How Do We Curate our Exhibitions?
- 13th Oct 2023
- Author: Elliott Langley - Marketing Administrator
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One of the lovely things about working at the National Space Centre is being able to walk through the galleries and be surrounded by “space stuff” during a normal day. It’s uncanny how quickly you become acclimatised to seeing huge displays and real space flown rockets on a daily basis. It struck me, as I walked through our galleries this week, just how many incredible artefacts are on display here. For this entry of Our Space, I wanted to meet with one of the people “behind the curtain” at the National Space Centre and find out a bit more about our exhibition and how we take care of it.
Our Curator, Dan, dropped everything on his schedule for the opportunity to be featured on Our Space.
Hello Dan. How long have you been at the National Space Centre, and have you always been a Curator?
I wasn’t born a Curator, no. Not many babies are. I actually started out as the Housekeeping Manager when I joined the National Space Centre, and the skills you need to be a Curator are inherently buried deep within all of us. Is that too deep? Anyway, I’ve been here about 13 years.
Did you know you wanted to go into the curatorial side of things?
Oh, for sure. When I interviewed for the job as Housekeeping Manager I was asked where I wanted to be in 5 years, and I said I wanted to move into conservation and collections. It was definitely in my sights from the get-go.
Any advice for any would-be-curators reading this?
The one piece of advice I’d give anyone starting out in the heritage sector, is get your foot in the door first and see where it takes you. It’s much easier to impress people once you work somewhere and they get to know you, compared to impressing people with your CV or at a job interview. But, regardless of where you want to end up, you can learn from any job role - I learnt a lot as Housekeeping Manager and the staff I managed (some of whom still work at the Space Centre) are such important members of our Team – and lovely too!
What’s it like being a Curator?
It’s good! I have a really interesting and unusual job.
Unusual you say?
Yeah, I get to be involved in weird and wonderful projects, like looking for very specific items for our galleries or helping dream up new exhibits for people to experience. And of course, there’s nothing better than seeing families and children exploring galleries that I helped to come up with.
So where do we tend to get our exhibits and artefacts from? Do we own everything on display?
Ooh, a mixture of places. When we first opened back in 2001, there was a whole Acquisition Team that went around the world to find all sorts of items to be put on display in the Centre. We wanted to add anything and everything that had a story to tell about the history of spaceflight. So, a lot of the artefacts on display come from back then. We do also get things donated to us from kind people who might have something of interest in their collection. Some items are on loan from places like the Smithsonian, Science Museum, Natural History Museum, and even NASA – as well as many others, all of whom we appreciate so much. Plus, we do sometimes go to auctions, as there is some great stuff out there.
What do you have to take into consideration when installing a new exhibit?
Hmmm, that’s a tricky question. The thing that we have to think about is that somebody else will be experiencing the exhibit, it’s not just for us. We have to think about the person who will be interacting with it. Will they enjoy it? How do we make sure that as many people as possible can enjoy it? Will they learn something interesting? Really that’s the thing that we focus on the most in planning sessions; the potential visitor who might see this exhibit and hopefully find themselves enjoying it, and perhaps even be inspired to take a greater interest in the subject of space.
And how do you look after our exhibits?
Well, when we’re talking about an ‘exhibit’, we’re talking about an interactive activity. ‘Artefacts’ are items of cultural importance. It’s important to remember the distinction. The other thing you have to remember Elliott, is that everything is decaying.
Blimey. Keep it light.
No, seriously, think about it. A spacesuit is manufactured for a specific mission that only lasts for a short period of time. It’s not manufactured to be on display in a gallery for hundreds of years. So, whilst they’re made to endure the harsh environment of space, they aren’t designed to last indefinitely. Part of being a Curator is trying to slow that process of decay and keep them around so that people can enjoy them for years to come. That might be keeping an artefact in a display case that has a microclimate inside to preserve them longer. Or it might be taking the artefacts out once in a while.
Like, for a nice drive?
[Pause] No, not like for a nice drive. I mean taking them out for conservation work, or conservation cleaning.
Do you have a background in space?
No, not really. I had an interest in science at school but then history took over. I studied history and archaeology at university and specialised in the Anglo-Saxon period. So when I left university, I wanted to work in heritage. I worked for a time at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford – which was amazing, but a story for another day. And then when the National Space Centre job came up, it felt like a great way to continue working somewhere amazing. And I don’t think you can work at the National Space Centre without becoming a bit spacey. I’d never consider myself an expert in anything, but I have become fascinated by space and the history of spaceflight. I reckon I’d do OK on a space quiz though.
Any fun stories from your time as a Curator? Any nice perks to the job?
Loads! I’ve been to the Kennedy Space Centre, had a meeting at 10 Downing Street, met loads of astronauts! Plus, I get to hold real life space artefacts every day – with gloves on of course. It’s very surreal to hold something that might look quite ordinary but that has been into space. It’s quite mind-blowing really.
Do you have a favourite exhibit?
Argh, it’s so difficult to choose one single thing in the galleries.
[A long, long pause] I can’t pick a favourite, as it changes all the time, but I do like the Yuri Gagarin book that we have on display. It’s on loan to us from Helen Sharman, who took it into space in 1991 and signed it with the rest of her crew. She gave the book to Tim Peake when he went into space to the ISS, where it was once again signed, this time by all of Tim’s crewmates. Helen lets us display it on the agreement that when the next Brit goes into space, they can borrow the book and take it with them. It’s a unique piece of British space history and hopefully, in time, it will become one of our most spaceflown artefacts. I really like the idea that one day I’ll be able to have an empty display case, with a display sign that reads, “object currently in space”. That would be amazing.
And finally… if you were an artefact on display in a gallery, what would the information panel say about you?
[Agonisingly long pause] Er, how about… “Dan Kendall, circa 1981. middle to late period. Some minor damage. Should be handled with gloves”.
[Laughter erupts]
Thank you very much to Dan for taking the time to speak to me! Dan is hard at work with the rest of the Exhibition Development team planning a brand-new gallery for the National Space Centre’s exhibition.
And don’t forget that every ticket purchased to the National Space Centre, along with every purchase made in the Shop and Boosters café, directly supports our curatorial efforts. Find out more about how you can support our charity.
Dan: Er, who are you talking to? Can I leave now?
