The Met Design seminar!

So, this is kind of a belated post, but I was in New York a couple of weeks ago and got to attend a design seminar for teens interested in museum/curatorial studies! I'm just going to explain what we did here, nothing fancy and without the usual complicated flourishes.

First we heard from each of the panelists on how they got their job. Many of them had started out with other majors and even other jobs that just led them to museum studies. Then, we split off into groups. I chose to go with the panelist that was like a curator's assistant for the curators at the costume institute. We examined the recent exhibit, Death Becomes Her, an exhibition on mourning clothing. We analyzed the subtleties of the exhibit. For example, we discussed possible ways the exhibit could've been organized. The exhibit was organized (pretty loosely) to the stages of mourning, the outfits at the beginning were stiffer and darker, the outfits at the end were lighter and allowed more comfort, in typical mourning progression. However, the exhibit could've just as easily have been organized chronologically-- starting with the stiffer silhouettes of the earlier 1900s and gradually moving towards the freer shapes of the '20s. I thought it was interesting how the panelist explained to us, beyond what was written on the placards, what were key elements of the exhibit-- silhouettes and color were aspects that viewers took notice of, but wouldn't really R E A L I Z E it, know what I mean?

Anyways, I had a blast, and learned a lot, and got to meet a lot of cool people, so that was fun!