The Art of Museum Exhibitions: How Story and Imagination Create Aesthetic Experiences [Paperback]

Leslie Bedford, former director of the highly regarded Bank Street College museum leadership program, expands the museum professionals vision of exhibitions beyond the simple goal of transmitting knowledge to the visitor. Her view of exhibitions as interactive, emotional, embodied, imaginative experiences opens a new vista for those designing them. Using examples both from her own work at the Boston Childrens Museum and from other institutions around the globe, Bedford offers the museum professional a bold new vision built around narrative, imagination, and aesthetics, merging the work of the educator with that of the artist. It is important reading for all museum professionals.

Leslie Bedfords exploration of museum exhibitions as interactive, emotional, embodied, imaginative experiences, using examples from around the world, merges the world of the educator with that of the artist.

“The term “page-turner” does not come up often in reference to the literature of museum studies, butThe Art of Museum Exhibitionsis one such rare example. In her poetic and substantive new book, Bedford builds a case for the museum exhibition as an art form using essential concepts in progressive, aesthetic, and imaginative education. By bringing to life examples from across museum types, the author convincingly argues that it is the aesthetic qualities of exhibitions—more so than their educational content—that create lasting memories and significant meaning for visitors.”

—Ben Garcia, Head of Interpretation, Hearst Museum of Anthropology, UC Berkeley

Leslie Bedford has provided the museum field with a much-needed analysis for a theory of exhibition development written in a personal, accessible style suitable for a wide audience.? Her provocative argument for exhibition development as an art form that relies heavily on imagination is supported by a careful analysis of a wide-ranging lCu