Exhibition research

Exhibition research

The whole idea in my topic is focused on travel memories and emphasises the rich tapestry and diversity of our global planet. I want to express the ‘Love of the Earth in Life’. As the San Francisco Airport Commission (2013) says, since time immemorial people have been visiting distant places and they have always tended to collect items to remind them of the places they had travelled to. Such items could be leaves, postcards, rocks and even shells. Such items are generally referred to as souvenirs. Due to financial constraints, since time immemorial the most well travelled people and vacationers have mostly been the wealthy (San Francisco Airport Commission, 2013). As such, for most of the time they are the ones who are able to have souvenirs from different parts of the world. Such well travelled individuals occasionally hold exhibitions and fairs through which they are able to bring the world to those who have never travelled outside their country (San Francisco Airport Commission, 2013). This is my purpose in holding this exhibition; I intend to bring the world to students at the Wolverhampton University. For the exhibition, it will be perfectly planned and will represent traditional cultures from different areas of the world and across multiple countries. At the same time, the work will express a professional design concept. In order to underpin the theoretical aspect to the work the exhibition will need to articulate the context setting for the ideas. Searching for a lot of exhibition review is the most serious things that needed to be carried out, it also can be as closely as the Craft Research and Analysis that the most important point in the process of having an exhibition that will be especially gain more experience for the subject. Including the group of the exhibition and the resources in the exhibition, specific time, money and energy. Such as within Budgets and the Space of the Exhibition, Exhibition Layout, Planning Content, Writing Content, Designing Materials, Hanging the Exhibition and Publicity.

The location of the Exhibition

The location of this exhibition will be present on the ground floor of the MK building of Wolverhampton University. The ideas behind the works are related to emotions, such as happiness, understanding, self-examination, and the appreciation of valuable objects. The intention is to establish those emotions in the mind of the audience and provoke an intense feeling in the viewer. I want this aspect of communication to be embedded in the display of my work and in my exhibition as well.

From the exhibition review: Craft Research (Vol.3) presents ‘What is normally expected from whether within the confines of traditional lace or demonstrated through an abstraction or an extension of the themes that girdle lace, antagonize our awareness of what lace can be.’ It is strongly proved in an exhibition of design there can be many different ways to display work and explore meaning. In this instance the exhibition will try to explore some extension of the fabric to represent the continuous passage to and from different countries and places. One solution that may be considered would be to connect all sections of the design of the scarves together and present the theme as one fabric. The emphasis is to try to get the perfect visual of the ways of abstraction, at another way to solving the space problem.

‘ Less Means More’ - the sentence has strong resonance and ratification. There is lots of travel memories’ design needed to display in the exhibition, but most of the people are known that it is not easy to make the textiles exhibition far away from the traditional ways. In a textile exhibition it may require additional materials to present and attract people’s attention and that is what the exhibition needs.

From the exhibition review: Craft Research (Vol.3) ‘ the state and the colours will since polychromatic till tonal variation when one space move into another.’ There is the similar idea as the previous exhibition running in the brain. For the exhibition of the project, the plan is to use shades of colours differently in order to separate each section of the travel locations. It could be expressed as a technique of expression to be like in a colour library, but the differences between the colours will identify the travel memory expressions in one flat surface.

In the use of colour, it will be sure to use the colours correctly to enhance the experience of the audience. To begin with, the colours will be chosen in such a way that the walls of the stand will be coloured differently from the floor of the exhibition stands. This will ensure that even people with visual perception problems and low vision will be able to have a good time at the exhibition (Majewski, n.d.). As Majewski (n.d.) says, people who have visual perception problems and low vision "require at least a 70% contrast in colours to negotiate a space". This mostly entails using different colours. Since as mentioned above will intend to even leave some space so that the audience can walk around the stalls and get a "travelling" experience, contrast will be important. In the building that is intended to hold the exhibition, the floor is already patterned. This can create problems for the audience especially for people who have low vision as they may have erroneous perceptions of changing surface heights. To deal with this, ensuring that will use a lot of even lighting (Majewski, n.d.).

