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SI-The Fashion Of Convention – Interpretations

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As the climate crisis continues to globally develop, this exhibition reflects on how sustainable fashion practices throughout history have contributed to cultural heritage.

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A uniform font is required. But in fact it depends on the tool

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The exhibition is very meaningful, and I love that it combines the topic of sustainability with fashion. The exhibition is presented on WordPress with an interesting typography that shows the designer's skilled use of WordPress. It makes it less visually tiring for the viewer. However, it is recommended that the text is formatted consistently and adjusted to a size that is comfortable to read.

The group used Instagram to promote and publicise the exhibition, taking the way of interacting with the audience, but would recommend posting more content about the exhibition, such as a brief description of the exhibition, its timings and flow, a countdown to the exhibition, a selection of exhibits, etc.

A Particularly liked was the interactive session with the audience, where visitors were encouraged to share their own items, which allowed for a better understanding of the subject of the exhibition.

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The following principles for writing museum texts have been summarised through this writing of text interpretation

Style: an active and dynamic tone that actively connects with the audience.

Word count: divided into introductory groups and labelling panels.

The level of attraction of the illustrations and marketing and thinking about what I want visitors to take away from the exhibition.

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In the planning of the project, the members of our group trusted each other. We actively learn from each other's strengths. I learnt from abs about text writing and proofreading. This was useful for both my dissertation writing and label interpretation.

It was also exciting to work with YAO on the web design and we discussed the colours and typography of the exhibition. I learnt from her not to be afraid of the unknown. She is not afraid to learn Wordpress which she has not learnt.

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How to Write About C... by Gilda Williams

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Best visual presentation

Best Text Writing

Best Marketing

……

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with mentor Laura

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https://padlet.com/fh22ql1/cdcsgb62qmkl8tbh

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I have two books about writing. One, If You Want to Write by Brenda Ueland, who wrote that art and writing is a generosity: "... you tell somebody something not to show off, but because you want to share it with them." The other, Beyond the Writer's Workshop: New Ways to Write Creative Nonfiction by Carol Bly, who gave this advice (so relevant for art museums) on proofing your final draft: "... it is a good idea to check for fancy tone possibly emanating from unpleasant psychological smoke." Both of these are Minnesota women, and that's what I am. Midwestern, practical, plain spoken; and that's what you'll find in this guide. Interpretation is not information, as Freeman Tilden the great National Park Service interpreter tells us, it is revelation based on information; it is provocation rather than instruction. This guide is about interpretive writing, about practical ways to provoke our visitors to revelation about the works of art in our galleries. What you won't find here are guidelines about font, type size, etc. or strategies for producing layers of interpretation for entire exhibitions. Those guidelines are given elsewhere, and you can see those resources in the attached bibliography.

I came to this guide after putting on a two-day online conference about writing for museum educators. I created the conference because I was interested in writing, and the audience of 250 people convinced me that others were interested too. Next I taught several online interpretive writing workshops with Philip Yenawine, whose guide to writing for adult museum visitors was a great inspiration. The workshops were free, but participants had to apply and we received many more applications than we could accept. Later I started conducting interpretive writing workshops for art museum educators in real time, and I thought I might turn those workshops into a guide so that more people could participate.

What I've learned along the way is set down here. You'll read about ways to write about a work of art so that you can effectively share your ideas. Of course we seldom write about just one work of art, but writing about one work of art is a place to start, and you might later apply these ideas to a whole gallery, or an entire teacher packet. You may not be the one responsible for writing about art for your museum visitors, but that's no reason not to write anyway. Garrison Keillor, another Minnesotan, said that you never really know what you think until you put it into words. So even if you're not currently writing for visitors, write so that you know what you think about the art in your museum. Let's get started.

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I have two books about writing. One, If You Want to Write by Brenda Ueland, who wrote that art and writing is a generosity: "... you tell somebody something not to show off, but because you want to share it with them."

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We decided not to have a leader but we had an organiser to organise each of our meetings and take notes, we each took responsibility for what we were good at and wrote down the areas we wanted to learn from the people in the group who were good at it. For example, I'm good at visual design but not writing, so I want to learn that skill from Abs and Megan.

All: object label, research input

These roles are flexible!

Megan - Exhibition Writing, Text (Withdrawal for personal reasons and drop-out)

Abs Taylor – Text, Audience Interpretation, Organisation

Fujia Du – Exhibition Layout, Design,

Yuyao Zhao – Typesetting, Design Software Skills

Qi Liu – Object Research, Marketing

P.S. Megan did not attend the project in full due to personal reasons. In the latter weeks we adjust our personal work content.

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‘The Fashion of Convention’

As the climate crisis continues to globally develop, this exhibition reflects on how sustainable fashion practices throughout history have contributed to cultural heritage.

With the current COP27 meeting underway and global climate change being a uniting topic across most forms of media, our need to understand and adapt to sustainability is becoming more apparent than ever. Fashion, in recent years, has often been a talking point for sustainable living - particularly with the mass production of ‘fast fashion’ by major fashion labels.

