Read the Label: How Much is Too Much?

I read a review today about a new exhibit called "Modern and Contemporary Art at Dartmouth" at the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College. The reviewer for the college paper thought the exhibit was fascinating, but what caught my attention was what he didn't like: he commented that the labels in the exhibit explained way too much. In the review he said, "Frequently, labels fully explain what a piece is 'supposed' to mean, such as in the case of Caché, a reclining wood female figure by Alison Saar swathed in ceiling tin and attached to an immense ball of wire. The Hood explains to us that the ball represents the oppressive racial and cultural burdens of being an African woman. Once again, what happened to my own interpretation? Why should Caché mean only one thing?"

Presenting information about specific works can be a real dilemma for museums --how much information should they provide their visitor about an object, and where should that information go? Is a label with the artist's name, the date, and the medium enough? Or is there other information that is vital to present so the visitor enjoys the piece more? It's a balancing act, and there's a fine line between too little, just enough, and so much information about a piece that there's little room for a viewer's own interpretation of it. So the question I've been thinking about today is, "how much information is too much?"

We've been working on ways to use mobile devices to supplement museum visitors' in-museum experience by linking to online content. The beauty of it is that it allows visitors to access more information about an object they are viewing--IF and when they want it. If you walk into a museum and you simply want to enjoy a beautiful or fascinating work, then you may not want to know anything more about it than what is in front of you. But if you do want to learn more about a work, a period, or an artist, being able to access it via your cell phone is a pretty handy option for you, and a more flexible way to present information for the museum. It leaves a little more room for interpretation.