Art Exhibitions - Types of Exhibitions

Types of Exhibitions

There are different kinds of art exhibitions, in particular there is a distinction between commercial and non-commercial exhibitions. Temporary museum exhibitions typically display items from the museum's own collection on a particular period, theme or topic, supplemented by loans from other collections, mostly those of other museums. They normally include no items for sale; they are distinguished from the museum's permanent displays, and most large museums set aside a space for temporary exhibitions. Exhibitions in commercial galleries are often entirely made up of items that are for sale, but may be supplemented by other items that are not. Typically, the visitor has to pay (extra on top of the basic museum entrance cost) to enter a museum exhibition, but not a commercial one in a gallery. Retrospectives look back over the work of a single artist; other common types are individual expositions or "solo shows", group expositions (collective exhibitions), or expositions on a specific theme or topic. The Biennale is a large exhibition held every two years, often intending to gather together the best of international art; there are now many of these. A travelling exhibition is another category of art exhibition.

Exhibitions of new or recent art can be juried, invitational, or open.

• A juried exhibition, such as the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in London, the Chianciano Biennale at the Chianciano Museum of Art, or the Iowa Biennial, has an individual (or group) acting as judge of the submitted artworks, selecting which are to be shown. If prizes are to be awarded, the judge or panel of judges will usually select the prizewinners as well.
• In an invitational exhibition, such as the Whitney Biennial, the organizer of the show asks certain artists to supply artworks and exhibits them.
• An open or "non-juried" exhibition, such as the Kyoto Triennial, allows anybody to enter artworks and shows them all. A type of exhibition that is usually non-juried is a mail art exhibition.