Visiting a space museum should be an ‘out of this world’ experience. After all, space is vast, mysterious, exciting and awesome – but do we get a real sense of this as a visitor? Wael Bazzi believes a change of focus is needed from traditional object-based curation to a blend of science and art, providing a platform for space scientists and creatives, where inspiration more that education is the mission of the new space museum. He argues that adopting a curatorial attitude usually reserved for contemporary art museums will include a larger section of society, broaden the space museum demographic and in particular, reach more adults.
Museums and the exhibits they house are designed to leave us with a sense of intrigue and escapism. The art of designing and delivering that experience is what’s commonly referred to as curation. In many ways, curation is a deeply intuitive form of visual storytelling, intended to strike the most emotive nerve in one’s audience.
What’s the most powerful museum exhibit you’ve ever visited? Perhaps a detailed neo-classical painting, a stunning natural artefact, a performance piece, or a contemporary interactive installation? Whichever it is there’s a good chance that the experience was intentionally designed to be as much an emotive one as it was informational.
