EXHIBITION

 LABELS:  
THE  GOOD,  THE  BAD,  AND  THE  UGLY  
Anna  Juliar  
 
The  importance  of  the  interpretive  and  educational  functions  of  museums  has  grown  exponentially  in  
the  past  few  decades.  Generating  strong  interpretive  exhibition  labels  for  collections  and  special  
exhibitions  is  a  key  strategy  in  furthering  the  educational  missions  of  museums.  Current  standards  of  
practice  encourage  museum  professionals  to  craft  labels  that  cater  to  the  visitors’  desired  museum  
experience,  generating  text  that  delivers  a  personal  and  memorable  experience,  involves  the  visitors,  
and  presents  a  clear  and  compelling  narrative.  
 
Bibliography  
o Australian  Museum.  “Writing  Text  and  Labels.”  Last  modified  October  14,  2009.  australianmuseum.n  
et.au/Writing-­‐Text-­‐and-­‐Labels.  
 
This  website  is  a  concise  and  practical  guide  for  writing  exhibit  labels.  It  provides  the  results  from  
behavioral  research  conducted  at  the  Australian  Museum,  and  gives  a  helpful  reference  list.  
 
o Blais  Andrée,  ed.  Text  in  the  Exhibition  Medium.  Translated  by  Terrance  Hughes.  Québec:  La  Sociéte  
des  Musées  Québecois,  1995.  
 
A  highly  analytical  approach  to  the  subject  of  including  text  in  exhibitions,  this  collection  of  essays  by  
various  Canadian  museum  professionals  provides  insight  into  the  process  by  which  visitors  absorb  
meaning  from  the  combination  of  interpretive  labels  and  objects  on  display.  Chapters  one  through  
three  focus  on  theoretical  approaches,  while  chapters  four  through  six  focus  on  the  more  practical  
considerations  of  writing,  displaying,  formatting,  editing,  and  evaluating  exhibition  texts.  
 
o Chambers,  Marlene.  “Sometimes  More  is  Too  Much.”  Curator:  The  Museum  Journal  52,  No.  1  (Jan.  
2009):  67-­‐76.  
 
Part  of  an  issue  devoted  to  the  renovation  of  the  Detroit  Institute  of  Arts,  completed  in  2007,  
Marlene  Chambers’  article  argues  that  the  interpretive  labels  at  the  Institute  are  “overkill,”  
intimidating  visitors  into  skipping  over  them  entirely.  She  analyzes  several  wall  texts  and  discusses  
their  successes  and  failings.  
 
o Chan,  Seb.  “Fictional  Narratives  &  Visitor-­‐Made  Labels  —  The  Odditoreum.”  Last  modified  July  9th,  
2009.  http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/dmsblog/index.php/2009/07/09/fictitious-­‐narratives-­‐
visitor-­‐made-­‐labels-­‐the-­‐odditoreum/.  
 
Seb  Chan  describes  the  exhibition  “The  Odditoreum,”  held  at  the  Powerhouse  Museum  in  Sydney,  
Australia.  Launched  in  2009,  the  exhibition  revolved  around  visitors  generating  their  own  interpretive  
labels  for  select  objects  from  the  museum’s  collections.  Created  through  collaboration  between  
museum  staff  and  Shaun  Tan,  author  of  children’s  literature,  this  exhibition  is  a  case  study  in  the  
ultimate  form  of  visitor  participation  and  involvement  through  the  medium  of  exhibition  labels.  
 
o Curators  Committee,  American  Association  of  Museums.  “Excellence  in  Exhibition  Label  Writing  
Competitions  Results,  2009-­‐2011.”  Accessed  September  20,  2011.  http://www.curcom.org/label_co  
mp.p  hp.  
 
These  three  documents  include  all  of  the  winning  exhibition  label  texts  from  each  competition,  
comments  by  the  jurors,  and  introductory  essays  outlining  the  standards  by  which  each  competition  
 was  judged.  Winning  entries  are  from  a  range  of  institutions  including  art  museums,  botanical  
gardens,  aquariums,  zoos,  children’s  museums,  and  science  museums.  
 
o Fragomeni,  Dana.  “The  Evolution  of  Exhibit  Labels.”  University  of  Toronto  Faculty  Information  
Quarterly  2,  No.  2  (Feb./March  2010):  1-­‐11.  
 
