The Art of Museum Exhibitions: How Story and Imagination Create Aesthetic Experiences

by Leslie Bedford

Overview

Leslie Bedford, former director of the highly regarded Bank Street College museum leadership program, expands the museum professional’s vision of exhibitions beyond the simple goal of transmitting knowledge to the visitor. Her view of exhibitions as interactive, emotional, embodied, imaginative experiences opens a new vista for those designing them. Using examples both from her own work at the Boston Children’s Museum and from other institutions around the globe, Bedford offers the museum professional a bold new vision built around narrative, imagination, and aesthetics, merging the work of the educator with that of the artist. It is important reading for all museum professionals.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781611323108
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	05/01/2014
Pages:	168
Product dimensions:	9.00(w) x 6.10(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Leslie Bedford is a museum consultant who consults on exhibition and professional development in the US and abroad. She is a member of The Museum Group and former Director of the Leadership in Museum Education Program at the Bank Street Graduate School of Education. Bedford holds a Ph.D. in Museum Studies from Union Institute and a masters of education from Harvard. She previously worked at the Brooklyn Historical Society and the Boston Children's Museum. Her writings have appeared in Curator, Exhibitionist and other key museum publications. In addition to having been a Senior Fulbright Research Scholar in Japan and later Argentina, she received the Ida Karp Award from the Bank Street Alumni Association.

Table of Contents

partOne Contemporary Exhibition Theories; Chapter 1 Exhibitions as Education; Chapter 2 Alternative Exhibition Models; partTwo Constructing a New Model; Chapter 3 Story; Chapter 4 Imagination; Chapter 5 John Dewey and Art as Experience; partThree Working in the Subjunctive Mood; Chapter 6 Creating and Experiencing the Exhibition Medium; conclusion Conclusion;

Editorial Reviews

The term “page-turner” does not come up often in reference to the literature of museum studies, but The Art of Museum Exhibitions is one such rare example. In her poetic and substantive new book, Bedford builds a case for the museum exhibition as an art form using essential concepts in progressive, aesthetic, and imaginative education. By bringing to life examples from across museum types, the author convincingly argues that it is the aesthetic qualities of exhibitions—more so than their educational content—that create lasting memories and significant meaning for visitors.”

—Ben Garcia, Head of Interpretation, Hearst Museum of Anthropology, UC Berkeley


“Leslie Bedford has provided the museum field with a much-needed analysis for a theory of exhibition development written in a personal, accessible style suitable for a wide audience.  Her provocative argument for exhibition development as an art form that relies heavily on imagination is supported by a careful analysis of a wide-ranging literature as well as her own experience, and documented by reference to successful exhibitions in an international range of museums.”

—George E. Hein, Professor Emeritus, Lesley University


“What makes a museum experience magical? Leslie Bedford shines a light on the importance of imagination, narrative and aesthetic experiences—and if you care about creating transformative exhibitions, you’ll take her insights to heart.”

—Lauri Halderman, Senior Director of Exhibition Interpretation, American Museum of Natural History


“[Bedford] provide us with a well-reasoned, thoughtful analysis  of the ways people experience the world, and uses that analysis to make a convincing argument for shifting the way museum  professionals think about and  create exhibitions….Before I had even finished reading, I recommended the book to several colleagues who were struggling with didactic and cumbersome exhibitions, and they found it both provocative and helpful….Most importantly, she gently persuades us that creating exhibitions is, indeed, an art.”

—Kathleen McLean, Exhibitionist

From the Publisher