There are generally two types of exhibitions: permanent ones, lasting three years or more; and temporary ones, lasting a few hours to a year.
Temporary exhibitions are generally event-specific, or they travel to different venues.
In Singapore, there are many more temporary than permanent exhibitions being built. Why is that? One reason is that temporary exhibitions are generally cheaper. A second reason is that in a land-scarce country, it is not easy to find a good-sized space to build a permanent exhibition.
All these temporary exhibitions are built and then demolished in less than a day or within months. Imagine all that waste!
As exhibition curators, we do play a role in this. How then do we mitigate the problem and do our part for the planet?
SUSTAINABILITY: WHAT CAN WE DO? WHAT HAVE WE DONE?
Every exhibition is unique. Printed text and designed panels for one exhibition on cars cannot be reused in another exhibition on cats.
However, where there’s a will, there’s a way.
I’ll share a true success story with you.
Client A’s temporary exhibition required modular and movable structures. These structures needed to allow the client to easily change the information on it. A similar concept is a corkboard where you can tack on new information and remove old ones.
Client B had a modest budget but also wanted a modern and modular exhibition. So we suggested to Client B to use Client A’s exhibition structures. Client B was delighted with the concept and cost-savings. With Client A’s blessing, Client B inherited the exhibition structures.
And thus, we made a win-win-win situation possible, as
- Client A didn’t have to pay exhibition disposal fees;
- Client B didn’t have to build new exhibition structures, cutting back on their costs and resources; and
- we saved one exhibition from the landfill.
MATCHMAKING: WHAT DOES HOL STAND TO GAIN?
You might say that HOL gained nothing from such an arrangement. We might even have lost some profit by not having the client build new exhibition structures. Yet, on the other hand, we believe that we did the right thing. Our clients appreciated our efforts of going that extra mile. And we were happy, knowing that fewer things would be going to the landfill.
You can play a part for sustainability!
If you, or anyone you know, are looking for pre-loved exhibition structures, let us know! We look forward to matchmaking like-minded people so that everyone – and the environment – wins!
