Planning and Managing an Exhibition Programme

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Teom 6,lnterpretotive Medio ond Progrommes, created value-added interpretative products
using the primary obiect information within the conceptual framework established by
Team 2.This included all label texg printed materials, gallery guides, video, audio and
interactive, as well as development of related special programs including performances,
lectures, curricula, docent tours and others.This group served as liaison to the museum
board's Bicentennial Program Committee.
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. Team T,Morketing and Merchondisng, developed all materials and products that promoted
Odyssey and co-ordinated these with the museum's overall marketing and positioning
straEegy.
. Teom 8, Development ond Events, planned and implemented exhibition-related
development fundraising and events. This team co-ordinated its work with ongoing
fundraising activities and worked closely with the board's Bicentennial Events Committee.
Odysseywas introduced in East India Marine Hall, a grand 4OO0 fii (372 m') Federal interior,
completed in 1825 as the first permanent home of the museum. lt was in this hall that the
captain entrepreneurs who founded the museum met and displayed their original collections.
They were among the first people to experience the entire world's tremendous cultural and
artistic'diversity. For Odyssey,the hall was installed to evoke foreign iourneys and experiences
that changed and influenced the founders so profoundly. East India Marine Hall was designed
as a period re-creation showcasing nearly 200 diverse objects collected by the founders in
distant lands. Many were mounted in the original display furniture, then called 'cabinets of
curiosities'. For Odyssey, the room functioned as it did in the early 19th century enabling
visitors to appreciate and be awed by the amazing diversity of the world and demonstrating
the founders' conviction to educate and enlighten in new ways. Originally East India Marine
Hall's large gallery also served as a social space, a place for meetings and banguets and
celebration. Odyssey sought to do the same 200 years later when the great hall served as the
venue for a series of major bicentennial events including a gala ball, celebrity lectures, world
music and dance performances and other programmes. In many ways East India Marine Hall
embodied a vital connection to the enduring legacy of the founders' vision and values.
THEMES
Odyssey's three main themes were 'Encountering Place', 'Encountering People', and
'Encountering
the Spiritual'. Running like threads through each were core ideas that tied the
whole exhibition together.These were t}at every object exhibited represents the maker's
desire to transcend boundaries, whether it is a work of fine art or an artful functional object.
These creations take both maker and viewer beyond the limits of the material world and into
the realms of the aesthetic, the conceptual, the intellectual, or the metaphysical. Each act of
creation entails its own unique journey,a journey driven by curiosity and fulfilled by discovery.
Each individual who interacts with a created object continues that journey, a journey guided
by that individual's own background, knowledge and emotions.To Odyssey, visitors brought
their own experience and understanding as they explored both the rich diversity of human
beings and the ties that unite them.
In each of the three sections, the theme was stated neither explicitly nor didactically.The
visitor was encouraged to explore the art, to look for the imprint of the artist reflected in
THE MANUAL OF MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS