Exhibitions

The Exhibition template lets you group Items together to tell a story. Exhibitions can represent a permanent collection, a temporary exhibit that is currently on view, family programming, and more.

Exhibition Fields

• Images: Add up to 8 images from your content library. If you do not have any images to select, you can click the + sign and add images from your desktop (which will be added to the drop-down menu for future selection). If you add images from this window, remember to crop the images and add alt text.
• Title: The Exhibition's title.
• Display Period: Choose a display period. We recommend that you only include the display period if your exhibition is currently on view. 
  • None: Hide the display period entirely when the Exhibition is no longer on view, or when a display period doesn't make sense for the content.
  • Ongoing: Indicate an ongoing or permanent Exhibition.
  • Date Range: Define the specific dates on which the Exhibition starts and ends.
  • Expiration: After the Exhibition's end date passes, the map location and lookup numbers for it (and its items) will be removed. You can choose whether to automatically hide the Exhibition after its end date, or keep it visible in your guide.

• Description: The Exhibition's description. Consider whether you can answer questions like, What is this stuff? Why is it here in this place? What do these things have to do with each other?.
• Audio: Add one or more audio file. For more, see Audio.
• Video: Add one or more video file. For more, see Videos.
• Show on Map: To provide a button on the Exhibition page to help visitors find it in your physical space, click Add Location, then select a location from the list. To add a pin to the map that appears on your guide's Map tab, also select Feature on Map Tab. For more, see Map Visibility.
• Lookup Number: To associate the Exhibition with posted signage in your physical space, select or enter a lookup number. For more, see Lookup Numbers and QR Codes.
• Exhibition Items: Add Items to the Exhibition so visitors can experience the content together. For more, see Exhibition Layout.
• Related: To boost discoverability of similar content, update the Related section. For more, see Related Content and Links.

Exhibition Layout

The Exhibition layout you choose is entirely dependent on your content and strategy, but there are few things to keep in mind.

List layout

• Usually the best option for fewer than 12 Items.
• Includes information like Item name and creator, which can help visitors make the connection between what they see in your physical space and what they see in your app.
• Using this layout with many Items introduces a long vertical scroll and might make it hard for visitors to scan.

Grid layout

• Usually best for Exhibitions with many (12+) Items, since this layout takes up less vertical scrolling space in your guide.
• A good option when your Exhibition Items can be easily identified by the thumbnail alone.

Screen reader users get the same information on each Item regardless of the visual layout.

Content Recommendations

• Think of Exhibition text and imagery as an overview of the Items associated with it. Exhibition texts are usually similar to an introductory wall text in a museum exhibition, or a short programmatic description you might use on a website or in a brochure.
• When using Exhibitions to present exhibitions, don’t use images and captions to share information that would better be placed in an Item. For example, it’s fine to re-use an image of a work of art that is detailed in an Item to illustrate an Exhibition; but avoid using Exhibition images as the only presentations of those artworks – make an Item instead! 
• We recognize that quality digital content may not be available for every item in an exhibition. However, when adding Items to an Exhibition, take care to include a wide enough selection to represent key ideas and themes. 
• If digital content is available for only a few objects in an exhibition, choose the “Highlights” section header instead of “Items in this Exhibition” or “Works on View.” However, if an exhibition only has two objects in it and both objects have Items, feel free to select “Items in this Exhibition.” 
• If no individual object information or imagery is available for an exhibition at launch, it may still be appropriate to include it in your guide, but we recommend making a plan to photograph objects and gather additional content as soon as possible. Consider taking advantage of how easy it is to edit your content by letting users know to check back for more material or use other conversational language to acknowledge a user’s curiosity – as well as your organization’s time frame for adding images and interpretation.
• It’s usually not a good idea to make an in-person exhibition a CMS Item (rather than an Exhibition) just because you don’t have text or copy on individual artworks or objects to add to it as Items right now – you’ll limit your possibilities later, when you may have additional assets to add.
• When adding audio and video, take care that the asset being added to the Exhibition offers an overview of the content contained in the Exhibition. If it focuses on an individual artwork or initiative, add it to that Item instead.