Scenography as New Ideology in Contemporary Curating: The Notion of Staging in Exhibitions

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Chapter 1:, Introduction:
The expanding notion of curating is under intense discussion in recentyears. Not only that the field of contemporary curating has constantlyreflected on the status of the exhibitionary culture, but also it has raised acritical awareness of a shift in the profession of curating itself. In 2011, asymposium entitled The Critical Edge of Curating 1was held in SolomonR. Guggenheim Museum, highlighting the need for a broader theoreticaland practical analysis of the field 2. One of the key pressing issues in thedebate was about the curatorial agency in an expanded field ofproduction 3 , where the questions of authorship, capability, ideology andmethodology of the contemporaneity were brought to the fore.Such inquiries could be seen through by an inherent link between the newtendency of exhibition-making and the global transition towards theexperience economy. As economists B. Joseph Pine II and James H.Gilmore asserted in The Experience Economy: Work is Theatre and EveryBusiness a Stage about the first principle of effective experience staging 4, they later clarified that this is prevalent in almost any industry [...][and] applies just as much to the museum world 5 . In this sense, the notion ofstaging now becomes the core metaphor in the new exhibitionaryparadigm, in which drama takes on a new strategic role in its heart 6 . Toclarify, the idea of staging and drama discussed here should not beconfined to the concept of performances but a total theatrical expressionof the whole space being encountered. This cultural enquiry in thegrander scheme has posed a tremendous challenge on contemporarycurating. As museology scholars Dr. Suzanne MacLeod, Laura HourstonHanks and Jonathan A. Hale further visionized the phenomenon in 2012,[m]useum making in the twenty-first century is challenging, creative,[and] complex [...]. Operating across different scales of activity fromthe level of the object to the level of the building, city or

Margaret Choi Kwan Lam is an art professional working in the interdisciplinary creativefield, cutting through art curating, design exhibitions and branding activities. Afterfurthering her studies in MA Curating Contemporary Design (graduating with Distinction)- Kingston University - in partnership with Design Museum in London, Margaret has beenworking as an independent assistant curator and contributing in art exhibition-making.She is particularly interested in interdisciplinary curatorial practices that involveexperiential design, spatial narration, scenography, and new interpretative approaches inexhibition spaces. Combining her artistic background and multi-faceted work experiencein creative industries, involving solid projects in advertising agencies and multi-mediaexhibition lab, she has developed overarching skills as substantial backup to pursuitcreative curating and exhibition-making.Personal Website: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/margaretlamcurator