Instructions
For the Museum Exhibit Project, students will curate an exhibit to represent the human cultures of the Americas. This means making critical and creative choices. We don’t have to—and maybe we can’t—represent all of the human experience in the Americas. Yet, we can be thoughtful about what we choose to represent and how we do so in ways that strive to be meaningful.
Select seven (7) works of art or cultural artifacts and design a museum exhibit to showcase them (these should be “major” artworks or cultural/historical objects of widely agreed-upon significance). All seven works of art or artifacts should be from the Americas, the focus of this course, although the works do not have to have been featured in the course material.
Submit a visual (or audio/visual) presentation that presents the art and/or artifacts you have chosen along with any drawings or descriptions of how they would be displayed, including historical or educational information you would present along with the exhibit.
Incorporate a statement of your project’s focus or theme, a clearly stated rationale of your selections (why you chose what you chose), and the logic that unifies your exhibit as a whole. This may be done on a couple slides or dispersed throughout the presentation.
The best projects will have a strong sense of unity, theme, and/or comprehensive vision; they will not simply be a “top 10 list,” so to speak.
Paper Format
Suggested formats include a PowerPoint presentation, iMovie, or other common presentation method. Please feel free to ask the instructor about any creative ideas you might have in mind. Most students create a PowerPoint with 8–10 slides that introduce their concept, present their seven selected artifacts, offer any conclusions, and list sources and citations.
PowerPoint-style presentations should be 10 slides maximum in total (audio/video projects, if you choose that optional version, should run approximately 3–4 minutes).
All source material—including images—and any references must be cited according to MLA style; use image captions to list citations and/or include a final Works Cited slide.
It is important that the project file be in a universally readable file format—these include: PDF, JPG, MP3 or MP4, or post a link to a public site like YouTube if you choose to upload your project there. Specialized (or temporarily free) programs may not be able to be viewed by many of your peers, and maybe even the instructor. Often, you can create your project in the program you prefer, then save it or export it as another file type (check the File or Save As menu in your preferred program)