary Londoners. It will build on the community engagement lessons we have learnt over the last 15 years, allowing us to work in partnership to develop life-enhancing learning experiences and programmes. This new work will allow us to 1

2 continue to contribute museologically to cutting-edge community engagement practice in the UK and beyond. The project will allow us to tell the story of the original gift of the Museum, Gardens and early collections and reveal Frederick Horniman s inspirational founding vision which still sits at the heart of who we are and what we do. The project has three main elements to it: 1) A complete re-display of our Anthropology collections in the historic South Hall; a new flexible creative area the Studio Space - in the 1912 historic building and a new history of the Horniman family on the South Hall Balcony. 2) Improvements to the historic gallery infrastructure to ensure that they are fit for purpose to display our nationally important collections in the 21 st Century 3) The collaborative development of cutting-edge programmes and interactions engaging our visitors both on site and on the web with our nationally and internationally important Anthropology collection. As part of the project we are seeking an Exhibition Design Team to help us develop designs for the 1 st element of the project and to support the Architectural Design team working on the 2 nd element of the project to ensure that both aspects are fully co-ordinated. 1.3 Current Issues Our visitor research shows that overall visits to our anthropology galleries (African Worlds and the Centenary Gallery) have fallen dramatically in recent years and they no longer provide the strong incentive to visit that they used to. In 2012/13, 37% of our visitors visited African Worlds and 25% visited the Centenary gallery compared to 67% and 42% respectively in 2003/04. The current African Worlds and Centenary Galleries were designed as a suite to display our Anthropology collection more than 15 years ago. They were designed with particular objects in mind and with no flexibility in the displays. The very specific design of the showcase and object mounting system means that a redisplay using the current showcase infrastructure is impossible. There are problems with lighting in both galleries which it is not possible to resolve with the galleries in their current state. When the South Hall was opened in1901there was glass in the barrel vaulted ceiling and natural daylight in the gallery, this was blocked off in the 1980 s to prevent natural light compromising the collection. Glass technology and engineering have 2

3 moved on, and we wish investigate the potential to re-introduce natural light using the barrel vault roof. The general infrastructure of both galleries also needs some attention. There are damp walls and the environmental controls need improvement, the existing plant is circa 18 years old. The gallery will require complete redecoration, the herringbone flooring will remain as it is part of the listed building and may require some refurbishment as part of the re-display. 2.Our Vision for the Re-display: We will create a completely new display to house our Anthropology collections in the South Hall, create a related History of the Horniman family on the South Hall Balcony and open up a new flexible creative area the Studio Space- in the 1912 extension. 2.1 African Worlds Gallery = The Anthropology Gallery The new Anthropology gallery will have five key areas, all exploring what it means to be human and to live a human life in the one world we all inhabit: An introductory area will provide gallery orientation and set out the aims, design, rational and linking themes in the space. A central display will have selected material from Africa, Europe, America, Asia and Oceania. There will be case studies from each area, designed to encourage an interest in and understanding of world cultures. The case studies will draw on poems, myths or stories from each of the cultures represented. Key themes of Love, Memory and Power will be used to emphasis both the universal and the particular in human cultures. They will contain contemporary stories relating to present day issues as told by source communities in their own words. London based case studies will deal with the universal themes of the Gallery from a local perspective. Glimpsing the stored collections - This area will provide a dense floor to ceiling display reflecting the history and diversity of the collection. Arranged by type of object, this space will explore the iceberg of the stored, research collections, what they are, why they are so important and how we come to have them in our collection. Collections up close This area will provide space and resources for reflection and engagement with the collection. Table top cases will allow close examination of small, detailed and interesting objects and there will be spaces providing regular rotation of objects from storage and the encouragement to explore stored collections digitally. 3