Exhibition Materials

The exhibition is an open opportunity mixed with the purpose with researching and practical for the MA student of Design and Applied Art area in the Wolverhampton University. All of the clients are the groups of Public People and most of the work which needed to show of the exhibition is related emotions, such as happiness, understanding, self-examination, and valuable objects..., will intense feeling want to display on the work and in the exhibition as well. ‘ Less Means More’ this sentence has strong resonance and ratification. According to the exhibition topic, it is about the travel memories. To ensure that the audience experiences these feelings, the textiles will be hanging in a way that will enable the audience to clearly see the overall patterns and the texture. As Sethi (2013) says, different cultures have different textiles, depending on the technologies that they have access to, the materials that are locally available as well as their practices and values. For example, among Indians the practice of making textiles using silver and gold is still common today and this is particularly so for textiles that is meant for sacred purposes such as the textiles that are used in the temples (Sethi, 2013). When such a textile is displayed in an exhibition, it can evoke feelings of awe and respect. Even the prints in the textiles can evoke certain feelings in the audience. As The Textile Museum (2010) says, an exhibition that was held in 2010 in China was meant to showcase the different floral designs in carpets. Basically, floral carpets can be found in almost all cultures and they serve as an indication of how some cultural aspects are shared. For example, it shows the appreciation of nature in all cultures. This means that as the audience recognises the prints in the various textiles, it will evoke feelings of understanding in them.

The general public will get the Fashion and Textiles professional Design feeling of each different works through this exhibition.

The style of the exhibition utilizes a mysterious and professional method to introduce the works as a travel memories topic. Conceived of the glass design exhibition, glass like displayed in many ways which are unique style and remarkable and convolutions. There is a contact with the textiles section in accordance, textiles always can be related with culture¼Œprinting, handmade and emotion. In the works of the travel memories are mixed with those elements and processing with the traditional ways which is handmade. Alongside this there are a few works that are made by different technologies, utilizing Photoshop which is used to arrange primary and secondary images within the fabric by printing. The work displays the cultures of different countries, post cards, foods and limited views in travelling.

The all structure of the exhibition

Stones (2008) say that as exhibitions increasingly become a part of people's everyday lives, how the objects are displayed really matters. As he puts it, for exhibitions, regardless of whether they are large or small events, "presentation has become almost as important as the objects presented themselves" (p. 7). Basically, the audience or people who visit an exhibition want and expect to have an engaging and memorable experience and this can only be achieved if the design of the exhibition is good.

All the ideas of the Exhibition are to attract people’s attention and according to the texture difference of each scarf design, the works will be displayed from the remarkable height off the ground. Stones (2008) say that a good exhibition design can be narrative in nature, such that it informs the audience of the background information that inspired the exhibition as well as helping the audience to contextualise the displayed objects in a story or an emotion by availing an environment that is engaging to the audience and recreating the a context that is relevant and affecting. To achieve this in the coming up exhibition, providing space for the audience to walk around the showpieces. This will resonate with them as to take the similar action to ‘ walk around ’ means ‘ travelling’, until the audience can understand the meaning of the craft works throughout the exhibition. In this way will have to create an engaging environment that helps to place the display objects in an affecting context. The fact that the audience will be walking about in the exhibition as they view the textiles calls for a design that is safe for all audiences. To begin with, it will be important to ensure that the paths are clear to enhance the audience's negotiation from one section to the other (Majewski, n.d.). Moreover, it will be ensuring that there is good lighting to prevent cases of people stumbling onto the objects. This is particularly so for people with low vision (Majewski, n.d.).

Simply and thin, the materials effects types similar with transparent epoxy adhesive that is fishing lines, normally used for fishing hobby. But in the exhibition, this transparent line can represent the meaning with infinite, also can have another meaning that is an invisible line by Chinese meaning.

Following on from the difference of the colour section of the works and the relevance of the colour to the concept, the decision to connect the pieces as one fabric will allow for the sections to be presented in a flow from the roof of the ground. On the other side the images will present the explanation of the memories of travelling and the marks of the locations. In a similar way to a fashion exhibition there may be many sections that can represent the work. Therefore, the main focus will stem from a large square floor piece that provides the roots to the travel experiences. From this central focus invisible lines will link to different sections of the work combining them together. The effects will fulfil the intention to combine elements of the folk art from China, India, and New Folk art of American. Those works will explore concepts which exist in artificial vulnerability and the natural from nature.

