The communication by objectives model: applications to the design of interpretive programs

Abstract

Mexican museography had a “gold age” during the 1960’s, amidst a nationalist ideology. Partially, this success had to do with the fact that museographers were at the same time curators and exhibition designers -and many of them were either visual or performance artists as well. After that time, the growth of the field and the increasing intervention by the federal and state level governments produced two changes: first, these roles became separated and independent; and second, museums and archaeological sites were seen as political bounty. The State would determine the priority of many projects, independent of the needs of the field; and, in parallel, some specialists gained such relevance that they too could dictate topics and venues. What was left aside were the needs and the interests of audiences.This has become normalized. It is not rare to see an exhibition project start with “the best of the collection” or a list of topics, with little rationale for why these would be of interest or relevance to the public. The result: exhibitions that may be pertinent only to their curators or museographers. Here we will present an alternative approach: designing from clearly stated objectives relevant to audiences.