Supporting Visitors in Exhibitions Dealing with Difficult Histories

Rosie May, Associate Director, Interpretation and Visitor Research, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago talks about the design of a visitor response space for a challenging installation of Arthur Jafa's "Love Is the Message, the Message Is Death." "We learned from our training and reading that if an exhibition ends with a theme, artwork, or object that speaks to or recalls something traumatic, it’s likely visitors will walk away feeling sad and frustrated. Instead, we found, we can better support visitors by offering ways to participate and take action so they leave these experiences feeling empowered and heartened."