Museum Visit

I took a trip to Leeds City Museum. I've seen the exhibitions a million times and the actual artifacts were of little interest to me but my main focus during this visit was the curatory aspects. Considering we're all novices to this sort of thing I wasn't entirely sure what I was looking for but I did manage to notice a few things.

Rather than mounting objects on walls or back drops, where ever possible they are placed on subtle stands so as to appear to be hovering, angled upwards towards people's gaze and clearly labelled in some sort of index.

Text based wall displays were not overly crammed, any additional info could be found on inserts beside displays. Sans-serif typeface - reduces the formality of a museum environment and makes it more easy on the eye for the public; trying to eradicate the stigma of museums being solely for the upper class.

The idea of 'the cabinet' fully taken advantage of; used as an interactive tool for presenting information. Also embodies the idea of a 'book' - pages within cupboards and drawers.

The use of replicas to engage the public.

Within a display cabinet, regardless of its subject, the most important and prized items are arranged at eye level. Symmetry is maintained wherever possible and it's important that both sides of the cabinet are balanced to make for easy viewing.

Reference to the cabinet of curiosities that we learnt about in Nick's lecture. Man's declaration of superiority over science and the natural world.