A digital, poster or model ‘exhibition’

Collections and exhibitions of artworks play an important role in society in communicating ideas and telling stories. This activity involves creating a digital, poster or model ‘exhibition’ of artworks, using artworks from NGV Collection online, to explore a particular aspect of the landscape and environment. This activity could be done individually, in pairs or in a group.

1. An exhibition concept
   
   View the artworks and read the entries in the NGV Collection Story – Melbourne. Based on these artworks, identify a theme related to the landscape and environment that interests you, or start with one of the themes below as the concept for your exhibition:
   • Perspectives on Melbourne
   • Melbourne – then and now
   • Melbourne landmarks
   • Melbourne celebrates
2. Select artworks
   • Make a selection of at least six artworks that you believe tell a story or communicate important ideas related to your exhibition concept. At least four of these artworks must be from the NGV Collection Story – Melbourne, but you might source artworks from other NGV Collection Stories or NGV Collection online http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/ngv-collection
   • Print or save a digital copy of these artworks for display in your digital, poster or model exhibition. (Remember artworks are protected by copyright law, which means you can use images of artworks for educational/review purposes but not for publication display.)
3. Create an exhibition
   • Create your digital, poster or model exhibition. A digital exhibition could be a presentation in PowerPoint, an electronic whiteboard display, or some other digital format. Alternatively, you can make a poster or a three-dimensional model to ‘exhibit’ your artworks (see the three-dimensional model used by NGV curators and exhibition designers for planning the exhibition John Brack. http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/johnbrack/education/imagebank.html).
   • When you are creating your digital, poster or model exhibition consider how to most effectively place or group artworks in your exhibition to tell a story and communicate ideas. For example, will the artworks be displayed chronologically or grouped according to themes or ideas?
   • Your digital, poster or model exhibition should include labels for all the artworks listing the artist’s name, title, date, media, and size of the artwork.
   • Your exhibition should have an interesting title, and perhaps a subtitle, to give viewers an idea of what to expect.
4. Engage viewers with the exhibition story and ideas
   
   Your exhibition should also include some support material to further engage viewers with the exhibition story or ideas. This could take the form of an exhibition brochure introducing the exhibition, an audio guide, and/or a series of extended labels.
5. Present and reflect
   • Take the class on a ‘tour’ of your exhibition, explaining your selection and display of artwork and supporting material, and how you believe this engages people with a story and ideas related to Melbourne.
   • What challenges did you encounter in telling a story or communicating ideas related to Melbourne through artworks in an exhibition?