Exhibition Design

The Master’s degree programme in Exhibition Design offers an educational programme which is virtually unrivalled at an international level. It was created in response to new professional fields involving the sophisticated presentation of objects and products. This relates to museum exhibitions, exhibitions outside the museum context, trade fairs and company presentations.

Scenography

You will explore the historic development and current international trends in museums and exhibitions. You will also familiarise yourself with three possible forms of presentation – integrative, media-based and personal.

Exhibition theory

You will gain an overview of the latest trends and methods in exhibition concepts and design.

Digital media

You will focus on the use of multi-media in exhibitions such as film and video projections, audio concepts, animation, interactive objects and installations. You will also deal with the web presence of exhibitions and museums.

Model-building

You will visualise exhibition concepts based on the methods of model-building. We also convey the key principles of object presentation based on various criteria such as aesthetics, didactics and illustration.

Multi-media application development

You will develop constructions and visualisations of virtual spaces and objects based on a practical approach. You will also apply the fundamental techniques of 3-dimensional presentation with the aid of open source software.

Exhibition staging

You will explore the dramaturgical development of an exhibition and the contextualisation of objects, in particular object-text relationships and object-text staging.

Lighting design and trade fair design

You will analyse the use of lighting in exhibitions and museums and the technical lighting effects associated with staging.

Design and implementation of exhibitions

The course focuses on conveying expertise in design and technology. In particular, our students focus on the design and implementation of exhibitions revolving around history, cultural history and natural sciences as well as the design of art exhibitions. Our students become experts in communicating content based on visual communications, the presentation of objects in spaces and various scenographic approaches. In addition to exhibitions inside and outside of museums, they also plan immersive worlds of experience and devise roadshows or trade fair presentations.

Projects in cooperation with international and local institutions form an integral part of the course: from the design of a large-scale exhibition to presentations in the public domain and organisation of an exhibition.

Study mode

The Exhibition Design course is organised in a work-friendly manner which means that lessons take place from Wednesday to Saturday. The classes have a strong workshop character.

During the semester, classes take place from Wednesday to Saturday between 8:15 and 18:00. You can therefore combine the course with a part-time job.
There are no plans for e-learning modules at present.

Attendance

Essentially, FH JOANNEUM requires attendance during all classes. You may be excused if you present a doctor’s certificate to show that you were ill. Students require a minimum 80% attendance level. Absence due to professional reasons can be discussed on an individual basis and approved, where required. Ultimately, it is the head of degree programme who decides on the consequences of any absences or exceptions to the compulsory attendance requirement.