HND Exhibition Research

Outcome 1
Clare Flynn A0113914

PHMUSEUM
Even before lockdown, PHmuseum has had a dedicated space on its website to exhibit
photography for years, so they have had a head start before many who had no choice but to
exhibit online. PHmuseum is a well-known platform that hundreds of photographers contribute
to a year, because of this they advertise their exhibition primarily online, on their social media
platforms which participating photographers promote on their own platforms too. Their current
online exhibition is called “Falling” which displays multiple photographers work who have
followed the same brief.

As you enter the exhibition you are greeted by a header image which gives the viewer a brief
description of what they are about to view. The first photographer is Esther Teichmann with her
project, “On Sleeping and Drowning.”
Personally, I find this format irritating as you must scroll down three slides until you can finally
view the images. I think that this could have been greatly simplified which would have created
an easier and more enjoyable experience. By placing the description beside the image, you could
view the images quicker and simply glance to the side to read the text.

When you finally scroll down to the bottom of the page, you can view the images and simply
click through the photographer's work. As you have no hint to what the next image will look
like; it is exciting for the viewer to imagine what beautiful imagery could be next.
The images are large and have clear detail and clarity, which is key to displaying images on an
online exhibition. PHmuseum’s image quality is something that I will make sure to bring to my
own end of year online exhibition as it is essential in creating a successful online exhibition.

ARTLAND
Due to lockdown, in person exhibitions have been closed to the public for over a year. To get
around this problem, galleries, museums, and artists have turned to the internet to display their
work online which would have otherwise been viewed on a gallery wall. I believe that the online
platform Artland have come the closest to bridging the gap between the physical and online and
have emulated the in-person experience by using 3D and virtual reality software. Artland
promotes their exhibits online and has been backed by various popular companies such as Urth,
formerly known as Gobe, which is how I found their website and exhibitions.
This exhibition displayed in The Ravestijn Gallery is called “Nude - Arising from the Ground”
which was created by the sculptor, filmmaker and photographer, Mariken Wessels. To begin the
tour, you are brought to a page where you are given the opportunity to enter the 3D tour which
also gives you a glimpse of what is to come.
Immediately you are shown the 3D exhibition in its entirety and the rooms you are about to enter
which is strange as it is a real building that you can explore online.
By simply clicking on the ground, you can stand and view the sculpture and images from any
angle you would like, just like you would in person. This function gives the viewer a greater
control over where and how they would like to the view the work, which is unlike any other
online exhibition I have researched.

Artland’s exhibition format reminded me of an advanced Google Earth, which could allow you
to enter the buildings that you pass by on GE.

Artland’s only downfall is that they fall short on the image quality of the photography, which is a
great let down. This exhibition would benefit from the ability to click on the image and pop up a
separate HD image of the work so that you could view it properly. However, I do understand that
it is supposed to show you exactly what it is like in real life. It is also interesting that you can
even see the window light reflections on the photographs. This is a reoccurring problem when
viewing an in-person exhibition which perhaps could strength the argument in favour toward
online exhibitions.

GOOGLE ARTS AND CULTURE

Google Arts and Culture has been a platform that has displayed virtual tours and exhibitions
online well before lockdown. They promote their exhibitions and collections on adverts on the
Google homepage which garners them a lot of online traffic. My chosen exhibit from their vast
array of collections is “Fundacion MAPFRE”, which is a collection of general interest cultural
photographic projects that is targeted toward Latina audiences from around the world.

This exhibition has the most simplistic layout I have researched; however, it is also my favourite
as it is extremely easy to use, and it is pleasing to the eye as it clean and white which lets the
images pop.
The viewer simply clicks on any image and continues onto the next page to see another.

This simple format is what I would choose to follow for my own online exhibition for these
reasons.
References
PHmuseum. (n.d.). Falling | Exhibition. [online] Available at:
https://phmuseum.com/exhibition/falling
Artland.com. (2021). [online] Available at: https://www.artland.com/exhibitions/arising-from-
the-ground
Google Arts & Culture. (n.d.). Fundacion MAPFRE, Madrid, Spain. [online] Available at:
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/fundacion-mapfre