Exhibition design for the Letterkundig Museum

Abstract

This report will cover my graduation project at the Letterkundig Museum in the Hague. The focus of this project is attracting teenagers (13 to 18 years old) to the museum, by means of an exhibition concept that offers an experience that is educational. Phase 1 - Analysis The Letterkundig Museum concerns itself with the collection of literary artefacts (such as handwritings, clippings, etc.) that are made public by means of publications and exhibitions. These should enthuse its audience and make the world behind the writer accessible. Under its wing the Kinderboekenmuseum is positioned, it tries to enthuse children to read, write and create themselves. The teenage target group is not attracted to the museum in its current set-up. The future of the museum is unclear in the sense that its location might change and the focus of the museum is about to change. Suggested is a stronger focus on digital means for the Letterkundig Museum and a stronger differentiation between the Letterkundig Museum and Kinderboekenmuseum. During this graduation these aspects remained unclear. In order to create relevance in uncertain times also solutions that lay outside the museum were evaluated. As the Letterkundig Museum focuses on literature, reading is an integral aspect of this assignment. Reading as a pastime activity is in decline among the target group, however they do have mandatory reading list they have to complete. Combined with the finding that museum visit is not intrinsically motivated among the target group. The decision is made to focus on education and an experience as part as a mandatory educational activity. Shifting the research focus to teachers as they are the deciding party. From interviews with teachers it became clear that motivating is a big aspect of literature education. Supporting the decision to make the design about motivating students and supporting teachers in doing so. Phase 2 - Conceptualisation Several directions, in and outside the museum were evaluated. From which the museum based and education based directions were deemed to have to most potential. Three concepts were developed: an overarching exhibition design, an education platform and an character based game. The concepts were evaluated and the character game concept, take over the classroom, was chosen. The concept reaches out to the target group by providing them with an experience at school. Focussing on characters, players can experience an event through the eyes of that character, changing their perspective on the story and allowing for their own personal interpretation. Selecting the characters in such a manner that the connection between characters from well known and less well known literary works can be made. Furthermore describing an overlap between the books the target group would like to read and the books the are obliged to read for school. Phase 3 - Detailing From this concept In persona emerged. In persona is a debate game in which students get introduced to a wide variety of books. The aim of In persona is to inspire students to read and helping them find the books that are suited for them. Four to five students make up a group (depending on the size of the class), each student plays a different character. The objective is to gather all relevant theme cards of the character by combining them with the right text fragments (gathered from the book). As the theme cards are not all specific to one player, some are shared among several, the players have to compete and interact with each other in order to win the cards. They can do this by finding the right arguments and making sure they get the card that belong to them the fastest. Phase 4 - Evaluation In persona offers the Letterkundig Museum the means to stay relevant in an uncertain time, attract a difficult target group and ample pportunity for further development.