The exhibit everyone praised on the way out is rarely the one they remember
Exit surveys measure enjoyment on the day of a visit. What actually stays with someone a year later often looks quite different from what they praised leaving.
What a park bench says about who a city was actually designed for
A bench looks like a small, neutral piece of furniture. Where it’s placed, how long it invites you to stay, and who it’s built to exclude say more about a city’s priorities than most policy documents.
When an exhibit outlives the technology it was built on
Interactive exhibits built on specific hardware and software eventually face a problem plaques never do: the technology stops being supported.
The curator’s new job is partly a director’s job
As exhibits lean on sound, light, and pacing, curatorial work is starting to overlap with film and theater direction more than archival scholarship.
What a park bench says about who a city was actually designed for
A bench looks like a small, neutral piece of furniture. Where it’s placed, how long it invites you to stay, and who it’s built to exclude say more about a city’s priorities than most policy documents.
The ground floor decides whether a building belongs to the street or just occupies it
Skylines get the attention, but the first few feet above the sidewalk are what everyone who never sets foot inside actually experiences.