“In-situ-text” is the term used in the exhibition industry which is referring to all annotation for visitors. A labelling system conveys the general idea or concept of the organisation in an exhibition centre; can be in the form of either on “walls, in cases, on plinths”, in booklets or even audio recordings. A tag is a great medium of functioning an excellent guidance for visitors which saves time for explanation and lead peoples’ minds to brainstorm.
Take fiction as an example; it needs a title to tell the reader what is the story about; a biography or summary to provide an initial idea; a subtitle to provide more in-depth definition to support the title; catalogue to organise the chapters in a book. Correspondingly, everyone needs labels in their daily life to distinguish every existence from what they see. For instance, the name of goods or the prices marked next to the products in any shops or supermarkets to prevent any inaccurate assumption.
Museum practitioners have the responsibility to make sure every visitors know the context of the artefacts. Let’s raise a hypothesis: When a variety of items is imported in a gallery without any definition, who will be able to understand the contentless exhibition? The answer will be ‘No’! No one can successfully interpret with any unique identification, no wonder you are an intelligent visitor. The only possibility is for the visitor to observe what they see, but only in the forms of the object. They will never have the concept from the artists who created this; where is it from or the cultural impacts from the object itself. Therefore, the labelling system is far more than an essential in an exhibition. Besides, labelling system is a necessary apparatus for the diversity of audience; especially being thoughtful to the deaf or the foreigner visitors. Also, it can be part of the installation that relevant to the exhibition aesthetically.
Reference:
Hoskin, D. (2013). Writing Labels & Gallery Text. [online] Blog. Available at: http://www.vam.ac.uk/blog/creating-new-europe-1600-1800-galleries/labels-gallery-text [Accessed 14 Mar. 2017].
Images:
Pic.1: Gallery Guide. (n.d.). [image]
Available at: http://thejewishmuseum.org/ [Accessed 14 Mar. 2017].
Pic.2: BWM Architects and Partners ZT GmbH, (2017). Only a short time left!. [image] Available at: http://bwm.at/news/nur-noch-kurze-zeit/ [Accessed 14 Mar. 2017].
Pic3: Dark Side of Typography_via TB BP Spotlight Source Exhibition Signage and Texts by Ana Escbar. (2017). [image] Available at: http:// andren.tumblr.com/post/158225411917/via [Accessed 14 Mar. 2017].
Pic.4 The Queenhouse, (n.d.). To The GreatHall and gallery. [image] Available at: http://www.ok-rm.co.uk/slide/the-queens-house [Accessed 14 Mar. 2017].
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