This section contains a series of posts, some of which have only occurred to me late in this process, related to the build and design of my exhibition.

I have now booked my exhibition and paid the gallery to confirm my dates in April. As my exhibition will take place after my degree is complete, I have produced this document to provide an overview of it and explain some of the choices I have made, whether I have taken these forward, rejected a possible choice, or parked an idea that I might return to in the future. I will show a sense of some of the challenges of building an exhibition.

The gallery I have chosen is not a white cube; it has a character that brings a sense of place and history into the space. The gallery is housed in a building that sat underneath a railway bridge that took trains into Leith Central Station. The railway, bridge and station are long gone, but a hint of the remains of the bridge can be seen outside on either side of the road and in the gallery, where the ceiling is made from cast iron. Downstairs, there is a shop that sells arts and crafts and some studio spaces which can be rented. Upstairs via a staircase is the gallery. There is no access for those with mobility issues. This space has a toilet and a small kitchen, a fireplace, and windows to the side and front. The fireplace wall is rough stone, while the opposite wall is a rough textured whitewashed surface. Taking note of these differences in wall construction, I decided to place bigger works on the longer wall with the fireplace and smaller pieces, which I thought would work well on the white wall. There are multiple power points on the walls and on the floor, which was important for me in case it limited where I could place my video piece. As the wall is textured, I am considering putting up a projector screen and shading some of the light from a window using a sheet. In the centre of the room, I place my see-saw installation. This forces the audience to walk around it, which means that they cannot cross from one side of the room to the other and must follow my sequence. I have placed my introduction where I hope my audience will start, but I recognise that some might look at this project in reverse. At the end of the room, near the toilet and kitchen, there are tables and seating. Here, I will place some postcards of my work and a newspaper/zine, which I designed and which also serves as a poster used to advertise my exhibition.

I show a plan of the exhibition space along with a walkthrough I created from the photographs I shot during my many visits to the gallery. As I was putting this together, I placed some footsteps on my image to create a sense of how I plan for the audience to move through this space. I did wonder about sticking some footsteps onto the floor of the gallery, but I expect people will do as they please, and I cannot control them. For the same reason, I have not planned to place a “Do Not Touch” sign on my see-saw as I expect that regardless of such signage, folk will touch it.

A plan of the gallery space.

A walk-through of my exhibition in the gallery.

Some images of the gallery when floor space was empty, and another exhibition hung on the walls.

Some practical considerations on hanging my artwork. The gallery has a picture rail made from copper pipe. Chains and j hooks hang from the rail. I show images of these below.

My chosen mounts use an aluminium subframe, which stiffens the print and creates a gap between the wall and the print to make it seem as if the print is floating with nice shadows. I think this fits very well with my work as there is no border to distract my audience, whose attention will be focused on my work. I had to check the preferred method of hanging prints in the gallery to see if this worked with these subframes.

For the signage for introduction and titles for my works, I will create these at home, using adhesive labels printed on home printer then stuck to foam board.

The labels for my works will have following details, artist name, Title, year, medium and I will add a price to purchase the artwork.