Curating an exhibition
While the six students in the curatorial seminar in spring 2021 had previous experience working in galleries and curating exhibitions, it was a new challenge for everyone to curate an exhibition during a pandemic.
To succeed required collaboration at every turn.
Like Rujivacharakul’s other seminars, one way that collaboration took shape was through the guidance of internal and external curators. In addition to continued support from the Library, Rujivacharakul also invited external curators — Robert Mintz, deputy director of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco; James Lin, senior curator at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, England; and John Hessler, curator at the Library of Congress — to co-teach the seminar or provide guest lectures.
The other essential collaboration was between the curatorial team. In addition to their weekly Wednesday classes with Rujivacharakul, the students met on Fridays for three- to four-hour meetings to brainstorm ideas, set goals and provide progress updates. “Working together, we were able to explore different ideas, consider a number of approaches we might not have thought of individually, and teach each other about some of the works we were researching for the show,” said Tom Price, a doctoral student in art history and member of the curatorial team.
At the start of the semester, each member of the curatorial team individually visited Special Collections in Morris Library to get inspired by the University’s collection of maps. Johnston, who was involved with the earlier seminars, and Curtis Small, associate librarian in Special Collections and Museums, coordinated these visits — ensuring proper COVID-19 health and safety protocols were observed — and provided insights into the maps.
During those visits, the members of the curatorial team narrowed in on objects, subjects and themes of interest. As a group, they discussed these interests and worked to tie them together to present a connected, cohesive exhibition.
Every element of the exhibition was a team effort. The ensuing exhibition, Multiple Middles: Maps from Early Modern Times, is a result of the distinct collaboration and cooperation within the team.
“The curatorial team attempted to view the maps with a globally oriented approach, understanding the international interactions and movements of people, ideas and materials through what is delineated, implied and/or hidden on the surface of the maps,” said Yoojin Choi, a doctoral student in art history and member of the curatorial team.
Dakota H. Stevens, a doctoral student in art history and member of the curatorial team, said, “We wanted an exhibit that took how people normally look at maps and narrowed their focus to specific aspects that might turn conventional views of the world on their head.”
As a testament to the collaboration by team members, they were even able to turn the challenging realities of the pandemic into opportunities to enhance their online exhibition.
“Our main impression of many of these objects, like our visitors, is through the photos we were able to take of them,” Price said. “While normally conceived as a limitation, we used it as an opportunity to think about how we could best convey the material and conceptual richness of these objects while limited to digital representations.”
To build out the online exhibition, they worked closely with Dustin Frohlich, processing archivist in Special Collections and Museums, who formats the online exhibitions of the Library, Museums and Press. His insights and support were invaluable to the team as they brainstormed how they wanted to convey their information. “Working with Dustin … was a very engaging and encouraging experience,” Stevens said. “He never said ‘no’ to any of our ideas as outlandish as they may have seemed at the time, but always said he could try it out and see if it could be done.”
While they faced challenges along the way, the curatorial team had the freedom to design the exhibition they imagined, and they had the expert guidance to help bring their ideas to life. During the continued isolation of the pandemic, these students honed collaborative skills, like flexibility, teamwork and problem-solving, that will be essential in their careers as art history and museum professionals.
In the end, Multiple Middles is an exhibition wholly unique to the curatorial team’s combined vision and fortitude that encourages visitors to join this ongoing journey of learning and discovery by engaging with these rare global maps in dynamic and exciting ways.
The online exhibition, Multiple Middles: Maps from Early Modern Times, is now available. A physical installation of this exhibition will be on view in the Special Collections Gallery in Morris Library in Spring 2022. Find a full list of research videos created in support of the exhibition.
Article by Allison Ebner
Photos courtesy of Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, Museums and Press
Published Aug. 6, 2021