How do we interpret what hasn’t been made available to us, and why is it important to re-examine archived objects?
Students from the University of Glasgow’s Museum Studies cohort examine how to organise an exhibition with these questions in mind.
Each year, students from the University of Glasgow’s Museum Studies programme collaborate with The Hunterian’s staff to develop an exhibition.
Since January, this year’s cohort have been working to design and deliver ‘Artist: Unknown‘, which opened on 25 June.
The course allows students to learn new skills, while giving them a taste of planning and executing an exhibition.
‘Artist: Unknown’
‘Artist: Unknown’ showcases rarely-seen items from The Hunterian’s collections, focusing on objects in the World Cultures and Art categories.
These particular objects lack important catalogue information which was not recorded at the point of acquisition.
There are objects without an artist’s name, a date of creation, or even a description of what the object represents. This caught our cohort’s attentions and raised many basic questions.
Who made this? Who does this represent? Why was this made?
In asking ourselves these simple questions, we found ourselves branching off with many more complex thoughts. Perhaps most importantly, the question we all came to grips with was – what can we learn from this?
As we unraveled these questions in our research, we discovered many unexplored themes of identity and community surrounding the objects. We invite you to join us in this reflection.
Ultimately, given the spirit of our exhibition, we believe it’s crucial our visitors ponder these questions, too. Who knows, you might even unearth some new information and collaborate with The Hunterian yourself!
Exhibition Development
If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to plan and deliver an art exhibition, you’re not alone.
Take a moment to read some of our cohort’s experiences during the Exhibition Development programme.
Q: What role have you been assigned for this project? What does your role entail?
KaLee: The role I was assigned for this project was curator, and the curator plays a big part in an exhibition. Curators pick the theme for an exhibition, before selecting, researching, and interpreting the objects they choose. They also write labels and panels containing information about the exhibition.
I knew going into this experience that being a curator would be a lot of work, but I quickly realised there was also an added pressure to my role I didn’t consider.
A curator sets the tone for the exhibition and needs to be on top of their game with their tasks. This is so others involved in creating the exhibition can complete their jobs on time. If they don’t, the exhibition development doesn’t run as smoothly.
Ana: My assigned role is in Exhibition Management. Exhibition managers oversee the project schedule, arrange and lead meetings, review documents, plan interpretation materials, provide a design brief and training materials.
Q: How are you finding the experience so far?
KaLee: The exhibition is still an ongoing process, and a job that I feel will never be fully complete! It has been challenging with the setbacks faced from the beginning of the exhibition, but it has also been rewarding seeing the progress made.
Ana: Busy, but rewarding. This is the first time a lot of us had undertaken a project of this nature, and it has been a rather steep learning curve. However, we have a great team, and I’ve learned a lot from my classmates.
It definitely took some trial and error to get a consistent pace of work going at the beginning. We’re all attending to different responsibilities outside of this project, but with some creativity we’re nearly there. I feel like I’ve learned so much, which is always quite exciting!
Q: What do the themes of the exhibition mean to you? What do you hope the audience will gain or learn from them?
KaLee: Our chosen themes give us the chance to focus more on the objects and their history – and to intentionally disregard who made them. I would love the audience to learn that you can engage with objects by viewing them through a different lens, without knowing the artist. It takes a bit more work, but it is rewarding!
Ana: Identity and community, to me, reflect the dialogue and negotiation between an artist’s work and the communities they belong to and how these influences can be reflected in their work.
The objects within this display do not have an author or maker registered in their catalogue records. This brings into question why this may be and what we can tell from them, and the communities they belonged to, just by looking at their artwork.
I hope audiences become curious about the gaps in museum collections, the names and identities that were not recorded, and about why this is missing. I also hope they see things they like – maybe their favourite colour or animal, or perhaps something they’d like to draw when they get home?
Q: What are your favourite objects going into this exhibition, and why?
KaLee: The Lan Caihe soapstone is my favourite object because of its identity and symbolism. Researching the object was exciting because we found that it represents ambiguity. This went along with our theme of navigating unknown information. I also believe it’s beautifully carved! This soapstone figure of Daoist deity Lan Caihe (藍采和) is as ambiguous as its maker.
The only one of the eight deities in the tale of The Eight Immortals of Daoism with no identifiable age or gender, this figure’s creator remains in equal mystery. This figure was selected for the exhibition due to its many layers of uncertainty. It is currently catalogued by The Hunterian with an unknown provenance preceding its acquisition in 1971.
Ana: Many of my favourite objects didn’t survive the various iterations of object selection, but I’m quite fond of the Persian miniature portraits. It is impressive to see the amount of detail in such a tiny piece, and I love the contrast of the colours used. The clothes and framing of the subjects makes me wonder who they were, and what stories they could tell!
These miniature portraits have no recorded author, no recorded date of production, and we do not know who these portraits represent. The subject in ‘Miniature portrait of a youth’ is, similarly to the soapstone figure of Lan Caihe, currently of unknown gender. These two portraits were painted on ivory canvases, and are not the only ivory items we plan to display…
Visit the Exhibition
On behalf of all of the Museum Studies Exhibition Management students, we hope that people from all walks of life can make time to come along and enjoy the fruits of our labour.
We’re all involved with this project for one key reason: we love museums and galleries, and we want our visitors to see how we channeled that love into this exhibition.
‘Artist: Unknown‘ is on display at the Hunterian Art Gallery until 22 September 2024.
There will be more blogs to come about the ‘Artist: Unknown’ exhibition covering stories about the objects on display. Watch this space!
And there are more brilliant blogs stretching right across our collection for you to enjoy – covering art, coins, medals and much more!
