Research Project Reflection - Amy Caulfield

Rresearch Project Reflection The Glucksman, Cork City

Amy Caulfield

My Role Online Offerings My role in the group task was to research the onsite and online resources available for the Glucksman.

The gallery doesn’t have its own app but they do have a website with a lot of resources available: an email newsletter, video workshops, audio exhibition tours, mini interviews with artists, teaching resources and extra curated material about artworks. They also have a strong social media presence; they post multiple times a day on twitter, Instagram and Facebook and have many of videos on YouTube.

Children’s workshops available on the gallery’s youtube channel

instagram?

The Glucksman’s Instagram page which has new posts every day

Onsite Offerings The Glucksman’s range of onsite facilities is adequate for a gallery of its size. It has 3 exhibition spaces; the foyer which is downstairs, the main exhibition space and another room both are upstairs. The foyer is small and beside the main entrance. It is used for small exhibitions and is best suited for 2D work. The main exhibition space takes up most of the first floor. It is very large and dynamically shaped with beautiful views over the river Lee and trees

Artist Talk in the Foyer

adjacent to the building. The third exhibition space is called the sound room. It is a small room leading off but completely separate from the main space that is used for video screenings. The gallery also has a café, the Bobo and a small book and gift shop.

Another permanent feature of the welcome area is an interactive blackboard area for visitors to add their thoughts to.

Bobo Café at the Glucksman

Insights Gained The value of online research

Researching as a group

There are extra added details about the Glucksman - community involvement particularly -that I would have missed with just an in person visit like their active twitter, have school tours and children’s workshops etc. Another example is TripAdvisor reviews. Its not something I would instantly have thought of but it gives an insight into how the target audience experience the location which is very useful knowledge to have to inform the curation of an event.

I learned that splitting up the research task was a very efficient way to work as a group. We looked at the tasks at the start, divided them up equally and democratically and then set a day to check back in with each other and if anyone struggled with any areas we all pitched in to fill in any gaps. There was no unnecessary overlap and as we all did different areas and then presented them to each other everyone knew all of the information.

Review highlighting accessiblility issues

Importance of an Online Presence The gallery didn’t have a sophisticated website or app of their own but they still managed to have a huge pool of resources available on their website and through smart use of social media were able to have lots of community engagement even, most impressively of all, during lockdown.

Example of daily interactive posts on facebook

Online exhibition archive and children’s workshops available on website

Were These Insights Unexpected?

Community Engagement I didn’t expect the level of community engagement achieved by the Glucksman. For a gallery of a relatively small size, it has a very strong social media presence and a very lively onsite schedule. I learned that it is a very open, friendly and accessible gallery. It’s an institution for everyone and anyone, democratising art by making it accessible and not intimidating.

Group Work I also appreciated the practice of working in a group as I’ve only worked in a group on one project before now. I thought dividing the work up among everyone would be the best way to approach the task but I wasn’t expecting it to be so effective. By having clear parameters of what everyone’s job was it eliminated confusion and made it seamless to bring all our work together. As well as this, by presenting our work together it gave me chance to condense what I learned so other people could understand it and consolidate my understand also.

Elderly painting class held downstairs weekly

“We believe ‘The Classroom Museum’ has a positive influence on the community and encourages more people to engage with contemporary art”

Format of Exhibition Entrance My event is linear and combines 2D, 3D and video elements and interactive pieces. It would be held in the main exhibition space upstairs in the Glucksman, as well as the sound room also upstairs. The opening of the exhibition is a combination of text and image introducing the background of the Frankfurt Kitchen covering the topics of ‘Post WW1 Germany’, ‘The New Frankfurt’ and ‘Grete Lihotzky as well as screenings of videos demonstrating the function of the kitchen and the building of the housing estate the kitchen was first installed in.

Kitchen Replica The visitor will follow this around the wall towards a 3D replica of the Frankfurt Kitchen positioned in the corner where the longest wall in the room has a window so the window is where the window was in the original kitchen. The model would only have one full height wall so visitors can see in from the outside. It would also be open for people to go inside and interact with all of the elements of the kitchen.

On the outside would be posters picking out specific elements of the kitchen and giving detail behind the design and how they were used.

Rreplica of the Frankfurt Kitchen positioned centre of the exhibition space

Contemporary The next section is the effects the kitchen had at the time and it mirrors the first section in format.

The final section will follow on from the last as 2D text and image but also have an interactive tile turner detailing specific aspects of the original kitchen from 1927 and on the other side showing the contemporary equivalent in 2020.

Tile turner showing differences between kitchens in 1927 and now

Talks will be held giving more information related to the exhibition

How I Will Use the Space

Mock-up of Sound Room with projection of Die Frankfurter Küche

Exhibition Spaces and Interactivity

Wayfinding and Advertising

I will position the kitchen replica against the window so it gives as close a simulation as possible to what the original kitchen was like. I will also take advantage of the closed off small room attatched to the main exhibiton space to have projections showing the two videos Die Frankfurter Küche which is a demonstration of the efficiency of the kitchen from 1927 and Das Neuen Bauen which records the building of the Romerstadt estate. The question “What do you think a kitchen should be?” on the blackboard in the welcome area to encourage visitors to start thinking about the role of a kitchen.

I will have a poster for the exhibition along the outside curved wall of the building as well as wayfinding showing the floorplan of the kitchen on the ground on the walkway leading to the main entrance. The wayfinding continues inside making the exhibition very easy to find as user centred design is the basis of my viewpoint some TripAdvisor reviews showed it was difficult for visitors to find their way around the building.

blackboard

A Blueprint for Efficient Housework

1.87 m

3.4 4m

Blackboard in welcome area

A Blueprint for Efficient Housew ork The Frankfurt Kitchen 1927 - 2020

Mockup of wayfinding and promotional poster