GUIDELINES FOR THE CURATION OF GEOLOGICAL MATERIALS

methods but do remember the need for a contingency fund. The .detailed
planning of your exhibit will be constrained by finance' and it is therefore
important to determine whether you are in a position to bid for finance on the
basis of what you calculate the exhibition to cost or (as in most cases) if you are
operating within an allocated budget.
Timetable
If, as curator, your are also coordinator of the exhibition you will need to
timetable the project in cooperation with your Designer. Only experience can
make this easy. The following elements, not necessarily in chronological order,
should be in your timetable:
Brief writing
Selecting, obtaining and preparing specimens
Selecting and obtaining photographic originals
Design - initial
Design - detail
Copy writing, editing, rewriting
Production processes - printing, screen printing,.photography
Construction of show cases etc.
Preparation of the gallery space
Case dressing
Completion on site
These elements can be graphically represented in a flow chart which experience
has shown to be a useful way of efficiently organising your timetable and
monitoring progress.
It is also advisable to add a nominal 10% overall to take account of unforeseen
circumstances - obtaining specimens or photographs from outside sources can
take a surprisingly long time, for example.
At a stage in the middle of the schedule there will almost certainly be an
apparent hiatus whilst you wait for specimen photographs and product information
to arrive. You should allow for this in the timerable and take advantage of
this period to stand back with the designer and assess the project while other
work is in progress. You can then return to the project fresh, in a position, and
with time, to consider practical alternatives to details on your first brief.
THE BRIEF
Where a designer is to be responsible for exhibition production, the brief provides
the means by which the curator defines to the designer the practical and
conceptual framework within which the exhibit must be prepared. It should
supply the designer with the following information:
the synopsis (as defined in 3.1 above)
details of specimens etc. to be included.
first drafts of display labels and graphic sketches
details and constraints of specimenllabel relationships requiring design
solution.