Analysis : field trip Transit museum
Big Idea : The main idea of the Steel Stone and Backbone exhibition in the NY transit museum is to present the excavation process, techniques, engineering and equipment used to create the subway network. It is concentrating on exhibiting historical artifacts objects from the excavation process and elements of of the train throughout history. The teachings are conveyed through reading information on the panels in addition to looking at photos and diagrams that are on the side walls.
The audience of this exhibition is mostly families with children but also college students or elder students.There were definitely more tourists than locals. This exhibition becomes more enjoyable if you experience it with a group of friends because everyone can contribute to reading - explaining and sharing their understanding of the written information .
The narrative of the exhibit was expressed only towards visitors only using written language. It left younger children to only interact with the historical artifacts , not knowing what their use were. In addition, I noticed that there wasn;t necessarily a description linked to each object, resulting in trying to identify it through photos or guessing it’s function. The graphic design of the exhibition was up to date, included various materials and nice additions like human sized cut outs.
This exhibit supports the museum’s mission partially, because it is providing a lot information but at the same time the mediums through which the information are given are limited and mostly text oriented.
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AREAS THAT THE EXHIBITION EXPLORES :
1.life in NYC in the 1900s
how was NYC, it’s population and life
2.Work ethnicity and race
3.Underwater tunneling sanddogs
structural information and sections- historical artifacts from process
4.Success and failure
more information about the structure
5.Finishing touches
Interior design architectural details
these can be translated into : ( brainstorming )