Jellies: Living Art Summative Evaluation

In 2003 and 2004 a summative evaluation of the Jellies: Living Art exhibition was conducted. The exhibition is a 4,650 square foot special exhibition at the aquarium that is open from April 2002 through January 2005. It includes live displays of domestic and exotic jellies and a collection of artwork in a variety of media: paintings, sculpture, works on paper, and three large site-specific installations. Though the aquarium has displayed art previous to Jellies: Living Art, this exhibition represents the first time the aquarium has displayed both art and live species together. There were seven main questions the study desired to answer: 1. How are visitors using the exhibition? What are they attending to, where are they spending their time? 2. What sorts of affective responses are occurring in the exhibition? 3. For the visitor, what is the relationship between the art and the animals being exhibited? 4. What sorts of conservation messages are visitors getting? Where are they getting these messages? 5. Is there a group of visitors who are coming back repeatedly to see the exhibition? Who are they and why are they coming back? 6. How much reading is going on in the exhibition? Is it more or less than in other exhibitions? 7. Does adding a Spanish translation to the English introductory panels, which doubles the overall amount of text, negatively affect visitor use of the label. The appendix of this report includes a timing and tracking sheet and interview form.