Here at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney we opened an exhibition last
November called 'Taking precautions: the story of contraception'. It will be
in the museum until at least the end of this year and then there is a
possibility that it will travel. The area of the exhibition is about 250 sp.
m.  I was the developer of the exhibition and Jisuk Han was the designer. I
am very pleased with the exhibition because it has turned out just the way
we had planned - informative but fun, without being frivolous.
'Taking Precautions'  covers the history of birth control from ancient times
to the present; it looks at the current choices available and some that are
likely to be available in the near future; and it also looks at population
programs in developing countries. Special sections deal with condoms; the
contraception revolution of the 1960s; and abortion.

We were aware that the subject matter was potentially controversial. This
did not influence the content of the exhibition (in other words we did not
shy away from any of the topics we wanted to cover), but it did influence
the physical design of the exhibition - we have a single entrance to the
exhibition with a sign outside listing the sorts of things that the visitor
will see. This way people do not find themselves in the exhibition
accidentally.

As well as objects from the museum's own collection, the material on display
in the exhibition includes loans or donations from a number of individual
people and from different organisations. We received expert advice from the
Family Planning Association, but we also asked for, and were given, objects
from the Natural Family Planning Association (a Roman Catholic organisation)
and from Human Life International (another basically Catholic organisation
which opposes abortion and contraception).
In the months preceding the opening of the exhibition we held staff seminars
(the Powerhouse has a staff of around 350 people) so that all staff - and in
particular those staff who deal directly with the public - would be fully
aware of what the exhibition was about and why we were doing it; so that
they could express any concerns that they had about the exhibition; and so
that we could discuss ways of dealing with situations if any museum visitors
were upset by the exhibition.

We also have a desk and mail box inside the exhibition so that visitors can
write comments. It is then my job to collate  these comments and answer them
(if people have given us their name and address).
In the event, everything has gone very smoothly. The exhibition is very
popular, there has been no trouble from groups such as anti-abortion
organisations, and an overwhelming majority of the comments have been
positive. Of course, some of them have expressed disapproval or criticism of
the exhibition as a whole or of sections of it.

Our Evaluation Co-ordinator and I hope to be writing a paper later this year
about what the Visitor Comment forms tell us about our visitors, and what
they tell us about visitor reactions to the way we go about putting on
exhibitions.

Earlier this year we opened a new temporary exhibition at the Powerhouse
called 'Absolutely Mardi Gras', which is about Sydney's famous Gay and
Lesbian Mardi Gras. The main features of the exhibition are a number of
fabulous costumes designed and worn by people who have taken part in the
Mardi Gras  over the years. Because of the success of the staff seminars and
the Visitor Comment forms in 'Taking Precautions', those strategies were
repeated for 'Absolutely Mardi Gras'.

This is a very short answer to a question that really requires a very long
one. However, let me know if there is anything else you would like to ask.
If you send me your postal address I will send you a leaflet about the
exhibition (and something about the Powerhouse Museum so you know a bit more
about us). I will also send you a copy of a review of 'Taking Precautions'
that was published recently in a national museum journal. It will give you
an idea, from an objective point of view, of how we have gone about treating
the subject of contraception in an exhibition.

Megan Hicks
Curator of Health and Medicine
Powerhouse Museum
PO Box K346
Haymarket  NSW Australia 2000
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