Introduce people with thoughtful comments
I wrote previously about the challenge of the exhibition leaflet, and how successful I felt the A-Z 'companion' to the Martin Creed: What's the point of it? show at the Hayward was. It provided a different interpretation on the artworks and gave Creed a voice. It also provided an interesting memento to take home, which is not an inconsiderable role for exhibition leaflets, I realise.
I returned to such thoughts recently after visiting shows at the National Gallery and Bristol Museum, which both used the leaflet in a different way. Veronese: Magnificence in Renaissance Venice at the NG is a spectacular show bringing together more Veroneses in one space than you are ever likely to see again. I was ambivalent about his painting before but am now a complete convert. Do go.
I also enjoyed the decision to concentrate almost all of the interpretation in the leaflet. There is an introductory text and timeline on the wall before you enter the first room, but otherwise all intro and label texts are in the leaflet. Paintings are accompanied simply by title, date, institution etc. This meant, I thought, that visitors were able to walk around the space more freely and observe the paintings at different distances and with greater attention: very different to the usual exhibition shuffle from label to label. I was able, then, to read texts about the paintings that interested me, perch on a bench, consider some more, and generally engage on a number of levels. I think that I happily spent far longer in the show than I would have otherwise.
By contrast, however, I felt a similar tactic for the Jeremy Deller - English Magic show at Bristol was much less effective. The show is the start of a brilliant new initiative to tour works around the UK from the British contribution to the Venice Biennale. Deller was the choice in 2013 with his usual mix of politically thought-provoking film and installation art.
In the Bristol variation, the display opens with his title piece English Magic combining film, taxidermy and textiles. If you don't buy the £1 leaflet there is no introduction to the display at all, you walk straight in to meet the film. This was rather confusing, and left most visitors to gaze aimlessly at the film for a few minutes before wandering off. For the rest of the show, some works had explanatory labels, some had separate laminated sheets, some had text repeated in the leaflet. I was left unclear about what to look at or read and when, and feel I therefore walked through the show much more quickly, struggling to engage.
Now, there are a number of explanations behind these differences. I went to the NG on a specific trip, whereas Bristol Museum I experienced as part of a broader day in the city. I have reasonable background knowledge on Veronese, more hooks to explain him, whereas I know comparatively little about Deller's history. All of these make engaging with one easier than the other. But then, I suspect that those broad differences are the same for many visitors to the two.
The key, it seems, might be the relationship with an introductory text. English Magic has been adapted from a biennale pavilion installation, not planned as a popularly-accessible museum exhibition like Veronese. An introductory panel would have told me that and allowed me to enter the space with certain expectations. It is this crucial intro, however short, that gives visitors the confidence to approach a show and appreciate it on their terms.