References

Majewski, J., n.d. Smithsonian Guidelines for Accessible Exhibition Design. Retrieved from:

http://accessible.si.edu/pdf/Smithsonian%20Guidelines%20for%20accessible%20design.pdf

San Francisco Airport Commission, 2013. Souvenirs: Tokens of Travel. Retrieved from: http://www.flysfo.com/museum/exhibitions/souvenirs-tokens-travel

Sethi, R., 2013. Past-continuous: Block Printing on Textiles in India. Retrieved from: http://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/exhibit/past-continuous-block-printing-on-textiles-in-india/wQGDHiAc?hl=en-GB&position=0,40

Stones, J., 2008. Display: Total Design Sourcebook : 2-D and 3-D Design for Exhibitions/Galleries/Museums/ Trade Shows. UK: RotoVision.

The Textile Museum, 2010. Previous Exhibitions. Retrieved from: http://www.textilemuseum.org/exhibitions/previous.htm

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Research methodology: unigorm

Research methodology: Uniform

Methodology

The methodology used within this dissertation will be of great value to this particular chosen title as it will target and validate the selected methods used to collect data relevant to this study, using a combination of both primary and secondary research. Throughout this methodology it will justify and ensure the reader is able to recognise its research methods, as well as its choice of research design used. “Theory (or methodology) relates directly to the formation of research projects, and then to the practicalities of carrying out research – what research questions we ask, what data we use, how we pursue our research agendas, how we explain why we examine what we did, or why we went about it in a particular way.” (van Gestel, 2011, p. 1)

Primary research methods will be approached within two key categories, qualitative and quantitative research. “The simplest way to distinguish between qualitative and quantitative may be to say that qualitative methods involve a researcher describing kinds of characteristics of people and events without comparing events in terms of measurements and amounts. Quantitative methods, on the other hand, focus attention on measurements and amounts (more and less, larger and smaller, often and seldom, similar and different) of the characteristics displayed by the people and events that the researcher studies.” (Thomas, 2003, p. 1)This method is equally as important as secondary research due to it being able to offer more reflective opinions and explain their specific needs. Quantitative research will be used to follow a more statistical perspective with data-controlled persuasions to identify patterns and information collected of a large number of results.

One of the factors which this can successfully be achieved through is by conducting multiple-choice surveys and questionnaire’s; with its main concern being to ask questions and multiple-choice answers as a way of accumulating opinions and attitudes towards uniforms and the representation of identities through these, which can then be transferred into numerical results with the use of charts, graphs etc. This method will be used to gain an understanding into the views of a large volume of people, and to demonstrate these through the relevant extent of information needed without having to engage in individual in-depth opinions of these people.

Qualitative research is the focus on individual emotions and opinions to the chosen subject matter, primarily discovering its singular views rather than a collection of varied ones using a commitment of alternative choices. This type of process is usually executed through discussions, interviews and focus groups which endure for a more exposed answer, with an appropriate variety of people from its chosen target market, or individual if the use of a one to one interview is used. Although this method may take a longer period to process data, it allows for many more detailed responses from each person taking part with the results being interpreted valuable for this specific practice.

In combining both of these methods, it will allow for both personal thorough opinions as well as ones less subjective from a larger group of people. In order to gain understanding from people across the scope, I will also interview people with experience within the fashion industry for the intention of this dissertation’s success, using interviewing to come up with an extensive amount of information in order to understand each distinct response.

Firstly a focus group will be carried out. Twenty army cadets and instructors within the age range of 16 to 21 years will be participants within this study. This group of cadets are to be chosen due to their involvement within this industry and with having direct contact and knowledge within this field. An understanding into the choice of garments used, their personalities when wearing this uniform and the ways in which it represents them as an individual are all traits which will transpire during this practice. Their personal experiences will also be exposed within this to engage and answer any other questions which may be relevant to my study.

