What is an exhibition? | Cooper Associates County Ground

We all know what an exhibition is. Sure, we do. But what we mightn’t appreciate is that a good exhibition has the power to change the way we think about a particular subject.

So, what is an exhibition?

In simple terms an exhibition is an organised display of selected items of the kind you’d expect to find in a museum or art gallery.

Then there are all the many ways that an exhibition can choose to present whatever is being displayed.

An art gallery normally hangs art on the walls or has freestanding pieces of art we can walk around.

A museum, on the other hand, usually displays three dimensional items, either in glass display cases or, again, as freestanding pieces.

Picture, for example, Earth’s biggest ever dinosaur on display at London’s Natural History Museum. This was the enormous 121 foot long Titanosaur that weighed 57 tonnes when it roamed our planet 101 million years ago.

Of course, in the digital age we’re not confined to exhibiting actual objects in the here and now. Online exhibitions are common now that the internet is more widely accessible worldwide.

But enough about what exhibitions are.

What is the purpose of an exhibition?

This is when things become interesting, the exhibits stop being just things on display and actually interact with an audience – which is the whole purpose of exhibitions.

The exhibits (like dinosaurs) don’t usually come alive and cause havoc, even though they certainly could with today’s technology. But with that thought in mind, it’s easy to see how a well thought out exhibition could educate, it can enlighten, provoke thought, inspire or even shock, all depending on the nature of the exhibits and how the audience responds to them.

Why are exhibitions important

Exhibitions potentially have the power to influence our thinking and behaviour in relation to important subjects – like climate change for example.

They can introduce even complex elements of a subject in graphic, easy to understand ways, especially when accompanied by themed literature that we can take away with us.

The Cooper Associates County Ground.

If there’s a subject you’d like to build an exhibition around, the versatile and fully accessible nature of the Cooper Associates County Ground means that we are the ideal venue for your exhibition, whatever the size. We have rooms ideal for both primary and secondary exhibitions, as well as breakout areas.