excellence in exhibition awards
The Annual Excellence in Exhibition Competition recognized outstanding achievement in exhibition from all types of museums, zoos, aquariums, botanical gardens and non-comercial institutions offering exhibitions to the public.
thirty-first Annual Excellence in Exhibitions 2019
Overall Winners
Americans
National Museum of the American Indian
Washington, D.C.
· Incredibly powerful narrative
· Utilized Space/Goal/Big Idea; about their visitors and the Indians they knew best; audience-centric
Overall Winners
Underwater Beauty
Shedd Aquarium
Chicago, Illinois
· Excelled – innovative design, environments, graphics, interpretation = EQUILIBRIUM
· Exhibition synthesized – evocative, beautiful designs with clear content and easily presented ideas
Special Achievement
Americans and the Holocaust
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Washington, D.C.
For: Innovative Evaluation Practice and Audience Awareness
· Content is strikingly relevant to today’s political climate – not necessarily a goal, but it occurred—making it very powerful
· Good use to incorporate citizen history projects
Special Achievement
Design Build Fly
Exploration Place
Wichita, Kansas
For: Innovative Example of Intentional Practice
· Really listened to the audience
· Design and community matched well
Special Achievement
Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination
Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York, New York
For: Innovative Interaction of Objects, Collections, and Spaces
· Excellent blend of architecture/space of the exhibit and the collection/selection of objects and location - Beautiful casework and design
Special Achievement
Stories of Survival: Object. Image. Memory.
Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center
Skokie, Illinois
For: Innovative Interpretation and Community Co-Curation
· Photography of objects interesting in conjunction with writing on the photographs
· Power of the object was impressive – display of objects was very well done; particularly with interaction of audience in planning and exhibition
Special Achievement Upholstery CSI: Reading the Evidence
Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg
Williamsburg, Virginia
For: Innovative Use of Behind-the-Scenes Personal Narrative
· Experiencing art of upholstery and science through one staff members eyes; personal
· Conservation perspective/behind-the-scenes; tying in the rhythm of the cases to the graphics