The exhibition

Learning goal

You will be able to plan exhibiting a photo series on a wall, in a way the viewer will see standing and all at once. You will explain how an exhibition differs from a book through the viewer's pace, distance and light. You will choose the frames that will go up on the wall, set print sizes according to viewing distance and the frames you want to emphasize, and decide between frame, mat or bare paper. You will hang the frames on a shared centerline, first try the layout as a wall plan with paper templates, and write the series' title, a short exhibition text and the frame labels. In front of the wall you will check whether dark-skinned faces are readable in exhibition light and in the reflection of the frame glass, and take care that the hanging height and text size suit viewers of different heights. In this lesson's assignment you will complete the module's project.

The question

The club's end-of-year exhibition is two weeks away, and your friend has been given a wall: three meters wide, white, lit by a few spotlights coming from the ceiling. They pick up the book's dummy, and the first thing that comes to mind is to print the twelve frames at the same size and line them up side by side in two rows. Then they stand in front of the wall and think: in the book the viewer saw the frames two by two, at their own pace. Here all of them will be seen at the same time, from a few steps away.

Which frames should be large? Frame or bare paper? At what height will people see the frames, and will the tea-stall keeper's face be readable under the spotlights? How do you put on an exhibition? How does a wall tell twelve photos as a whole?

Context

While studying printing basics you saw that print size is thought about together with viewing distance and resolution (Lesson 25.3). In the previous lesson you arranged the same frames in a book whose pages are turned and worked with spreads and page rhythm (Lesson 26.10). In the personal style lesson, too, you gathered the choices that repeat in your own work in a style map (Lesson 26.7).

This lesson closes the module and brings these pieces together in a space. An exhibition works very differently from a book: the viewer is standing, walks, comes closer, moves away; they can see the frames in whatever order they want; the light is set not by the photographer but by the space. The work asked for at the end of the module is a twelve-frame series with a title and a short text, and a one-page personal style essay; you will get both ready for the wall in the assignment below.

Simple explanation

How does an exhibition work differently from a book?

An exhibition is a series of photos presented in a space, with a certain layout, size, framing and light, in a way the viewer can see all at once while walking around standing. In a book, turning the page puts time in the photographer's hands; on the wall, on the other hand, all the frames are visible at the same time and the viewer first sees the whole, then the individual frames. That is why, in an exhibition, the frames' relationship with each other begins with how the wall looks as a whole from a distance. A frame's size, its place and the space beside it take the place of the order in the book.

The selection that goes up on the wall doesn't have to be the same as the one in the book either. The width of the wall, the size of the room and how far back the viewer can step decide how many frames will breathe comfortably. Sometimes seven or eight frames stand stronger on a wall than twelve; sometimes the whole series is hung in a tight layout, like a single block. The role statements from the selection are useful here too: on the wall they remind you which frame carries the opening, and which the climax.

Print size is chosen according to viewing distance and the frames you want to emphasize. Printing every frame at the same size gives a calm, orderly wall; printing one or two frames larger draws the viewer's eye there first. A large print doesn't suit every frame: a frame with little detail or noticeable grain can fall apart as it grows, while a small, intimate frame invites the viewer to take a step closer. The space between frames speaks as much as size: tight spacing makes the frames read like a single sentence, wide spacing gives each one a separate stop.

How are frames placed on the wall?

A mat is a thick cardboard border placed between the photo and the frame, with its middle cut out like a window. It gives the frame a breathing space, keeps the print away from the glass and directs the viewer's eye into the frame. Frame and mat aren't a rule on their own; some series look more direct with bare paper fixed to the wall with pins or magnets. Framed glass has a cost too: glass shining under the spotlights can lay the viewer's own reflection over the frame, especially in dark-toned frames.

A centerline is the shared height at which frames of different sizes are hung so that their centers gather on the same horizontal line. When frames are aligned not by their top or bottom edges but by their centers, even different sizes form a calm line on the wall. This line is usually chosen around the eye level of an average adult; but thinking about viewers who use a wheelchair or are short can call for keeping the line a little lower and hanging the labels at a height everyone can read.

A wall plan is the preparation in which the layout is tried, before the frames are hung, in a scale drawing of the wall or by taping paper templates the size of the frames to the wall. Looked at from a few steps back, the templates show whether the spaces between the frames are equal, and whether one corner is too full while the opposite corner stays empty. Moving the templates around before hammering a nail into the wall saves both the wall and your patience.

How does the wall speak to the viewer?

Wall text is the short piece of writing that sits on the wall together with the series' title and presents the series' idea and context to the viewer in a few sentences; the frame labels, in turn, give each frame's name, place, year and, if needed, printing technique. The text aims not to explain the frames, but to open a door for the viewer. A long text isn't read standing; the type size should also be large enough to be read from a step back. After writing the text, reading it out loud and checking whether it goes past a minute is an easy way to check its length. If people's names are to be written on the labels, asking those people whether they want their names to appear on the wall is also part of the preparation; some people may prefer to appear only by their first name or without any name.