It makes us wonder - how did we previously create fashion? Did we always have trends we were enamored with? Our excess of synthetic fabrics is a new development. In fact, much of the way that we engaged with fashion throughout history was accidentally sustainable - and cultural heritage and representation have played a major part in this. The Fashion of Convention is an investigation as to why.

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Main Section and explanation of big idea: Heritage as sustainability

Subsection: Sustainable vs Ethical (A)

Subsection: Clothing and Jewellery (B)

Subsection: Illustration Living example: Eastern and Western (C)

Subsection: Sustainable Trends (D)

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Subject: The sustainability of fashion, particularly those of ‘trends’, throughout history

Action: Heritage Practice – through fashion production

Consequence: The conversation of culture; the consideration (now) of the climate crisis

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Tools used: sketch photoshop
Online exhibition: wordpress
https://interpretations.group/si-the-fashion-of-convention/

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This process we come up with as many of our own ideas as possible, without any restrictions, and write down the themes you want to develop.

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Use the table to summarise all our text and image content (Objects and interpretive labels)

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Use the table to summarise all our text and image content (Objects and interpretive labels)

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✅ The organization of the objects in tables helps to see the details of the exhibits in a straightforward manner and provides a basis for the copyright description.

⭕️ The disadvantage is that the file size is large and needs to be used on a good network.

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Google Shared Documents: helps us to organise key texts, collect items, feedback, meeting notes

✅ This way we can see each other's working progress in real time, give anonymous feedback on the content of our work, and see the main points of a meeting if we can't attend because of leave.

⭕️ The one downside to this approach is that it requires constant formatting to keep the page tidy. For example, when we were each doing research input, our pictures of items and information always looked messy.

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Key duties I need to do:

Exploring the Smithsonian's collection resources

Exploring the status of the Smithsonian Institution's collections classification

Checking out the Smithsonian's latest exhibitions

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Keeping Us All Safe

As the Smithsonian starts to reopen, safety comes first. We're putting new safety measures in place to protect the health of our visitors, staff, volunteers, and collections based on guidance from the CDC and local governments:

We're limiting the number of people in our museums, galleries, restrooms, and elevators to allow for safe social distancing.

We're requiring that visitors wear face coverings at all times.

We're providing hand-sanitizing stations for visitors throughout our facilities and conducting more frequent and enhanced cleaning.

We're implementing safe social distancing, including one-way paths and directional guidance.

We've installed protective safety shields at bag-check screening stations and registers.

We're  evaluating  our  exhibits, interactives, and  indoor spaces  on a case-by-case basis.  Som e of these features  may be closed or operate at limited capacity.

Our staff will stay home when sick, wear face coverings, practice social distancing, and wash hands and practice good hygiene.

Tours & Programs

Your visit will be guided by way-finding signage to allow for social distancing.

All on-site public tours and programs are currently suspended.

The Smithsonian will continue to offer virtual programs and experiences. Please check our Online Events Calendar for specific dates and details.

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As the Smithsonian starts to reopen, safety comes first. We're putting new safety measures in place to protect the health of our visitors, staff, volunteers, and collections based on guidance from the CDC and local governments: We're limiting the number of people in our museums, galleries, restrooms, and elevators to allow for safe social distancing.

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Main collaboration tools used by our team in this project

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Teams: For in-group online meetings and meetings with mentor Laura

✅ This tool was very helpful in helping us to meet normally during the time when our members were infected with Covid-19.

⭕️ The disadvantage of this approach is that it often results in poor communication, poor experience and low efficiency due to network problems. So in the course of our work, we have only used online meetings twice. More importantly, I believe that the frequent use of online meetings can lead to a less connected group with no sense of belonging.

For future projects, I would recommend choosing the tools for the meeting according to the objectives of the meeting. For example, when we are simply reporting on the results of our work rather than discussing the content of the project together.

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I was assigned to the Smithsonian Institution

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Copyright awareness throughout the exhibition and all our visual typography is designed by the team.

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A major Paris show sheds new light on Arte Povera (Press Release link)

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This exercise helped me to find the absurd and obscure expressions in the press release. While helping me to see the text writing from the audience's point of view.

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A major Paris show sheds new light on Arte Povera

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Gathering photography, film, and video, the joint exhibition at Le BAL and the Jeu de Paume combines historical interest with contemporary relevance

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-Focus on the natural origin of the material
-Try to explain the process of making a craft
-Emphasis on the theme of sustainable development
-Inspiring visitors to reflect on waste
-Limited content in the way of storytelling

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Some questions to think about in the reflection

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Some questions to think about in the reflection

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My feelings about the course and my progress

My feelings about the lecturers and the other students

changes in my motivation or attitude toward my learning

My ideas about how you learn most effectively - focus on my learning preferences

the things that challenge you; that you find difficult (and why)

the things I find easy (and why)

My ideas (or strategies) for tackling tasks such as essay writing and exams. I may like to set myself some targets for these tasks

How different areas of my study are connected

How my study and my developing skills related to other aspects of my life

……