Show Time: Designing Great Exhibitions 2025
Barbican Centre, London
Image: National Museums Scotland
Good exhibition design is an art, and when it is done right it can create powerful experiences, break down barriers and empower audiences.
This one-day conference will examine how museums’ changing understanding of their role in broader society is affecting approaches to exhibition design – from sustainability and decolonisation to co-production and community engagement.
This conference is for anyone involved in creating permanent or temporary displays and exhibitions.
Expect to hear:
- Practical advice on creating sustainable exhibitions
- The lessons from co-production with diverse communities
- How to create immersive experiences in traditional gallery spaces
- Ways to build accessibility and inclusivity into the design process
The day includes refreshments and a vegetarian/vegan lunch.
We aim to present a diverse range of speakers from across the UK and internationally at our one-day conferences. If you are interested in speaking at one of our events, or have a project you’d like to see explored, please tell us more by emailing the Events Team.
Follow this event on X: #ExhibitionDesign2025
Programme
Networking and coffee
Delegates are invited to arrive at the Barbican from 0930 to collect their badges, enjoy a coffee or tea and meet other delegates.
Chair’s introduction to the event
Simon Stephens, Head of Editorial and Events, Museums Association opens the event and sets out some of the key themes of the day.
Welcome from the Barbican
Wells Fray-Smith, Curator, the Barbican welcomes delegates to the venue and shares the design approach for its temporary exhibition showcasing the figurative paintings of the late Noah Davis.
Social spaces: designing inclusive and welcoming spaces at Tullie
Tullie in Carlisle is set to unveil a redeveloped presence on the high-street with a new welcome, shop, community studio and new exhibition gallery in early Spring.
Amy Walker, Head of Strategy and Capital Programme and Jose Esteves de Matos, Director at De Matos Ryan share how community engagement and the museum’s values shaped the design process.
Q&A with Amy Walker and Jose Esteves de Matos
Your chance to ask questions.
Made in Birmingham: Embedding principles of inclusivity into gallery design
Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery reopened to the public last October having completed the first phase of a £5m redevelopment. Karen Haines-Lea, Creative Director, Design Penguin discusses how the museum’s principles of inclusivity were embedded into the design process – and how this resulted in bold and daring designs that celebrate the city and its people.
Q&A with Karen Haines-Lea
Your chance to ask questions.
Celebrating heritage: Redeveloping Hull Maritime Museum
Hull Maritime Museum and the Arctic Corsair trawler are set to reopen in 2026 following a £15m redevelopment. Gillian Osgerby, Programme Director, Hull City Council, Christine Echtner, Interpretative Planner at Haley Sharpe Design and Robin Diaper, Curator of Social and Maritime History, Hull Culture and Leisure share the design plans for the new galleries and discuss the role of community engagement in the process.
Q&A with Gillian Osgerby, Christine Echtner and Robin Diaper
Your chance to ask questions.
Lunch
Delegates will be served a vegetarian/vegan lunch and have the opportunity to network with other delegates and explore the Barbican’s gallery spaces.
Noah Davis (until 11 May 2025) takes place in the Art Gallery, directly opposite the event lunch area. Please note that this is a ticketed event.
Citra Sasmita: Into Eternal Land (until 21 April 2025) takes place in the Curve Gallery, on the ground floor of the Barbican. This is a free exhibition of artworks by the Indonesian artist exploring ancestral memory, ritual and migration.
Mudlarking: creating immersive exhibitions at London Museum Docklands
London Museum Docklands temporary exhibition Secrets of the Thames: Mudlarking London’s lost treasures opens in April (until March 2026) will explore thousands of years of human history through objects found in the river’s foreshore. Emily Durant, Senior Exhibition Project Manager, London Museum Docklands shares some of the innovative design of the exhibition and discusses the role of interactives, AVs and immersive spaces – including the recreation of the Thames foreshore.
Q&A with Emily Durant
Your chance to ask questions.
Ripple Effect: Championing new approaches to exhibition design
How can museums collaborate with designers to effectively reduce the environmental impact of their temporary exhibitions? What tools and new materials are available to help? What does success look like in practice?
Join Elise Foster Vander Elst, Head of Exhibitions & Environmental Impact Lead, Design Museum and Graham Burn, Architect and Director, Studio MUTT, to hear more about how to champion new approaches to exhibition design at your organisation.
Q&A with Elise Foster Vander Elst and Graham Burn
Your chance to ask questions.
Sensory Logic: widening access to create exciting and immersive experiences
Among the highlights of the redeveloped Musée national de la Marine in Paris the most memorable is perhaps an eight-metre-tall and 20-metre-long projection of the crashing ocean, with soundscapes, vibrations, smells and touch objects combining to create an immersive experience for visitors.
Beatrice Lelli, Exhibition Designer, Casson Mann, shares highlights of the new museum and explains how a sensory approach and partnering with disability access experts has created an inclusive experience for a wide range of audiences.
Q&A with Beatrice Lelli
Your chance to ask questions.
Chair summary and close
Simon Stephens closes the day. Please note that the Barbican’s exhibitions remain open until 1800 but last entry to the galleries is 1700.
Noah Davis (until 11 May 2025) takes place in the Art Gallery, directly opposite the event networking area. Please note that this is a ticketed event.
Citra Sasmita: Into Eternal Land (until 21 April 2025) takes place in the Curve Gallery, on the ground floor of the Barbican. This is a free exhibition of artworks by the Indonesian artist exploring ancestral memory, ritual and migration.
Event fees
Concessionary Member – £80
Freelance and Consultant Member – £90
Member (Essential, Full, Institutional and Commercial members) – £105
Non-member – £160
Not a member? Join today and pay a discounted price for this event as well as receiving lots of other great benefits.
Important booking information
Please sign in and check the email address on your profile before booking. Your confirmation and joining instruction emails will go to the email address you use to log in to the website.
If you create a new record with a different email address your membership will not be recognised and you will be charged the incorrect fee. You can check and change your email address before booking.
Sponsorship
This event has the opportunity for businesses working in exhibition design to have a speaking slot and table top presence.
Click here to find out more or email Abigail.
Venue, access and sustainability information
More information about the venue, access and sustainability can be found here.
Competency Framework
How attending this event helps your professional development.
Our competency framework supports your professional development. It clearly shows different areas of competency and 4 levels within those areas, which you should be aiming to achieve throughout your work.
Our events relate to certain areas of the framework, and we recommend you look at the competency area to help you target your learning and create focus in the event. You may find that attending an event helps you attain the competencies for a higher level, which may contribute to your AMA or other professional development.
This event – Show Time: Designing Great Exhibitions 2025 primarily relates to the Empowering Collections, Engaging Audiences and Communities and Leading and Change Making competency areas.
Event details
Silk Street
London
EC2Y 8DS