Tracked & Traced Narrative
Case Study
learning design, exhibition experience design, storytelling
Driving Question
How can we ensure that visitors are making thematic connections between museum exhibits?
Context
MSU Science’s Gallery, the predecessor of the MSU Museum CoLab Studio, produced the Tracked & Traced exhibition in August 2021. The exhibition theme focused on the myriad ways surveillance impacts society. Curated through an open call process, each work within the exhibition came from different artists, scientists and researchers. Although all the works were connected to surveillance, the lenses through which surveillance was examined varied across the different works. Prior open-call driven exhibitions had received visitor feedback that visitors found it challenging to see connections between these very different works unless they spoke with a CoLaborator. While the MSU Museum CoLab Studio strives to encourage visitors to engage with our student team, we wanted to be more attentive to the visitors that preferred to explore the exhibition independently and ensure they understood the exhibition narrative.
Process
First, I worked with our team to develop clear visitor learning objectives for the exhibition. I facilitated a brainstorming session, prompting my colleagues to reflect on what we hoped visitors should know, understand, and feel as a result of engaging with the exhibition. I synthesized the outcomes into a set of five desired learning objectives for the exhibition. ​​
Drawing from the structure for curricular alignment charts, I sketched out where each of the 15 works selected from the open call seemed to align to a particular objective. This alignment helped our team better discuss commonalities and connections between the pieces, and to identify thematic patterns across the individual exhibits. Our director and I synthesized this information from the alignment chart into four key subthemes: surveillance capitalism, inequities and marginalization, reclaiming agency, and protective action.
We then worked with our exhibition design firm to identify ways to make these connections between exhibits more visible to visitors who might not converse with our students. We used different color coded circuit lines, which scanned the walls of the exhibition and connected the four or five works categorized under each subtheme. Each subtheme had a corresponding short panel of text to describe contextual information that would help audiences understand the scope and focus of the theme.
Results
Not only did Tracked & Traced show up consistently within the MSU Museum visitor feedback survey as one of the most memorable parts of the Museum, but visitors frequently described the exhibition as enlightening, educational, interesting, and eye opening. Although previous CoLab Studio exhibitions had received feedback that it was challenging to see the thematic connections between exhibits, Tracked & Traced was commended for its narrative clarity and distinct relationships between the individual objects.
“It was very eye opening. I keep thinking about the different exhibits even after 3 weeks from being there.”
- Tracked & Traced visitor, 2021