Utilize an online art exhibition via the Google Arts & Culture Project.
Explore an online art gallery or museum to view and analyze a specific exhibition (a collection of art works intentionally grouped together to explore a larger theme or issue).
In your paper, include the name of the exhibition you are analyzing as well as the URL.
As you view your chosen exhibition, think about the following questions and jot down some notes:
Is the exhibition planned around a certain theme? A specific art movement or artist? How is that theme made clear to the viewer? Just through the art works displayed? Through text?
How do you enter the virtual gallery space?
What do you interact with first upon entering the virtual gallery space? An art work? A text explaining the exhibition? What is the effect of that interaction?
How is the virtual gallery space organized? Chronologically? By artist? Thematically? Another way?
Is it clear how you should advance/click through through the virtual gallery space? What indicators suggest how you should navigate the virtual gallery space?
How is the exhibited artwork contextualized? In other words, how are the art works explained to the audience? Through text, video, audio? Something else?
How does the exhibition end? What is the last thing the audience interacts with in the virtual gallery space?
After viewing the exhibition, write a 2-3 page, double-spaced paper with 1” margins discussing your experience. You will include answers to the above questions in your discussion, but the main questions you should focus on are:
What were the goals of the exhibition? (This is your argument/thesis statement.)
In your opinion, were the goals of the exhibition achieved? Why or why not? How were the goals achieved or not achieved? (Consider yours answers to the questions listed above as evidence for whether or not the goals were achieved.)
In your opinion, could the exhibition have been improved upon? How so? Be specific in your suggestions.
The purpose of this assignment is to think about the importance of context and display methods in how we understand art, so as you go through the exhibition space think about what the exhibition does well, what it fails to do, and what it could have done better.
