The contractors are just about to move into the V&A’s exhibition halls to install our next major exhibition Maharaja: The Splendour of India’s Royal Courts. We decided to go down and walk through the empty space which will be transformed next March for Quilts 1700-2010 …..
This is the North Court, one of the two halls we have allocated for the exhibition. What you can see is perhaps one third of its actual size. Our design team is busy discussing trunking, power points, how to disguise the air conditioning vents. We had already looked at wall colours (much more exciting) – where to situate benches, how to negotate the transition from one thematic display to the next. We meet with our design team on a fortnightly basis – discussing and refining the design concept before it eventually gets signed off by our Quantity Surveyor and Project Manager. No aspect of the design is left to chance – we all spent an entire day mocking up the mounts for some of the quilts. The dimensions of every mount was determined both by the object and by the ability to see the quilt from wheelchair height. We adhere to the strict standards of Museum policy in terms of exhibiting the V&A’s objects and the loan conditions of both private and public collections. But we are also trying hard to meet the expectations of our audience – its a juggling act but we have a crack team on the case!
Just back from the Festival of Quilts and a huge thank you to everyone who came along to the V&A stand. Our team was overwhelmed by your enthusiasm for the exhibition and exhausted by all your questions! We have now posted a Frequently Asked Questions section on our main website see http://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/future_exhibs/Quilts/index.html
PS The husband has forgiven me (until next time…)
