Final_FINAL_v36 copy.show
Curation, Installation + Exhibition Design
→ Lead the curation team for Carnegie Mellon University Design class of 2020’s senior show at Miller Gallery.
Photos Courtesy: Jackie Chou
Every year, the Carnegie Mellon School of Design senior class partakes in the tradition of exhibiting our work for two weeks at the university gallery, the Miller. Final_FINAL_v36 copy.show was the class of 2020’s exhibit that showcased 3.5 years of work by 36 different designers. Since we were given the full responsibility of planning the show, we split into three teams: Branding/Marketing, Curation, and Build.
Appointed as the curation team head, I worked with a team of four other designers with the goal to create not only an engaging exhibition experience, but also one that felt representative of our entire class. I led the ideation of the show theme and ultimately, we decided to organize the floors based on the emotions and mood the work elicited. Our mindset was rooted in the fact that no matter the medium, mindset or design track… human emotion remains a grounding point for our intent and inspiration for all of our work.
In addition, my individual tasks as the head of curation included: management of the exhibit design, writing copy for the show (present in the pamphlet and description of the show on Miller Gallery’s website), delegated tasks, and was the main point of contact for the other teams, the Miller gallery team and the professor who served as our senior show supervisor. Finally, I was an integral part of the installation week, making sure everything ran smoothly and fit our visions.
Project Info
General description of the show branding and organization of the gallery
A more in-depth description of how each individual floor is organized
“We have the ability to let our work be a vessel for our voices, perspectives and values”
“Human emotions remain a grounding point for our intent and inspiration”
OK, I must call out my dream team: Anna (Industrial Design), Maddie (Communications Design), Erin (Environments Design) and Yoonyoung (Industrial Design)… I don’t have enough words to describe how awesome they are.
It was a difficult process to ideate and create a theme for the backbone of the show. What started out as an array of sticky notes, sketchbook scribbles and white-boarding, ended up becoming more tameable through categorizing work and then laying it on in the projected space of the gallery. In addition, since many of the projects that were going to be in the show weren’t fully developed or finished, we had to make assumptions and create a system that was flexible enough to account for changes and future manuevering.
Design Process
Floor 2
Floor 3
Some big takeaways in my role:
Motivation for team members come in different ways, take the time to learn them and as lame or cliche as it sounds… factor in time for fun/team bonding.
Be okay asking for help in a certain area/let someone else carry a weight if things are getting to heavy… and of course, vice versa.
Picking your battles is incredibly important when working with other teams. Know your priorities and take care of your team.
Be honest. Opinions matter so so much! The stronger, the better!
Meetings in the 4-5 hour range was the sweet spot. Enough time to settle in, enough time to let things marinate and enough time before your brain gets mushy.