Digital exhibitions can provide a collaborative space to create an interactive exploration of coursework, research, thesis projects and more. Similarly, building a media-rich web site or digital exhibition to accompany a physical exhibition allows visitors to explore topics in more depth, and serve as a project portfolio or archive after the physical show is no longer on display.
We recommend creating a project outline or map to sketch out the structure of the site or archive you hope to create. Setting up a digital exhibition space may require dedicating a considerable amount of time to customize the platform.
The VRC offers additional Curatorial Support that can be used in digital exhibition projects or exhibition proposal projects, including SketchUp models of the Cochrane-Woods Art Center that can be used to create layouts for real and imagined exhibitions in our space. The VRC can also recommend other tools that can integrate with the platforms outlined below, including timelines or maps.
There are many different digital exhibition platforms to choose from, but the tools reviewed here are already supported by campus units such as the Library and Academic Technology Solutions.
UChicago Voices
Why choose Voices? UChicago Voices is a WordPress platform suitable for digital exhibitions or project website that place equal emphasis on image and text but do not require more than a caption for each image. (Voices does not have the digital collections features like Airtable or Omeka.) The learning curve for UChicago Voices ranges from easy to moderate, depending on the features being used.
All uses of UChicago Voices for course work are fully supported by Academic Technology Solutions (ATS) staff.
Voices Examples:
- Ephemeral Architectures: early video and performance art from China, produced by students in Dr. Ellen Larson’s seminar, Approaches to Contemporary Chinese Art (Autumn 2023)
- Narratives/Counternarratives: Two Centuries of Race, Gender, and Class in American Material Culture, produced by students in Allison Robinson’s course, (Re-)Producing Race and Gender through American Material Culture course (Winter 2020)
- YOU BE MY ALLY, produced by curriculum interns as a resource for the Jenny Holzer installation on campus
Omeka
Why choose Omeka?
Omeka is designed for building collections of online images and then curating those images to create digital exhibitions and narratives. Use Omeka to share digital collections, create a collaborative, object-based digital assignment, or as an alternative to a final research paper. Omeka has a high learning curve.
Omeka Examples:
Omeka is supported by the Library; please reference the Library’s Guide to Omeka to find instructions to sign up for an Omeka account and request your free Omeka site from the Library.
Airtable
Why choose Airtable? While primarily used to track large amounts of metadata online in a spreadsheet, Airtable also allows users to view the information in a gallery format. This makes it simple to both track and exhibit objects in the same platform, without replicating work.
Airtable Examples:
- Chinese Art & Artists in British Columbia, 1920-1950, an Airtable archive project created by Diana Fruendl, MAPH ‘23, to accompany the thesis, “The Lives of Others– Chinese Artists and the Archive in Twentieth Century British Columbia.
- Swarthmore College Libraries's example of Airtable as a digital exhibition platform, "Black Excellence in Book Arts".
Airtable is a software app that students and faculty can choose to use independently—many options and features are available with the free version, but users may need to purchase a paid plan depending on the scope of their archive. Reference the VRC Guide to Airtable for more information and support.
Cargo
Why choose Cargo? Enabling greater artistic freedom, Cargo is a suitable platform for visually oriented creative projects. Please note: Cargo offers fewer features for digital accessibility. For example, you may need to explore CSS plug-ins in order to add alt-text to images.
Beginning in 2024, the VRC is piloting Cargo support for UChicago students and faculty. To participate in the Cargo Student Program which provides a free-upgrade for one year for currently enrolled UChicago students, please write to visualresources@uchicago.edu to request the Cargo code.
VRC staff are grateful to Nancy Spiegel, Bibliographer for Art, Cinema and History, University of Chicago Library, and Cecilia Lo, formerly Academic Technology Analyst, IT Services, for their collaboration on the poster, “Promoting Platforms: Collaborating to Support Image Management and Digital Exhibitions for Research and Teaching” at the ALA annual conference in 2020. That collaboration has informed different iterations of this guide.