Page 46 - Thola Issue 17

44 Exhibitions
Installing the
interactive displays
Two substantial wooden crates had made their way from the premises of Formula-d, interactive display specialists based in Cape Town, to the entrance stairs of the City Hall by 8 December 2014. From there, they were lugged upstairs by the removals company and carefully stored away under the dinosaur in the Geology/Palaeontology Gallery, to await installation day.
The crates contained the hardware for our two new interactive touch tables. To ensure their safety, the gallery remained closed to the public and under the watchful eye of security guards. On Monday 15 December 2014, the dismantling of the crates began with claw hammer and crowbar.
During the following hours, the visual manifestation of a year of conceptualising, reading and writing emerged, as the software was installed and tested.
As per our collaborative agreement, we were responsible for all the necessary information to be used in the two interactive applications, and when all the text amendments had been approved, Formula-d proceeded to infuse our ideas with their particular brand of interactive life.
As floor space is limited in the gallery, we removed the freestanding fossil display case and assimilated its contents into the existing palaeontology collection, thereby making allowance for two additional touch tables. Both interactive applications will be upgraded as time goes by.
ABOVE: Members of the removals company delivering the touch tables.
Two collaborative exhibitions
were undertaken during 2014, the
first one with another eThekwini Municipality department, namely the Energy Office. It was designed and produced by Clinton Jackson, Project Officer: Marketing & Design. This
new temporary exhibition entitled ‘Understanding Climate Change’ will take the place of our ‘Stop Rhino Poaching’ temporary exhibition. Although the exhibition panels have all been printed, the exhibition has not yet been fitted in the gallery as it has been decided to launch it simultaneously with the touch screens exhibition currently under construction (see box left). This is scheduled to take place in 2015.
The second was a rotating exhibition produced in collaboration with the South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement (SAASTA). This exhibition included three tower banners that portrayed selected images of the Southern African Science Lens Competition over the years that it has been running. A 20-page catalogue with pictures and detailed information was also designed and printed. Finally,
a questionnaire was produced to assess the effectiveness of the exhibition. Five sets of the exhibition were produced, which have been doing the rounds
to various museums and libraries throughout the municipality. (A detailed article on the exhibition by Joanne Riley, Science Editor of SAASTA, is included in Thola on page 60.)
TOP: One of the team members of Formula-d installing the touch screen equipment. ABOVE: One of the N.E.S electricians fitting the power point for the touch tables.
FAR RIGHT: Andrew Carter completing the remodeling process to the Rails & Finfoots diorama that had been extensively water- damaged due to a leaking air-conditioner in the Art Gallery from the floor above.
Over 14 000 photographs were taken during the course of the year, covering 20 functions in all. These included the Joint Seminar Series (ten in total), 20 Years of Democracy Parade (29 January 2014), Volunteers Awards Ceremony (28 February 2014), Retirement Function (6 March 2014), International Museums Day (20 May 2014), KwaNunu (30 June 2014), Thola Magazine Launch (16 July 2014), National Science Week (4-8 August 2014), ICOM-SA Conference (26-27 August 2014), Living Legends (5 September 2014) and the Ntombela-Player Lecture (23 September 2014). Andrew Carter also took pictures of displays and exhibitions, exhibition work, specimens, museum visitors and general activities within the museum. He was also responsible for supplying photographs from his digital archives for various purposes, such as the Thola publication.
thola: VOLUME 17. 2014/15