Beyond Facts: Crafting a Strong Central Theme
Beyond Facts: Crafting a Strong Central Theme
May 16, 2024 by Taylor Studios
Imagine that you have inherited an enormous mansion filled from floor to ceiling with objects: oil paintings, sculptures, clothing, toys, books, farm equipment, and furniture. Now imagine that you have been tasked with combing through these objects to create a meaningful and cohesive exhibit. This could overwhelm even the most experienced museum curators—but it doesn’t need to if a strong central theme has been developed.
During a client workshop, the development of a central theme becomes the guiding principle that shapes the rest of the exhibit design. It answers the most fundamental questions that transform our “mansion of assorted objects” into something approachable, educational, meaningful, and fun.
What do we want visitors to walk away with in their hearts and minds? What is most relevant or captivating?
Answering these questions can require some difficult decisions. Which objects stay on display, and which get moved into collections? Which facts are essential to our story, and which can be left out? Opinions can be strongly divided when it comes to such questions. This why we work with clients from the very beginning to develop a common vocabulary and shared vision for our exhibits.
A central theme should ideally be summarized in a complete sentence. It should represent a cohesive idea. It should support a point of view, and it should forge connections between tangible resources and intangible feelings or ideas.
Interpretive philosophy draws upon the evidence that people tend to remember stories more than facts. Of course, facts are an essential part of any good exhibit—but sharing facts should not be our end goal. Just as we want visitors to learn new things, we also want to facilitate personal and emotional connections to the resources that we interpret.
At one time, our imaginary “mansion full of objects” might have been divided into different rooms displaying rigidly categorized artifacts: paintings, garden tools, or action figures. The exhibit labels would have described these objects in their most tangible sense: their date of manufacture, the materials used to create them, and their intended purpose.
In the preset day, a TSI workshop could breathe new life, meaning, energy, and dimensions of understanding into the same space and objects. It could delve beyond facts to pose meaningful, open-ended questions that inspire self-reflection and dialogue: How do objects help us to define our concept of “home”? How do we ascribe different meanings to the same physical space? How do we relate to our home through different stages of life?
All of these questions could set us on the right track for crafting a strong central theme that captivates and inspires visitors.
Are you dreaming of a new exhibit that accomplishes these goals and more? Let TSI join you for an exciting journey as we work together to build a perfect central theme!