Diversities of choice, choice of diversities: Practical aspects of a diversity-centered exhibit

Abstract

A cultural institution choosing to mount an exhibit centered on the theme of diversity (or at least to ensure that a reasonable variety of types of objects/creators is presented) faces an inherent contradiction. Namely, while the human experience is infinite, exhibit space is not. Trying to contain the naturally uncontainable obliges an exhibit curator to make choices of materials, manners of display, and item descriptions, which provide a sense of the subject, knowing that inevitably some people and groups will be excluded. Such was our experience at Cushing Memorial Library & Archives with the creation of our 2019 exhibit The Stars Are Ours: Infinite Diversities in Science Fiction and Fantasy. The exhibit is based around the social, ethnic, racial, gender and other diversities of science fiction and fantasy (SF&F) – diversities in creators, in themes, in characters and in plots. Curatorial decisions respected the overarching exhibit theme while also recognizing the physical reality of the space and ensuring an optimal educational experience for patrons. The exhibit is organized thematically rather than by a specific ‘type’ of diversity, because the idea of boxing groups into specifically delineated, ghettoized areas of the exhibit was counterintuitive to the idea of diversity. Most of the exhibit themes were chosen for their broad nature, which allow for a wider range of authors and works to represent them. Items were chosen that we felt could best reflect the diverse nature of the SF&F genres and demonstrate their commonality as documents of the human cultural experience. Exhibit display is also a process involving many factors. In creating exhibit descriptive material, we sought to make subtle rather than overt connections to the overall exhibit theme where possible. The exhibit, in short, is intended as a diversity ‘sampler’ rather than any sort of attempt to try to capture the breadth of the subject. No exhibit with ‘diversity’ as a theme – whether overtly stated or implied – can realistically do more than acknowledge its inability to be a full chronicle. In doing so, exhibit curators actually recognize, in fact, the deep and limitless richness of their chosen subjects.