Margaret Choi Kwan Lam 
Revealing Meanings through Multi-Sensory Experience 
A Paradigm Shift in Exhibition Display Culture

Essay from the year 2012 in the subject Art – Miscellaneous, grade: Merit, Kingston University London (Kingston University London, in Partnership with the Design Museum, London, U.K.), course: MA Curating Contemporary Design, language: English, abstract: Displaying art objects in exhibition is not only an artistic expression in the heart of curating, but it is also an essential interface for curators to present stories and convey meanings. How to engage people beyond purely-visual-appeals is always a top-of-mind-question embedded in curators’ mind, and the discourse has become a major concern among pioneers in recent times. Over the decade, frontier exhibitioners were attempting to breakthrough from a purely vision-dominated museum culture. Some exhibition experiments were successful, and the movement has fundamentally changed the way curators think about exhibition-making, including the ultimate purpose of displaying objects. The paradigm shift actually rings the bells and requires contemporary curators to pay attention to. It is crucial to realize that the recent success was not only about the artistic sense of the artists, but it is also the revolutionary belief of the frontier curators that has made it happen. This essay aims to uncover the distinctive differences in the core beliefs of multi sensory approaches, in order to find out dynamic answers to new display strategies. Cases include: Partners (Haus Der Hunst, Munich, 2003), Rain Room (Barbican Centre, London, 2010), and Heiner Goebbels-Stifter’s Dinge (Ambica P3, London, 2012).

About the author

Margaret Choi Kwan Lam is a winner in Kyoto Global Design Awards 2023 – Design Theory, as her worldwide recognition. Margaret is an art professional working in the interdisciplinary creative field, cutting through art curating, design exhibitions and branding activities. After furthering her studies in MA Curating Contemporary Design (graduating with Distinction)- Kingston University – in partnership with Design Museum in London, Margaret has been working as a creative director and design consultant and contributing in art exhibition-making. She is particularly interested in interdisciplinary curatorial practices that involve experiential design, spatial narration, scenography, and new interpretative approaches in exhibition spaces. Combining her artistic background and multi-faceted work experience in creative industries, involving solid projects in advertising agencies and multi-media exhibition lab, she has developed overarching skills as substantial backup to pursue creative curating and exhibition-making. .

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