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Formulating an exhibit philosophy

Formulating an exhibit philosophy R. L. BLAKELY Director, Sedgwick County Zoological Society, 5555 Zoo Boulevard, Wichita, Kansas 67212, USA In formulating our exhibit philosophy at the Sedgwick County Zoo we postulated three basic questions: ‘Who are we trying to reach and why?,’ ‘How do we reach them and why?,’ and ‘What do we tell them and why?’. The appending of ‘why’ is standard procedure at the zoo and applies to all our activities ,for we believe it helps to prevent us from giving stereotyped or traditional answers and often sets us off on new lines of investigation. Early on it became apparent that the signs, labels and graphics were integral to, and inseparable from, the exhibit as a whole. The animal, the enclosure and its furnishings, and all associated written and artwork become, in total, ‘the exhibit’. Of these elements the animal is naturally of paramount importance, yet to a majority of visitors, its full value is never perceived. T o the untrained eye and without proper interpretation it remains of only slightly more interest than an animated toy. With these principles in mind we determined that our proper function was to become an ‘interpretative zoo’. This interpretative function accounts for general http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png International Zoo Yearbook Wiley

Formulating an exhibit philosophy

BLAKELY, R. L.
International Zoo Yearbook , Volume 21 (1) – Jan 1, 1981
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Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
Copyright © 1981 Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company
ISSN
0074-9664
eISSN
1748-1090
DOI
10.1111/j.1748-1090.1981.tb01933.x
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

R. L. BLAKELY Director, Sedgwick County Zoological Society, 5555 Zoo Boulevard, Wichita, Kansas 67212, USA In formulating our exhibit philosophy at the Sedgwick County Zoo we postulated three basic questions: ‘Who are we trying to reach and why?,’ ‘How do we reach them and why?,’ and ‘What do we tell them and why?’. The appending of ‘why’ is standard procedure at the zoo and applies to all our activities ,for we believe it helps to prevent us from giving stereotyped or traditional answers and often sets us off on new lines of investigation. Early on it became apparent that the signs, labels and graphics were integral to, and inseparable from, the exhibit as a whole. The animal, the enclosure and its furnishings, and all associated written and artwork become, in total, ‘the exhibit’. Of these elements the animal is naturally of paramount importance, yet to a majority of visitors, its full value is never perceived. T o the untrained eye and without proper interpretation it remains of only slightly more interest than an animated toy. With these principles in mind we determined that our proper function was to become an ‘interpretative zoo’. This interpretative function accounts for general

Journal

International Zoo Yearbook – Wiley

Published: Jan 1, 1981

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