Innovating thematic exhibitions aims to create more diverse, engaging, and meaningful experiences.

Innovate for a better experience.

Since its establishment in 2018, the Hue Museum of Fine Arts has always focused on planning and coordinating thematic exhibitions. Each year, the museum organizes 8-10 thematic exhibitions, conveying in-depth content to the public that regular exhibitions cannot provide.

In conjunction with the thematic exhibition, the Museum organizes supplementary activities such as experiential activities, learning sessions, performances, and film screenings... with content related to the exhibition's theme, ensuring flexibility, creativity, and suitability for the personalities and psychology of various age groups. In addition, many mini-games are organized during the exhibition's experiential tours, with engaging content that creates a more memorable impression for visitors.

According to Ms. Hai Yen, an official at the Hue Museum of Fine Arts, however, due to limitations in exhibition space and the lack of application of high-tech equipment, thematic exhibitions have not yet satisfied or met the increasingly high demands of visitors. Furthermore, there is a lack of regular coordination and cooperation among experts and artists, and a failure to invite independent curators, artists, and scholars to participate in developing exhibitions, thus lacking academic depth and creativity in content.

Given this situation, Ms. Yen believes that innovating and improving the quality of thematic exhibitions is not only an inevitable trend but also a key task to create more diverse, engaging, and meaningful experiences.

"The aim of innovating thematic exhibitions in museums is to make documents, artifacts, and images more vibrant, evoking emotions and connections between the past and present for visitors. Each artifact contains a story that people can learn about and explore , increasing the museum's appeal," Ms. Yen shared.

The topic needs to be topical and have a message.

According to art critic and history expert Do Phuc Thai Nguyen , thematic exhibitions play a crucial role in maintaining the attractiveness and increasing the number of regular visitors to museums. With their flexible and constantly evolving nature, thematic exhibitions provide the public with a legitimate reason to return to museums repeatedly, while also creating a multi-faceted dialogue between heritage and contemporary society.

Compared to many art museums around the world, this expert believes that the activities of art museums in Vietnam still have many limitations. The most obvious limitations include financial resources, inadequate facilities, a shortage of highly qualified professionals, a lack of external cooperation mechanisms, and a lack of a systematic development strategy.

To adapt to the current context, museums need to develop exhibition themes that are topical and built on a foundation of thorough research, creating a clear message and having a cultural impact.

This requires integrating contemporary discourse, not only presenting artifacts but also placing works within political, social, and environmental contexts to stimulate critical thinking and public dialogue. Furthermore, exhibitions should be organized thematically, rather than by material or age, to create connections between artifacts across periods and broaden the depth of interpretation.

According to Master of Fine Arts artist Vuong Le My Hoc (Head of Exhibition and Education Department - Vietnam Fine Arts Museum), to effectively organize thematic exhibitions, fine arts museums need to exchange professional knowledge to update new and innovative approaches; and collaborate on developing exhibition content. This is a direction that needs to be explored in the coming years. Each museum has its own strengths in terms of artifacts and artworks, and collaboration between museums will create new and attractive aspects for exhibition organization.

Text and photos: NHAT MINH

Source: https://huengaynay.vn/van-hoa-nghe-thuat/nang-chat-trien-lam-chuyen-de-157377.html