Description of the exhibit:
Joy is a newly commissioned exhibition at the Immigration Museum, curated by 7 international artists to express the meaning of happiness and joy. The exhibition shows multiple perspectives and meaning of finding happiness and joy in small, simple things. The exhibition space spans across 2 floors of the museum, and features visual and emotional experiences, rich in creativity and storytelling. Each of the 7 works of art expresses the author's idea of joy, and offers to the visitor a journey of introspection and self-reflection to experience the power and meaning of joy. "Big joyous moments and more reflective spaces capture all kinds of joy, from the carefree years of childhood to a celebration of belonging and togetherness." (Immigration Museum website https://museumsvictoria.com.au/immigrationmuseum/whats-on/joy/ ).
The exhibit's use of technology:
Museum entrance hall and stairway - access to the main exhibition: As soon as we enter the museum space, we notice murals painted by artists Nadia Hernandez, which represent snippets and sketches of daily moments that bring joy and happiness to the artist. From daily WhatsApp conversations, to breakfast and song lyrics, this first exhibition features 8 colourful paintings, inspired by Pop Art and collage techniques. The hallway appears saturated with bright, shiny colours covering the walls. When climbing the stairs to the second floor, we notice "Joy Pops", a collection of tall murals on the walls and columns, quoting citations of locals who wanted to share their idea of happiness. Many interesting thoughts are shown on these walls, including childhood memories, family moments, travels and friendship quotes. This part of the exhibition is clearly inviting visitors to read these thoughts as they walk by, and perhaps take a selfie or photo in front of the painting which best aligns to their idea of happiness. Colourful and shiny plastic decorations adorn the hallway and the main exhibition upstairs, inviting visitors to take photos and capture the many colourful shades of light that reflect across the room.
Access to the exhibition: Walking upstairs, on the first level, we find the permanent exhibits of the museum, dedicated to immigration throughout the years. We need to walk up the stairs to the next floor again, before finding the actual Joy exhibition, which was a bit disappointing at first. The murals of everyday happiness continue to guide us up to the third floor, where we find a welcoming, colourful space. Colourful plastic paper embellishes the windows of the museum, and lets us enjoy a "coloured" view of the city's skyline, including Flinders Street and Australia 108 buildings.
Joy Pops. Image by: https://www.broadsheet.com.au/melbourne/art-and-design/article/colour-connection-and-community-joy-immigration-museums-brand-new-interactive-exhibition
Exhibition Space: - Share Your Joy: The first installation we find as soon as we step into the 2rd floor, is an open space, that provides visitors with coloured texters and plenty of paper sticky notes, for them to write down their ide of happiness and stick it onto the "Share your joy" wall. It's a small, welcoming space where visitors can express their personal meaning of happiness, by writing thoughts down on paper and then clipping it on a wall and share their thoughts with others. This colourful space separates a second permanent exhibition of the museum, from the Joy installation space. There are no wayfinding signage or elements to guide visitors through the exhibition, so for someone who's never been into the museum before, it can be hard to find their way through. I walked through the 2 exhibitions myself, by mistake.... The left side of the floor is dedicated to the installation of the 7 artists, which however, are hidden behind a dark corner, so totally hidden to the visitors at first. I was a bit confused in the beginning, about the layout and structure of the exhibition. However, thinking this through, I probably realised this was intentional. There is no set path to follow, in order to appreciate the exhibition. Artists want each visitor to explore and create their own experience of the installation, discover each artwork at their own pace and unfold their emotional adventure as they go. Personally, I found myself walking around the table and wall a couple of times, trying to read what other visitors had to share. After that, I walked down the "Bring it to the Runway" installation, by local queer artist Spencer Harrison. - Bring it to the Runway: The corridor is designed to be a long runway, with colourful plastic decorations on the ceiling. It is the only corridor that connects the entrance to the rest of the exhibition. Small led lights emit their light from behind the decorations, and reflect coloured rays of light across the whole corridor, which therefore transforms into a shiny, almost whimsical place. The artist themselves explain how this installation reflects their idea of joy, as it "drags up" the rigorous interior architecture of the museum. The colourful decorations are meant to represent the queer atmosphere of local nightclubs, which are an exciting memory to the artist. The design of the space imitates the walkway of fashion runways, so transforms into a space where visitors can walk down, pretending they were on a real runway and feel like a real fashion celebrity. This installation combines a couple of thoughts that bring joy to the artist, including colours, fashion and local clubs atmosphere.
AT THE END OF THE RUNWAY, THERE ARE EXHIBITS ON BOTH SIDES. ALL ARTOWORKS ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE EXHIBITION SHARE SIMILAR VALUES OF JOY, LINKED TO CHILDHOOD MEMORIES, NOSTALGIA AND HOMESICKNESS.
ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE SPACE, JOY IS EXPRESSED THROUGH A DEEP CONNECTION WITH NATURE, FOCUSING ON HOW THE COLOURS OF NATURE CAN GENERATE DEEP, HAPPY FEELINGS INTO US.
