The Art of Relevance by Nina Simon discusses how to create exhibits that have meaning, purpose and value to viewers. It’s too easy to become indifferent or even removed from an exhibit in a museum setting. How do we create an exhibit that is engaging and relevant?
Well that is easy we just have to understand what is relevant, right? We have to make a connection that is meaningful and even personal. But how do we do that with artifacts and art that can’t be touched? How do we do that when the culture being viewed is foreign to our audience? Relevance isn’t as easy as it seems.
Part of what makes relevance difficult is that the concept of what is relevant is ever changing. Ultimately, relevance is about making the experience worth it. To do that one must know their audience. We do not need to go through fancy marketing campaigns, but instead we just need to engage our audience first. Then we can build exhibits that engage our audience.
Overall, I enjoyed her book. It was informative and insightful for a museum studies major who aspires to one day work in a museum. There was also a bit of intuitiveness to her work. However, I can understand that while the concept is easy to grasp the execution of it is a little more detailed than that.
Thankfully she provides several examples that make it easier to see the strategy behind her ideas. However, a little more strategy would have been nice too. My background is in process improvement and agility coaching. So I might be projecting my personal preferences here.
Works Cited:
Ciecko, Brendan. “What Is Relevance?” Cuseum. Cuseum, June 11, 2015. https://cuseum.com/blog/what-is-relevance.
Simon, Nina. “Read Online.” The Art of Relevance. Accessed October 8, 2020. http://www.artofrelevance.org/read-online/.
Archives Of My Mind 
4 responses to “The Art of Relevance”
As a former museum professional relevance was a big deal. Everyday I had to think about how will I engage with the visitors. How will this program I write be relevant to a fifth grade student? How do I make this new exhibit fun, relevant, and understandable to everyone. The really good museums take these questions and plan them out with processes that take more than two years to plan and execute. Some museums just throws up exhibits every few months. The important thing to remember is that the process is not about you. The experience is about the visitor. How do you make their visit the greatest day of their life? Talk, enage, and found out what matters to them. Make what you find relevant, relevant to them and have a great day.
LikeLike
I really loved each of the examples she provided, it helped engage me more. Like you say, we have to make the experience worth it with relevance and engaging people is perhaps the best way. I really liked how the author mentioned to get in the community and empathize with people. The artifacts that we treasure and view as relevant give us feelings and emotions that help us understand the past better. How can we possibly get the visitor to have those same feelings if we do not empathize with people and try to understand what is relevant to them?
LikeLike
I agree with you 100% on the idea that she makes the concept so easy to understand and get while the reality of putting it into practice, which she does not shy away from telling us that it is hard work, is so incredibly nuanced. At points I also wanted more strategies but I have started to think that no matter how many examples she could have given in the book, every single situation is going to be different and require different forms of connection and door building that it still would never be able to cover everything!
LikeLike
Relevance is much more difficult than it originally appears. I agree with you that at first the concept seems easy. However, Simon makes it clear that you have to dig deeper to find true relevance. I had never thought of the concept that it had to be easily accessible. Also, some relevance can get people in the door but to keep them coming you have to find that perfect combination. Relevance is also ever changing. I did enjoy the topic and believe I will be taking a closer look at relevance from now on.
LikeLike