Science Museum Group Journal (May 2020)
Wounded – an exhibition out of time
Abstract
The creation of an exhibition, from the original idea to the final public offering involves a series of developmental stages subject to a whole range of influences. During these processes different choices are presented as an initial concept is translated into real content with its accompanying interpretation. As the exhibition becomes fleshed out, significant departures from and adaptations to the original vision are almost inevitable, whether these are desired or imposed by circumstance. This paper will outline and discuss some of these processes in relation to a particular scenario; where the bold concept for one exhibition has been subsequently re-purposed as the basis for a different display. In this case a concept was shifted from a contemporary setting to a historic one and scaled up from a close, contained situation to one of vast sprawling size and complexity. How might original exhibition themes and ideas persist and develop in the new scenario and in what forms might they manifest themselves? Do the original characteristics hinder the development of that second exhibition or might they even flourish – perhaps in unexpected ways? This article explores a case study: the Science Museum’s temporary exhibition Wounded: Casualties, Conflict and Care, which was open to the public between 2016 and 2018. Looking beyond what is simply suggested by the exhibition’s title, it examines how underlying elements present in an original concept for an exhibition emerged or evolved in the development of this final display. The main focus of this case study is to examine the nature of these elements and the challenges, opportunities and occasional contradictions that they presented throughout the exhibition process. Fundamentally these elements related to concepts of time and of ‘scale’, both of which would ultimately infuse the interpretation of Wounded and be found layered throughout the exhibition, albeit expressed in subtly different ways. Manifestations of time were here conceived as linear and concisely measurable, and emotionally experienced or imagined. Scale appears, most tellingly, in the contrasts offered between the individual and the mass. Ultimately, I argue, these merge into notions of the ‘anonymous individual’, which had its own power to help emotionally engage visitors with the exhibition.
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