Creating Exhibitions Based on Research into Sensitive Topics

In this guide, we have attempted to systematize and summarize our practical experience, developed over 18 years of creating socio-cultural and exhibition projects.

The guide includes brief theoretical commentaries, a detailed analysis of the last exhibition cases from our Research & Art Museum, as well as examples of multimedia projects from global practice. In each chapter, you will find a methodology for your own practical work—it is presented in the form of assignments and examples at the end of each chapter.

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Table of Contents

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Introduction

In 2023, we were invited to conduct a master class for a group of academic researchers. It involved eight anthropologists working with sensitive topics. The task resonated with us, as the artistic interpretation of anthropological research was and remains close and interesting to us.

We all gathered on a farm, far beyond the city limits—from the windows, one could only see a boundless green field and a few white cows. Some group members had been developing their research for more than seven years, while others were just beginning their journey. But everyone was concerned with the problem of text-centricity. In their field expeditions, they spoke with people, sorted through archives, and touched objects. All these living sensations disappeared when it came to an academic article in a scientific journal. Therefore, a desire arose within the group to understand how one could create an exhibition based on research.

There was another reason as well. The researchers' topics were ethically complex and had a pronounced social character. The materials traced consequences not only in the past but also in the present. This gave the researchers the motivation to allow these texts to be seen and heard by more than just the professional community. They were driven by a desire to impact the world through the results of their scientific work. They sought to convey the experience of their informants to a wide audience and, as a consequence, to promote social changes based on humanistic values.
During the master class, we and the researchers alternated between theoretical and practical formats, raising topics of scenography, principles of artistic narrative, figurative language, and multimedia. During the practical part, the room was filled with some incredible energy. The scientists experienced true euphoric feelings, discovering in their own research images and semantic keys that turned the text into a real movie.

By the end of the second day, it became clear that one meeting was not enough. Thus began our two-year collaboration with the group of researchers.

We decided to create virtual prototypes of the exhibition concepts that would emerge. To work with the researchers, we developed a methodology. It sequentially broke down themes and exercises that helped move along the path of transforming an academic text into an exhibition form.
The result of this work was the virtual exhibition "Things in Common" and the methodological guide that you are now reading. The guide explores eight key key themes related to the creation of exhibition projects, and the last, ninth chapter, contains a general memo with a complete algorithm for exhibition production.

We hope that our attempt to structure this practical experience will be useful and will help academic researchers, university and museum teams, as well as creative specialists, to share their knowledge in exhibition spaces—and to contribute to the public’s attitude toward ethically complex topics.

This guide is intended for independent and institutional researchers, university and museum teams, as well as for creative specialists involved in the creation of virtual or physical exhibitions.

to create a cohesive exhibition concept based on field and desk materials from academic research;

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to develop a storyline and a system of images for representation in the exhibition;

to determine the communicative potential and the direction of interaction with future viewers;

to look at the entire design process—from concept creation to the moment the exhibition opens.

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