Left side exhibits, childhood memories:
- Video Land: From here, visitors can access all other installations, located on both sides of the runway. I walked into Video Land first, a cosy vintage environment which accurately imitates a 90's video rental shop. The space imitates in a surprisingly high level of detail, the furniture, colours, structure and products of a rental store. It replicates DVDs and cassettes of famous 80s and 90s movies, like Return to the Future, The Lord of the Rings, Notting Hill as well as many Disney movies. All products are stored into shelves and sorted by genre: Crime, Thriller, Adventure, Family, Kids, Fantasy etc...The use of technology in this exhibition is clear and well designed: the artist wants visitors to feel like they've jumped back in time, and brings up memories of early childhood and teenage years, representing an idea of Joy which blends into nostalgia and homesickness. The layout of the installation feels like an open space, with high shelves of DVDs and posters covering the walls. Visitors are invited to walk through the store and explore the environment as they like. There is no set pathway to follow: visitors can jump to the movie section they prefer, or explore each corner of the exhibit one by one.
-Bunny Dearest: A giant, stuffed bunny designed for visitors to climb and sit on. The idea is, according to the artist Beci Orpin, to express joy through childhood memories.
What unifies such different installations into a cohesive exhibition is also colour, which in this case is used as a real technology, a medium to express an idea and perform a task. All artists and team involved in the curation of the exhibition agree that the following colours convey a sense of joy: yellow/orange, green, purple/pink and blue. Therefore those colours are seen consistently throughout the exhibition, from the artworks themselves, to the paintings, murals and decorations.
-Our Laughter Will Become the Waterfall: Wiradjuri poet and artist Jazz Money created a welcoming space, with plenty of cushions to sit and lie down on, while enjoying an audiovisual experience that invites visitors to sit, relax, and listen to a soundscape of children laughing and playing together.
On the right side of the corridor, connection to nature:
-Simurgh: 2 Afghan born artists (Elyas Alavi with Sher Ali) have collaborated on designing a space to share their own cultural heritage, and the deep connection that they have with nature and mythology. The murals on the walls are replicas of ancient Persian paintings, which tell the legend of Simurgh, birds which are meant to represent happiness and determination.
-Generator: a multisensory and tactile structure set within a colourful, abstract and immersive space. Colourful graphics decorate walls and ceiling, which can all be enhanced by downloading an AR app, and scanning certain graphics which will become animated and interactive on mobile screens. (Nixi Killick)
The politics of the exhibit: The overall theme and purpose of the exhibition is to express different types and modes of happiness and joy, through various media and installations as a physical representation of those ideals and expressions of joy. Each one of the 7 artists expresses their idea of joy through their artwork, and through the curation of their exhibit, they want visitors to explore and inspect the artist's idea of happiness, hoping visitors can also empathise and share similar values and ideals. The aim of the overall exhibition is to share, celebrate and appreciate storytelling, emotional transformation, introspection and self-reflection through a variety of vibrant designs. Broadsheet. com states how "The exhibition has been in development since 2022, with an original aim to celebrate colour. As the exhibition developed, it became clear that joy should be the focus instead, bringing with it a greater emotional depth beyond just aesthetics."
Artists have been selected based on how they use colour in the creative practice, and how emotionally rich and meaningful their portfolio is, especially when it comes to expressing positive feelings in unique ways. The museum was in fact looking for artists who could express meaningful and diverse perspectives on a same theme. Overall, the exhibition is meant to explore different perspectives and ideals of happiness, but also be a source of joy itself, immersing visitors into a colourful, happy and welcoming place.
Use of a theory from one of the texts on our reading list as covered in the lectures, to understand the exhibit:
"For me, the most important component is the enabling and transmission of an aesthetic
experience.. Through theconceptualizing of an exhibition/performance/festival the curator presents a view of
the art work (or works), its world, and the world in which it now exists. "
(Forrest, 2010.2). As David Forrest explains in his curated book "The curator in the Academy", curating means showing a view of the artwork and the world and context in which the artwork exists. One of the most important roles of a curator is to express, communicate and educate on the potential of the artwork, as well as inviting visitors to explore this new world, its features and qualities.
I believe this concept also applies to this exhibition, since the curators (and artists involved in designing the exhibition), worked on representing a world of joy, where everyone is welcome to express their ideas and feel welcome. Their role was to communicate a view, a perspective on this world of happiness, and invite visitors to become part of this world and enhance it even further by sharing their own thoughts and values.
"the 'new curator' identifies and articulates creative content that explore progressive and experimental ideas " (Watson 2021:13).
I believe this definition written by Fleur Watson in her book The New Curator: Exhibiting Architecture and Design, can also be applied to the context of the exhibition Joy, since it is a multisensorial, multimedia and immersive exhibition, that connects design, visual arts, music and architecture. Although there are some aspects of this exhibition I believe could be improved, as they now seem to be left behind others, the curators have successfully articulated creative multimedia design content to explore experimental ideas and values.
Why you find the exhibit engaging: I believe the exhibition provided good insights into the meaning of happiness, and different ways of finding happiness in every day life and small things, like music, conversations, nature and movies. I do share some of these ideals, and believe that joy can be found in small things, if we're open to capture these small details and appreciate small things in life. Although I appreciate the meaning and idea of childhood happiness expressed through the exhibit "Our Laughter Will Become the Waterfall", I'm not a fan of the way this concept has been executed and curated. The cheerful soundscape of children playing together is not that immersive as advertised online. The sound seem to be faded and distant, as if they were coming from another room. The sounds are also confusing, going from very quiet to extremely noisy, and it's hard to find a connection between the separate tracks. Other than that, the exhibit was worth visiting, it provided interesting insights into the meaning of happiness and it was great to experience such a variety of perspectives and points of view of different people, expressing their ow experiences of the same topic.
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