Our Exhibits team has been busy for the past few months working on the Imagine Africa project. Every time I pass by the Exhibits Department, I see a tableau of creativity. The entire team is often huddled around the conference table like a modern interpretation of Davinci’s Last Supper. Aaron is fiddling with an iPad interactive. Kate, Allie, and Kevin are brainstorming on the white board. Ben is messing with some inscrutable doo hickey, and Casey is sliding print samples around. And Tara is often taking copious notes on everything going on.
Two main ideas I’ve seen written on an oversized notepad in their office says the following about this exhibition project: “This is not an exhibit” and “Conversation not dictation.” Imagine Africa is a not an exhibit in the traditional sense. It is an opportunity for you to tell us what you want to know about Africa. The gallery, which has just been freshly drywalled, will present visitors with several different ways to give us feedback on preconceptions about Africa and reactions to images and ideas. We will then process this data to help inform the redevelopment of our longterm installation of the African Gallery.
We interviewed Kevin and Allie, explaining just how this process will work: