I used to think an exhibition ended when we took the artworks down.
The last day comes. We pack everything. The walls become empty again. Labels come off. The plinths are moved. Artists collect their works. Whatever needs to be returned gets returned.
Then we move on.
There is always another exhibition to think about.
Another open call.
Another proposal.
Another installation.
Another deadline.
But after managing Di Bawah Langit Yang Sama and Buka Jalan, I started to think that perhaps I got this part wrong.
The physical exhibition ends.
The experience doesn't necessarily end with it.
And honestly, I don't think I thought enough about that before.
We are very good at thinking about the opening
A lot of exhibition management revolves around getting to opening day.
Everything has to be ready.
The artworks need to be installed.
The lighting needs to work.
The labels need to be printed.
The social media posts need to go out.
Artists need to arrive.
Someone needs to give a speech.
Someone needs to take photographs.
Someone needs to make sure everyone knows where the toilets are.
Then the doors open.
For a few hours, everything feels very important.
And then the opening is over.
We go back to work.
During the exhibition, we think about visitors coming in, looking at the works and leaving.
We think about footfall.
We think about sales.
We think about whether people are enjoying themselves.
We might put a QR code somewhere and ask them to fill in a survey.
And then, when the exhibition closes, we pack everything away.
I realised that I was still thinking about the exhibition as something that exists physically.
Maybe that is the problem.
What happens after someone leaves?
A visitor might walk out of an exhibition and forget everything about it five minutes later.
That happens.
I've done it too.
But sometimes something stays.
Maybe an artwork.
Maybe a conversation.
Maybe a strange feeling that they cannot quite explain.
Maybe they go home and look up the artist.
Maybe they send a picture to their friend.
Maybe they tell their wife, husband, friend or colleague, “You should have come.”
Maybe they remember the exhibition months later.
That is still part of the experience.
It just happens outside the gallery.
And this is where I think exhibitions can do better.
I made the same mistake
For both Di Bawah Langit Yang Sama and Buka Jalan, we collected visitor feedback through questionnaires.
The QR code was there.
Visitors could scan it and tell us what they thought.
It was useful.
Actually, it was very useful for my research because it gave me something beyond my own assumptions.
But looking back, I realised that we were mostly asking visitors to evaluate the exhibition.
Did you like it?
Were the facilities good?
Was the duration enough?
Were you satisfied?
Those are important questions.
But they are still questions about us.
We were not really giving visitors another way to continue their relationship with the exhibition.
There were no proper post-exhibition conversations.
No follow-up discussion.
No artists' response session after the exhibition.
No proper digital extension of the exhibition.
Once the artworks came down, it was basically over.
That was something I missed.
Maybe the exhibition should have a longer life
It does not necessarily mean that an exhibition needs to physically stay open longer.
That is another problem altogether.
Venue costs money.
Manpower costs money.
Everything costs money.
But the idea of the exhibition can continue.
A curator could write something about what happened.
An artist could respond to questions that came up during the exhibition.
Visitors could be invited to share their own responses.
There could be a recorded conversation.
There could be a digital walkthrough.
There could be something as simple as a follow-up article.
None of these things need to be extravagant.
Sometimes we think audience engagement has to be some big programme with a proper stage, microphone and fifty chairs.
It doesn't.
Sometimes a good conversation is enough.
We probably underestimate memory
This is the part I find interesting.
We always talk about visitor experience as if it happens inside the gallery.
But memory is part of experience too.
Someone might not understand an artwork immediately.
They might only start thinking about it later.
Maybe while driving home.
Maybe while having dinner.
Maybe when they see something completely unrelated a few weeks later.
That artwork suddenly comes back to them.
Was that not part of the exhibition?
I think it was.
And if that is true, then perhaps the responsibility of an exhibition maker is not only to create a good experience while the visitor is inside the gallery.
It is also to create enough space for the experience to continue afterwards.
I think we are still too object-focused
The artwork is important.
Obviously.
Without the artwork, there is no art exhibition.
But sometimes we become so focused on the artwork that everything around it becomes secondary.
The opening.
The visitor.
The conversation.
The social experience.
The memory.
The follow-up.
We treat these things as additional.
I don't think they are.
If we are serious about visitor experience, then the visitor is not just someone who walks in, looks at the artwork and walks out.
They are part of the whole thing.
What I would do differently now
If I were to organise Di Bawah Langit Yang Sama again, I would think about the post-visit experience from the beginning.
Not after the exhibition.
From the beginning.
I would ask:
What happens after the visitor leaves?
How can they continue the conversation?
How can we keep them connected to the artists?
How can the exhibition exist beyond the physical space?
Even something simple would be better than nothing.
Because I don't think an exhibition should disappear completely the moment the walls become empty.
The physical exhibition can end.
But the conversation doesn't have to.
And maybe that is something I should have understood earlier.
Research Note
This article is adapted from research conducted for the thesis, A Comparative Evaluation of Visitor Experience Influencing Factors in Emerging Malaysian Exhibitions: A Case Study of Di Bawah Langit Yang Sama and Buka Jalan, undertaken in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Art (Art History and Cultural Management).
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