Personal Observations Vary (PoV)
POV: Personal Observations Vary is an online exhibition curated by Colgate University students enrolled in the fall 2020 course, “Museum Curating in the Digital Age.” Throughout the course, students grappled with the theory and practice of deploying digital tools in curatorial practice, a topic that has been at the forefront of museological thinking as institutions adapt to the radically new circumstances created by COVID-19 pandemic.
The exhibition encourages the visitor to reflect on how individual perceptions affect the act of meaning-making. Visitors encounter the artworks in digital space, but their path is unknown and they must make choices to proceed—choices that will determine their journey and its outcome. Along the way, they may choose to understand what they are seeing by gaining additional context, or simply react to gut instinct. Each journey will be different and perceptions may shift.
We hope to provide the viewer with an immersive and interactive viewing experience that will inspire them to not only engage with the artworks, but also to reflect upon their own perceptions. This student-curated exhibition circumvents the authoritative museum voice, instead drawing on the multitude of voices, opinions about perceptions, and personal stories with art. We encourage everyone who visits to share their own perceptions and prove there really is more than meets the eye.