Key Concepts of Museology - ICOM

ition as used here differs from that
of presentation, in so far as the fi rst
term corresponds, if not to a discourse,
physical and didactic, then at
least to a large complex of items that
have been put on view, whereas the
second evokes the showing of goods
in a market or department store,
which could be passive, even if in
both cases a specialist (display designer,
exhibition designer) is needed
to reach the desired level of quality.
These two levels – presentation and
exhibition – explain the difference
between exhibition design and exhibit
display. In the fi rst case the designer
starts with the space and uses
the exhibits to furnish the space,
while in the second he starts with
the exhibits and strives to fi nd the
best way to express them, the best
language to make the exhibits speak.
These differences of expression have
varied during different periods,
according to tastes and styles, and
according to the relative importance
of the people installing the space
(decorators, exhibition designers,
display designers, stage designers),
but the modes of exhibition also vary
according to the disciplines and the
objective of the show. The answers
to the questions regarding “to show”
and “to communicate” cover a vast
fi eld allowing us to sketch the history
and typology of exhibitions.
We can imagine the media that were
used (objects, texts, moving images,
environments, digital information
technology, mono-media and multimedia
exhibitions); according to
whether or not the exhibition was
of a profi t-making nature (research
exhibition, blockbuster, stage show
exhibition, commercial exhibition),
and according to the general concept
of the museographer (exhibit design
for the object, for the point of view or
approach, etc.). And we note that the
seeing visitor has become more and
more involved in this great range of
possibilities.
4. The French words exposition
and exhibition differ, in so far as
exhibition now has a pejorative meaning.
Towards 1760 the word exhibition
could be used in French and
in English to indicate an exhibition
of paintings, but the meaning of the
word has been degraded in French to
indicate activities that are clearly for
show (sport exhibitions), or indecent
in the eyes of the society where the
exhibition takes place. This is the
case for the derivatives exhibitionist
and exhibitionism in English, which
refer even more specifi cally to indecent
acts. Criticism of exhibitions
is often the most virulent when it
takes the approach that the exhibition
is not what it should be – and by
association, what a museum should
do – but has become a hawker show,
far too commercial, or offensive to
the public.
5. The development of new technologies
and computer-aided design
have popularised the creation of
museums on the internet with exhibitions
that can only be visited on
screen or via digital media. Rather
than using the term virtual exhibi-
37