As part of our curation process for this particular exhibition, we decided to create a model of the spaces and used this to place the pieces we chose so we could see what they would look like in situ before we installed. Before we started to curate we decided on which pieces of work would be included. We looked through all the submissions and selected the ones we thought were the most relevant to the theme of the learning curve.
The pieces we chose range from 2D pieces such as drawings and paintings, to 3D pieces such as wire sculptures and boxes with resin. We tried to select an equal amount of both staff pieces as well as student pieces, and tried to use both spaces equally and effectively. One of the main criticisms of the last show was that we didn't link the spaces effectively and they were too themed, so with this in mind we made sure to not have a main theme other than the exhibition theme, and tried to link both of the spaces by having them curated in similar ways.
For PS1 we decided to have the statement pieces in situ as it's the first floor you see and we felt that open space allows the 2D pieces to breath. We had Matthew Benington's piece on the wall opposite the staircase as it was the biggest piece we had, and felt that having such a large, statement piece as the first thing you see would invite people to explore the spaces. We also had a 3D piece, Sophie's sandbox in the centre of the space as we felt the openness of PS1 allowed it to have room to be its own piece as well as giving people space to interact with it. It also helped draw the room together and contrasted well with monotone colour-scale of Matthew's large piece. Furthermore, we decided on having both of Sarah West's pieces rather than one as they were smaller than we imagined, as well as having interesting contexts and looked a lot more effective together rather than separately. They also helped to use up a lot of space on the wall, and worked well with the other 2D pieces on the same wall.
In contrast, we made PS3 home to the more sculptural pieces as well as the digital pieces on TVs. This was mainly due to the sockets being upstairs. We felt that Charlotte May Hayden's piece and Emily Gardiner's piece worked well together as they had similar themes of nature and found object, which in turn linked nicely to Tessa's video piece on Nature/Nurture. We had Sarah Horton's piece next to Beth's as the two link well and are both examples of spacial interruptions. We made sure to honour Iyesha's request to have hers placed above the fire extinguisher and placed it so it looked like it was part of the wall in a way. We also decided to keep Carl's work in PS3 as well as we felt that it was the second biggest piece of work we had and we wanted to balance them out and have one in each space,
Overall, we were happy with this initial layout plan, although we were aware that this could all change on install day as we see the works in person and get more of a sense of scale and material. But regardless this was a helpful way of curating the space as it allowed us to visualise the space before hand and accurately curate without leaving it until install day and causing it to take up time where we could spend just setting up.
I think in future if we were to do anymore exhibitions, this would definitely be a go to curational device to aid in the process of allocating spaces for works. I think that it also helped to become an art piece for the show as it demonstrates our learning as curators and how we were able to develop a new technique that has helped develop our skills. We have planned to display the models in PS2 which is the home of Beth's Sketchbook exhibition as we think it works nicely with the idea of proposed works and contrasts nicely as the proposed ideas in the model have been actualised as opposed to the proposed ideas that haven't been in the sketchbooks.