Margaret Choi Kwan Lam

Scenography As New Ideology in Contemporary Curating: the Notion of Staging in Exhibitions Margaret Choi Kwan Lam

Scenography has been acting as a transformative force to reform the traditionalexhibitionary complex. This has led to an unprecedented intersection wherescenography meets contemporary curating, which further informs a radical ideologicalshift in the frontier of the exhibition scene. This book aims to exploit a new land ofdiscussion to look into this intersection between scenographic practice andcontemporary curating, its mergence and the subsequent revolution it has caused. Byseeing museums and exhibition spaces as metaphorical stages, it fundamentallyreconfigures the infrastructure of curating practices, in terms of a shift in authorship,architectural embodiment of ideas, field of experience, layered narrative, dramaturgy andthe hybrid expressions of new media. Three case studies will demonstrate scenography'swide-ranged methodologies in dealing with contemporary issues. Cases include: BMWMuseum (Reopened in 2008), Cultures of the World (Opened in 2010) and Leonardo'sLast Supper: A Vision by Peter Greenaway (2008, 2010). The discussion cuts throughmajor discourses, both responding to the rise of the experience economy and theexpanding notion of curating, in parallel.