Learning by Doing

Developing skills through exhibition practice

For students studying art, art history, museum studies, curatorial practice or related disciplines, an exhibition can be more than the final presentation of research or creative work. It can be a way of learning. \ Curating an exhibition requires students to make a series of decisions. What story does the exhibition communicate? Who is the audience, What should be included? What should be left out? How do individual works relate to one another and how will visitors encounter the work? \
A virtual exhibition gives them an environment in which they can make those decisions and experience the result.

From analysing exhibitions to creating one

Students can spend considerable time studying how museums and galleries select, interpret and present artworks and objects. Curating an exhibition allows them to move from analysing those practices to applying them. \ A student can develop a curatorial concept, select works, research their context, write interpretive material and arrange the exhibition within a gallery space.

They can then enter the exhibition as a visitor. That last step is important.

During the act of curation, students will encounter how distance, size and position may alter the way a work is perceived. Text that seemed clear in a document may need reconsideration when encountered within the exhibition space. \
The student learns through making, reviewing and revising.They need to consider not only what they want to say, but how that meaning will be encountered. What do visitors see when they enter? Where might they pause? What information do they need? What interpretations might be made through careful placement? \
A virtual gallery makes these questions tangible. \
Students can walk through their own exhibition and assess it from a visitor’s perspective, then make changes based on what they discover. This introduces a practical dimension to curatorial education that can be difficult to achieve through written work alone.

Critical thinking and evidence of individual learning \
Universities are increasingly considering how assessment can demonstrate what students themselves understand and can do in an environment where generative AI is readily available. Current approaches are placing greater emphasis on authentic tasks, applied knowledge, critical thinking and evidence of individual learning. \
Creating an exhibition is one such activity. \ The student has to make a series of connected decisions and produce a visible outcome. The resulting exhibition can demonstrate how research has been interpreted, how a curatorial argument has been developed and how that argument has been translated into an experience for an audience.

Developing digital curatorial practice \
For students preparing for work in galleries, museums, cultural organisations or the wider creative industries, the ability to communicate through digital environments is increasingly part of professional practice. A virtual exhibition provides a way to experience this without making the technology itself the subject. \ Students can concentrate on research, interpretation, curation, communication and critical decision-making. The digital environment becomes the place in which those skills are practised.

Visible outcomes \
One of the advantages of an exhibition as a learning activity is that the outcome is visible. Rather than submitting only an explanation of what they would do, students can create the exhibition and demonstrate what they actually did.
They can then reflect on their decisions, receive feedback and refine their work. The result is not just a digital display of student work. It is a practical demonstration of learning.