By Zina Fihl
Before the mockup is created the core group for the assigned exhibition has completed a detailed planning process with selecting and deselecting both specimens and stories. A thorough arrangement for the exhibition layout and design has been running along this why we at this point got precise dimensions as well as the material to furnish and decorate the venue has been decided on.
Our mockup is a full-scale model of the designed display used by the core group to evaluate the connection between display, specimen and key story text panels. The connected conservator needs to evaluate the chosen specimens – is it possible to mount them correctly without risk of damage or deterioration? Are the selected specimens suitable for exhibition or should we locate other? Is it possible to achieve the wished expression without too much intervention?
At the Natural History Museum Denmark, we got a historic and impressive mineral collection where a fraction has been selected for the coming “Mineral Wall” – an impressive 9 meter long and a total of 3 meter-tall display! It will create a showcase on the evolution of minerals and the co-existence with life from the formation of Earth to present day.
Due to the complexity and large format of this display we had to run through two mockup sessions. The first was completed more than a year ago and was a done in 1:1 with all 5 subsections next to each other. The main priority was to reality check on how much could actually fit in the amazing big wall and then do cut out. There were a few specimens represented by pictures, but the storyline was in place. At this point we had to discard many beautiful minerals due to space consideration and cutting down on examples on elements as well. Only a few specimens were cut due to conservation issues as fragility. Several ideas had to be discarded at this point to make the key message clear
The last mockup was in the conservation atelier and due to available space, we had to divide the mockup in the subsections. This went well and the mockup showed us there still was a bit too many specimens – the layout with text and how groupings should follow was tried in different arrangements until satisfied result. For the conservators list only a crab stored in fluid is going to be swapped to a dry specimen and a few Anthropocene minerals had to be further studied in corporation with the curator of Mineralogy, Michael Storey, before finalizing decisions on put on display or keep in storage.
Now this part is ready for next step – text writing and awaiting the even more detailed display design phase where a coming mount maker will join the group to evaluate and create individual mounts for each single specimen!
If you like to learn more, then follow the museum´s Instagram #statensnaturhistoriskemuseum and our #taxidermytuesday where the conservation team post as well!