Finally, the wall is tested in exhibition light. Spotlights can make one corner of a frame shine and leave the rest in darkness; a dark-skinned face that was readable on screen and in the test print on the table can turn into a flat dark stain under a dim, angled spotlight. Looking at every hung frame in front of the wall, from where the viewer will stand, and if needed changing the spotlight's direction or moving that frame to a better-lit place, ensures every face in the series is readable.

Visual evidence

Your friend cuts templates from kraft paper the size of the twelve frames and tapes them to the wall. First they try the two-row layout; looking from behind, the wall resembles a catalog page. They print the half-painted wall large and put it in the middle, line up the remaining frames on either side of it on a single centerline, and send two frames back to the pool.

They switch on the spotlights and hang the tea-stall keeper's test print in place of its template. In the glazed frame their own reflection falls right over the face and the cheeks go dark. They move the frame into an unglazed frame with a mat and turn the spotlight to strike a little more from the front; the texture of the face comes back.

Finally they write the title and the four-sentence text and hang them a little below eye level; they place the labels at a height the club's member who uses a wheelchair can read comfortably. On opening night people first walk to the large frame, then slowly toward the edges.

Common mistakes

Summary

In an exhibition the viewer is standing and sees all the frames at the same time; that is why the selection that goes up on the wall, the print sizes and the frames' places take the place of the order in the book, and frame, mat or bare paper also affect how the series will be read. The frames are hung on a shared centerline with viewers of different heights in mind, the layout is first tried in a wall plan with paper templates, a short exhibition text and readable labels are written, and every frame, especially dark-skinned faces, is looked at from in front of the wall in exhibition light and in the glass reflection.

Mini assignment

In this assignment, which closes the module, you will get a twelve-frame photo series with a title and a short text ready for exhibition and write a one-page personal style essay.

1. Bring the twelve-frame series from your selection to its final form; write a title and an exhibition text of four to six sentences for the series, and prepare a label for each frame.
2. Choose a wall at home or at school, cut paper templates the size of the frames and try a wall plan; set a shared centerline and photograph the layout, looking from a few steps back.
3. Hang at least one frame on the wall, framed or bare, especially if it contains a dark-skinned face, and look at whether the face is readable in the room's light; if needed, change the light or the place.
4. Drawing on your style map, write a one-page personal style essay: which choices are you keeping, which avoidances did you change, which period of your style does this series show?

Check yourself

• Did you try the wall plan with paper templates and were you able to place the frames on a centerline?
• Is your exhibition text short and readable enough to be read standing, from a step back?
• Did you confirm that every face, in different skin tones, is readable in exhibition light?

Glossary

Mini quiz

1. What is the basic difference that separates an exhibition from a book?

• A) In an exhibition the frames are seen two by two
• B) In an exhibition the viewer is standing and sees all the frames at the same time
• C) In an exhibition the order doesn't matter
• D) In an exhibition the print size doesn't change

2. Why are frames of different sizes aligned by their centers on the wall?

• A) To form a calm, shared line on the wall
• B) To lower the cost of framing
• C) To make the frames look larger
• D) To bring them closer to the spotlights

3. What is the benefit of making a wall plan with paper templates?

• A) Raising print quality
• B) Making the choice of frame unnecessary
• C) Trying out the colors of the frames
• D) Trying the layout by looking from behind without hammering nails

4. If a reflection falls over a dark-skinned face in a glazed frame and the face goes dark, what can be done?

• A) Removing the frame from the exhibition
• B) Brightening the face excessively on screen
• C) Trying an unglazed frame and changing the spotlight's direction
• D) Switching off all the lights on the wall

Answers

1. B — There is no page turning on the wall; the viewer first sees the whole, then the individual frames.
2. A — A shared centerline gathers even different sizes on an orderly line.
3. D — The templates show the spaces and the balance without damaging the wall.
4. C — Removing the glass reflection and the angled light brings back the texture of the face.

Summary card

• On the wall everything is visible at once; size and place take the place of order.
• Make a wall plan with paper templates, look from behind.
• Hang the frames on a centerline; put the labels at a height everyone can read.
• Keep the wall text short and readable.
• Look at every face in exhibition light and in the glass reflection, from in front of the wall.

Bridge to the next lesson

On opening night, walking between the walls, your friend stops in front of the older member's small black-and-white frames. The frames have a noticeable grain; the corners are slightly darkened, the tones soft. The older member explains that they shot them last month with an old camera, on a roll of film, pressing the shutter for each frame after thinking long and hard. Your friend wonders why, in an age when hundreds of frames can be shot with a phone, someone would choose a method whose number is limited and whose result is seen days later. Why is film still alive? The next lesson takes up the value of analog photography, with its limitation, slowness and character.