4 Hands on the objects - This area will have handling collection objects and a volunteer-led object handling trolley for supporting tactile interactive experiences with the collection. This will give our audiences the chance to learn through exploration using all the senses built on best practice from our Hands on Base and our existing Engage-led object handling trolley of natural history objects. Throughout the gallery we will draw on the connections and links between the anthropology collection and music, natural history, Gardens and other living collections to encourage an integrated view of the word in which we live. We will use digital applications to provide in-depth commentaries and to support dialogue, participation and the capturing and sharing of different points of view stimulated by the objects on display. 2.2 Centenary Gallery = The Studio Space We will reveal the original architecture of the Lecture Theatre (1912) currently the Centenary Gallery, attending to damp walls and poor decoration, improving and replacing mechanical and electrical services and creating a new flexible, creative Studio Space. This will present low cost, cutting-edge work and displays drawn from our stored collections, fieldwork, research, community work and engagement with UK based and international artists. 2.3 The Balcony = The History of the Horniman Family The new Anthropology display will allow us to free up display space on the South Hall Balcony which we will re-purpose to tell the history of the Horniman family and our founding vision. The space will be object rich and display material which came to the museum from the Horniman family. The exhibition will look at the family s Quaker roots and as well as investigating its complex relationship with empire will also highlight Hornimans interest in social justice issues including the abolition of the slave trade and in improving education and health of the poor in Britain. Alongside the collection we will display Horniman family photographs, some of which have never been on public display before, and utilise oral history testimony from Michael Horniman, Frederick s great grandson. 2.4 Practical Considerations for the re-display: All of the showcases must be flexible with the ability to rotate objects on display, and there will need to be an area where we can change textile displays on a regular rotation. Some of the cases will be opened by staff to allow visitors to handle the objects in the gallery and there will be an object handling trolley in the gallery. 4

5 There will be comfortable seating to enable small groups of visitors to discuss and further engage with the collections. There will be a space to allow community group projects to display the results of their own work or to curate their own small display. There will be some material on open display and a system for displaying larger objects from the ceiling in a way that will not compromise the architectural integrity of the space. Interpretation The interpretation will illustrate the links between objects displayed and people s everyday lives and minimise exoticism. We will show the similarities between our visitors and their experiences and those of people living different lives across the world today. We will provide a range of interpretation routes through the gallery for visitors which will include accessible materials to support parents/carers/teachers in the interpretation of the gallery for their children/pupils We will create a space within the gallery for visitor responses There will be a level of digital interpretation and interactives around the gallery to support the narrative but not to overwhelm the objects and the central themes. We want digital interpretation to be an integral part of the gallery but we do not want it to dominate the display and would seek solutions which do not require lots of hardware in the space. Lighting The main lighting design scheme for the space needs to be creative, sustainable, flexible and ultimately, it needs to show the dramatic nature and beauty of the collection. We intend to re-introduce daylight into the historic South Hall, lighting in the 1901 barrel vault roof galleries has suffered since daylight was removed in the 1980 s and we intend to use recent developments in glass manufacture to reintroduce daylight into this historic space. Look and feel We would expect the spaces to be contemporary, friendly, accessible and unintimidating. We will create an environment which is informative, not overly 5

6 academic with relaxed seating areas, appropriate interactives and some objects which can be viewed at very close quarters. It will be rich in colour with appropriate use of AV and images 3. Audiences We aim to attract an increasingly ethnically diverse audience representative of London s population as well as reaching new audiences through a contemporary, object-rich new gallery and cutting-edge creative space. The project will benefit the following segmented audience groups: Families (majority of our audience) Adults - Young adults (contemporary narratives, cutting-edge creative space, Lates,) - Volunteers - ESOL learners and their families - Community group leaders - Teachers, TAs and Parents - People with disabilities Young people - Youth panel - NEETs - Engage volunteers - Students and pupils from foundation to HE and FE Formative evaluation: We have run three focus groups with families, older people and teachers to provide formative evaluation of the Anthropology gallery concepts as developed so far. A total of 25 people were consulted during three 2 hour workshops and the main findings are as follows: The groups felt that the vision for the gallery would help visitors understand, respect and accept other people. The focus on everyday objects and making connections with other people and cultures would help children / pupils to develop their emotional, social and personal skills. They liked the emphasis on stories and storytelling and plans for tours led by curators, volunteers or members of the community. They liked the way that objects handling and interactivity would be embedded in the gallery, providing the opportunity to see, touch, smell, create, listen and interact by leaving their own thoughts and ideas. 6

