Freedom S.H.E.D

The solo exhibition Freedom S.H.E.D was commissioned by the National Justice Museum, Nottingham and was installed for the month of August in 2022. In addition to the exhibition in the project LAB at the Museum, an outdoor series of events and workshops were curated in partnership with the Museum, Renewal Trust supported by Arts Council England.

The solo exhibition utilised mixed media, models, questions and design challenges, reading materials, original music and podcasts, photography and film. The exhibition was co-curated by Dr Jones and the team at the National Justice Museum.

The aim of the exhibition was to investigate into how to turn museums collections inside out in order to directly connect museums archives, exhibitions and staff, with their surrounding areas in order to increase public awareness and engagement. The objective was to explore how through creative place making, museum culture could be enhanced through the use of S.H.E.D; a social civic space that is designed to support cultural and socio-civic practice and research through the generation of an alternative space for the public to talk. In terms of the often complex structure of museums and their programming, this was a radical approach to create a collaborative, participatory and community programme delivered through a series of interventions. This enabled Dr Jones to explore the everyday within creative placemaking within the museum context.

The methodology employed to design an exhibition transformed the space into an area for exploration, learning, creative play and reflection. The exhibition was designed to be situated both inside and outside of the museum. It connected the internal museum spaces to an external site, King Edward Park, Nottingham. By doing this, it physically and metaphorically extended the footprint of the museum and its collection turning the museum inside out. Engaging with new audiences and widening access through this inclusive approach.

The underpinning research enquiry for the exhibition identified how to create a museology of Civic Dialogues through creative place making and developed ways to directly interface and engage the public with a research enquiry into how young peoples lived experiences are connected to museums. It also resulted in conversations with the museum curators and the public about what a museums role is in society today, and how the work of S.H.E.D can enable conversations between museums and their audiences as a conduit for young people to connect with museum culture through their lived experiences.

The exhibition was designed different zones to provoke a variety of types of spaces for discussion, reflection and creative play on the issues of justice, freedom and voice through the work of S.H.E.D as a methodological device for creative placemaking with young people. The systematic design of the exhibition inside and outside of the museum generated knowledge about social and environmental concerns and created new opportunties for conversations about barriers to museums, identified through the interaction with the exhibition content created.

The all about exploring the museum’s collection openly and creatively with people to shape co-produced exhibitions and activities that matter to their visitors.

The exhibition format provided an innovative platform for the public to share their views on the issues that mattered to them most on social-civic issues. The curation of the space transformed the Museum into an active site for positive change.

The exhibition design strategically employed research data sets and transformed them into stimulus for design ideation opportunities for young people.

During the course of the exhibition there was an increase in visitor numbers to the museum. The outdoor workshops engaged with new and emerging museum audiences.