Fragomeni  provides  a  history  of  the  evolution  of  exhibit  labels  in  North  America  from  the  1970s  to  
the  present  and  discusses  two  exhibition  case  studies:  “Bigger,  Better,  More:  The  Art  of  Viola  Frey”  at  
the  Gardiner  Museum  of  Ceramic  Art  and  “Gord  Peteran:  Furniture  Meets  its  Maker”  at  the  
University  of  Toronto  Art  Centre.  She  discusses  the  unique  difficulties  of  creating  exhibition  labels  for  
contemporary  art.  
 
o Johnson,  Gary  T.  “What  Spanish  Labels  Have  Taught  the  Chicago  History  Museum.”  Exhibitionist  (Fall  
2007):  54-­‐57.  
 
A  brief  article  summarizes  some  of  the  issues  encountered  when  generating  exhibition  labels  in  
multiple  languages.  Johnson  discusses  the  ethical  decisions  he  faced  during  the  project,  the  questions  
raised  by  museum  professionals  and  the  general  community,  the  results  of  the  implementation  of  
bilingual  labels,  and  future  directions  for  the  museum.  
 
o Parry,  Ross,  ed.  Museums  in  a  Digital  Age.  New  York:  Routeledge,  2010.  
 
A  large  collection  of  essays  by  leading  museum  professionals,  this  text  seeks  to  discuss  a  broad  range  
of  issues  surrounding  the  future  of  museums  in  the  digital  age.  Part  Four  (pg.  225-­‐290)  focuses  on  
issues  of  interpretation.  Essays  by  Ross  Parry,  Peter  Walsh,  Olivia  C.  Frost,  Maria  Roussou,  and  Ben  
Gammon  discuss  issues  of  including  digital  interpretive  material  in  exhibitions,  the  vast  array  of  
unmonitored  information  available  to  visitors  on  the  web,  and  the  interactive  and  collaborative  
possibilities  opened  up  to  museum  visitors  through  digital  media.    
 
o Pekarik,  Andrew  J.  “To  Explain  or  Not  to  Explain.”  Curator:  The  Museum  Journal  47,  No.  1  (Jan.  
2004):  12-­‐18.  
 
Pekarik  discusses  the  unique  difficulties  in  creating  interpretive  text  faced  by  art  museums,  who  deal  
with  the  problem  of  balancing  visitors’  time  between  reading  wall  text  and  viewing  the  art  itself.  He  
compares  and  contrasts  the  inclusion  of  much  interpretive  text  in  the  exhibition  “The  Circle  of  Bliss”  
at  the  Los  Angeles  County  Museum  of  Art  and  the  near  absence  of  labels  at  “Gyroscope”  at  the  
Hirshhorn  Museum  and  Sculpture  Garden  in  Washington,  D.C.  
 
o Roberts,  Kate.  “Getting  Visitors’  Attention:  Writing  Exhibition  Labels.”  Minnesota  History  Interpreter.  
Accessed  Sep.  25,  2011.  http://www.mnhs.org/about/publications/docs_pdfs/ExhibitLabels.pdf.  
 
A  brief  guide  to  writing  exhibit  labels  from  the  perspective  of  a  museum  professional  at  the  
Minnesota  Historical  Society.  
 
o Serrell,  Beverly.  Exhibit  Labels:  An  Interpretive  Approach.  Walnut  Creek,  CA:  AltaMira  Press,  1996.  
 
A  seminal  book  on  best  practices  for  writing  exhibit  labels.  Beverly  Serrell  provides  personal  stories,  
case  studies,  and  research  analysis  in  a  practical  guide  to  writing  exhibition  labels.  She  provides  both  
good  and  bad  examples,  and  attempts  to  give  both  a  broad  overview  for  all  cultural  institutions  and  
specific  considerations  for  museums  of  art,  science,  and  history,  as  well  as  zoos  and  children’s  
museums.