The essential aims from this focus group are to recognise how these young army cadets have used their obligated uniform to represent themselves and how this might question imitation of their individual identities and to what extent. This is asked to have a first-hand gain into experiences and whether the use of uniform has an impact on their abilities to perform and to a high standard, as expected. These opinions expressed will be able to contribute to any opposing ideas within this open dialogue, promoting discussions which would have not been undertaken by individual views from others within the group.

Another area of qualitative research which will be conducted for the purposes of this dissertation is subsequently through two interviews within different industry professions. The first of these is to be carried out by an innovative and skilled head teacher from Willow Wood Primary School, Sue Tomlinson.

The second of these one on one interviews will be received by Sheila Griffiths, the garment technology pathway leader and senior pattern cutting lecturer at Birmingham City University.

LISA

HOSPITAL QUESTIONNAIRE

The purpose of both of this implemented to gain a perception into both of these professional industries and how the cut of garments has evolved technologically within both genders as well as the importance of the use of uniform within specialized environments. Providing deeper opinions and details on how uniform has advanced using the contrast of interpretations from each interviewee as a way of finding out their needs. Its advantage is that a direct interview will allow respondents to answer these questions thoroughly as well as any follow-up questions supported, if necessary. Its disadvantage being that the small number of people being asked will represent a narrow number of consumer’s opinions. Although these interview questions will be tailored in aid for each interviewee, broadening these to other people in similar fields, this would permit for a larger sum of views. However, common factors emerged from these two interviews after will be analysed and furthermore compared to a greater group.

A multiple-choice survey will be conducted as a way of obtaining qualitative data regarding consumer’s attitudes on the obligation of wearing uniform, their thoughts on its benefits and the reputation of job roles being concerned. The survey will include comment boxes within each question as a way of giving the respondents an opportunity to express their opinions on the subjects being asked. Twelve questions will be asked of its respondents in order to maintain the respondents participation in the survey and non-reluctantly. The advantage of this method is the category of people reached; these being nurses, doctors, anaesthetists, and other members of a hospital provided to wear uniform along with the number of these. The disadvantage being that the multiple-choice survey will not accommodate for a further insight into how these people feel about the chosen topic, with further comments unable to be expressed.

By gathering research from a diverse range of respondents, this will aim to gather information from a larger spectrum to surface opinions on uniforms and its male dominated cut along with its representative of its wearer. This will provide the reader with a clear distinction between people’s opinions and any emerging issues due to arise within the subject. The secondary approach to this will be through the use of an online survey, in order to collect ideas; this will be sent to a variety of people across a wide range of occupations, with the benefit of this being to acquire unbiased responses. This method will allow a larger group of people to be targeted in a survey form, differently to an interview or focus group as a favourable way to use the combination of views. In the completion of this survey being countered by a high amount of people, the results are to be analysed into percentages and therefore after graphs, consisting of a clear insight into people’s opinions on how the cut of uniform and its prominence have an impact on people’s foreseen power in these industries. There may be limitations within this method, for example, a wide enough span of people unable to be reached and therefore preventing views to be grasped to its fullest in order to agree or disagree on its subject.

Data Analysis: After analysing the primary research conducted within this dissertation on the basis that these were issues highlighted through secondary research some of the expected outcomes will be as follows:
•Consumers feel that uniform enables a hidden identity within the different age groups
•Consumers agree that confidence is conveyed through the use of uniform
•Consumers acknowledge that the use of uniform is able to make them feel representative and more significant
•There is an apparent change in personalities being altered, even if slightly within its wearers of these uniforms
•Female consumers agree that there is a gap in the market for these being able to differ to male ones, if the opportunity was to arise
•Consumers feel that uniform is of great importance within their job roles

Actual Outcomes: In analysing the data received as effectively as possible throughout the primary research phase, a coding method was used. Evaluating individual responses to the focus group, surveys and interviews, and any recurring subjects allowed identifying views and any emerging issues. The key codes identified were as follows; Feeling engaged by the public as being slightly more superior, The use of these uniforms enabling a hidden personality which is different to its wearers original one, Too small of a gap in the market for female uniforms as opposed to more masculine ones and lastly, Confidence building within uniforms.