Beverly Serrell gives good advice in her book "Exhibit Labels: An Interpretive
Approach" (AltaMira Press, 1996) when she writes, "The best questions are those
that visitors themselves ask." I am not sure that these questions meet that
test. In the absence of a clear rationale for their use, or their obvious
connection to questions that visitors actually ask, I think questions are best
used sparingly.

Thomas Thompson


Jane Sarre wrote:

> Short question:
>
> Is it ok to put up an exhibition with lots of open ended questions in the
> panels or guide, and then not tell people what the answers are? does this
> make it look zappy and dynamic and accessible or like the curators don't
> know what thery're talking about?
>
> Long version of the question:
>
> I am curating an exhibition which focusses on the shared experience of
> having an agricultural heritage, for a region including Kent, UK, Nord
> Pas-de-Calais, France, and most of Belgium. It is made up of paintings,
> prints, archive documents, photographs and museum objects, but the paintings
> are the backbone.
>
> Thing is, I'm not an art curator, and I don't have time to do loads of
> reseach about the region so I don't want to get into too many
> technicalities, so it was decided to stick with the issues that lead us to
> this field to start with (pun not intended).
>
> The resulting interpretative text, which I was just about happy with has
> just been circulated for comment, and my line manager has responded that
> there are too many questions in the text, it looks like a quiz and if we ask
> that many questions we should provide the answers.
>
> All the questions posed are deliberatley open ended and were intended to get
> people looking at the exhibits with the question in mind.
>
> For example:
>
> WHAT BRINGS PEOPLE TOGETHER?
>
> Many of the pictures in this exhibition suggest that rural life is dominated
> by isolation and work. But there are other aspects to life. Wherever a group
> of people share a physical place, an interest or an activity, they form a
> community with a distinct culture. Their lives have a shared meaning shaped
> by the events that bring them together.
>
> What do these paintings tell us about life in rural communities? What sort
> of social events have artists been drawn to? Would the people in the
> pictures choose the same moment to be recorded in a picture?
>
> Are there connections between these recorded events and the daily routines
> of work shown elsewhere?