7 They liked the overall concepts for the gallery but worried that they might be too ambitious for the gallery space. They liked the display of more objects from the stored collections but want to see the contemporary context as well as the traditional the voice of the contemporary people from the cultures that are features as well reflecting the cultures immediate to our locality. They liked the idea of connecting communities through universal themes such as Love, Memory and Power but they were not sure how this would work in the gallery and thought that supporting worksheets, trails, taught sessions and text panels facilitate the understanding of these. Participants also valued the opportunities to be involved in intergenerational and intercultural projects 4. Other Information: 4.1 Accessibility The Horniman is firmly committed to ensuring that all exhibitions are designed with full consideration given to the physical and intellectual needs of all its visitors, including children, wheelchair users, those with disabilities, learning difficulties, the visually impaired and hard of hearing. Commitment to these principles is an essential requirement in the selection of the exhibition designers and will not be compromised. 4.2 Health & Safety The design and specifications of the galleries must comply with the relevant statutory regulations regarding Health and Safety, fire safety and emergency escape requirements and to this end, before final working drawings are produced, the Design Team must supply plans and details of materials to be used for approval by the Client, local authority Fire Officers and any other relevant statutory body. All requirements of the CDM Regulations 1994 and the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 must be complied with. 4.3 Environmental Issues / Sustainability Any design and specification of the project must comply with national legislation and regional and global protocols to ensure the sustainable use of natural resources. The Design Team must take the issue of sustainable development into consideration, wherever possible reducing the 7

8 environmental impact of the project and ensuring that all materials specified are obtained from environmentally sound and sustainable sources. 4.4 Longevity and maintenance The intention of the Museum is to create an exhibition environment which is robust, hard wearing and as low maintenance as possible to cope with the demands of extreme usage by a large number of visitors of all ages. We would expect the lifetime of the galleries to be at least 20 years with an overhaul after 10 years. It is anticipated that all exhibits, case and general lighting and any environmental control systems as installed will be capable of being maintained by our in-house team. 5. Next Steps: 5.1 The Development Process The development of the galleries is dependent on securing a significant grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. A Stage 1 pass in April 2014 will signal the beginning of the development phase, which will culminate in a Stage 2 submission in February This development phase will consist of working up the designs to the equivalent of RIBA Stage D. The initial brief covers this work only. If a Stage 2 pass is achieved, the scheme will then be worked through to final design and realisation. The selected designers will work closely with the Museum s project team which includes curatorial subject specialists, Director of Curatorial and Pubilc Engagement, a project manager, the Head of Learning and the Head of Exhibitions and Design. A Project Board, chaired by the Chief Executive, will sign off the different design stages. The designers will work alongside an Architectural design team, as yet to be appointed. The Museum has committed itself to undertaking widespread consultation over the development of its projects and has already discussed the redevelopment of the galleries with a range of stakeholder groups. This process will continue during the development phase and the designers will be expected to participate in this and to integrate the results of the consultations into their designs. 5.2 Constraints The galleries are all Grade 2* and therefore planning permission will be required for any changes. 8

9 5.3 Project Timing April 2014: Stage 1 result from HLF April 2014-Feb. 2015: Development phase: designs to RIBA Stage D Feb. 2015: Stage 2 submission to HLF June 2015: Stage 2 result from HLF June 2015 March 2016: Final design and tendering April 2016: redevelopment work Oct 2017: Re-opening 9