We wanted to create a digestible video, less than 10 minutes long, that captured the essence of the show that spanned four floors and included 37 artists. We hoped that the video could be a substitute for the in-person experience or as a primer to an audience who was on the fence about visiting the museum.
Screenshot of the video installation
Project Title
Virtual Curatorial Tour for Grief and Grievance: Art and Mourning in America
Contributed by
Karen Wong
Deputy Director,
New Museum
With a major legacy exhibition opening in the middle of the pandemic, we needed to create digital assets for a public that might not be able to see the show in person.
Project Goals
Special Thanks
The department of external affairs oversaw the project. Our partner vendor is Gesso and we worked closely with curatorial and education departments.
Reflections
Briefly describe your project’s timeline and development.
Gesso was commissioned to film the exhibition for curatorial archives. They were able to gather extensive footage before the exhibition opened to the public. In the first week of the show, the development team hosted a private Zoom tour for supporters and the education team conducted a public program with the curatorial collective that oversaw the exhibition conceived by Okwui Enwezor. Gesso took the recordings and edited audio passages from various talking heads and created a succinct voiceover for the film. The editing process took an additional three weeks where royalty-free music and title cards were added. Every single artist is represented in the film. Curatorial had the final sign-off.
Reflections
What do you think went really well?
Gesso was (and is) a stellar partner. They are alumni of New Museum’s cultural incubator NEW INC. They understood the DNA of the museum and anticipated our needs. They were clever in using existing recordings and footage to synthesize a brand new digital asset.
Reflections
What were the outcomes?
The film was distributed via newsletter, social, and our website with more than 25,000 impressions.
We subtitled the video in Chinese and German—two countries that responded most positively to the exhibition.
The film was a boon for our development team as an asset for cultivation as well as a primer for press contacts.
Reflections
What was most helpful in pulling this project off?
Producing a film takes a lot of time and people. All the departments were willing to pitch in on a new way of working around exhibition-making.
Reflections
Based on your experience, what advice do you have to share?
Create an outline storyboard with our video partner before manifesting the project.
Reflections
Do you plan to continue this project?
Yes in that we are commissioning Gesso again to make virtual curatorial tours for our next round of exhibitions!
This case study was generously contributed by
Karen Wong
Deputy Director,
New Museum
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