Wednesday, July 5

Today's internship workshop was extremely eye opening, as they all have been, but this morning's session stands out in particular because of the nuances that were discussed in regards to the process of content development involved in gallery and exhibition creation. 

The session was a collaborative presentation between Dan Rahimi, Executive Director of Galleries and Kate Quinn, Director of Exhibitions. Before their presentation, I had always wondered the reasons behind the administrative difference between galleries and exhibitions. Thus, it was fascinating to learn the distinct differences between the two. I had not even appreciated on a foundational level before that a gallery and an exhibition were not synonymous. Now I recognize that in the vocabulary of the museum, galleries refer more to permanent fixtures int the institution while exhibitions are more ephemeral. Of course there is great overlap between the mission and intention of galleries and exhibitions, as well as fluidity in the way they are used colloquially even by professionals, but in terms of their utilization in the Penn Museum, specifically, they are somewhat distinct.

The biggest difference I gathered between the two departments is the backgrounds and professional trajectories of staff. Exhibitions is heavily stocked with individuals who have robust design, architectural, and interpretive planning expertise. Working with them in the office has made me especially cognizant of how multi-talented the group is, with each staff member harboring both technical talents and relevant content backgrounds for the museum. 

I have garnered that Galleries relates more to the curatorial staff and is thus more academically oriented. As subject matter experts who are oriented towards producing the most relevant topical content regarding anthropological and archaeological information, their skill-sets are more attuned to research and larger scale visions of what content should be applied and in what ways to reflect the most critical interpretation of a specific topic. 

Not surprisingly, the differences in training and overall professional orientations can lead to tensions in terms of strategic vission, but it is obvious that both departments are necessary facets of producing content for the museums many publics.

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