MUSEUM DESIGN & INTERPRETATION SHOWCASE

An interesting two-day exhibition was hosted by British Ambassador’s Residence, Vienna (Austria)

UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) has teamed up with The Museums + Heritage Show to organize a two-days exhibition for UK providers of museum design and interpretation services. The event was held at the British Ambassador’s Residence in the heart of Austria’s capital, Vienna (30 November – 1 December 2011).This was the first exhibition in this field including a conference element focusing on museum management.

This meeting was an excellent opportunity for UK companies to meet senior museum directors, exhibition managers and senior decision-makers and procurers from Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, and to develop business in this fast-growing sector.

The meeting was two dimensional, meaning that to one side there was the exhibition of 12 UK companies from different areas of museum/attraction related products and services, such as lighting, security systems, audio-video guides, 3D visual realization, installations and so on. Additionally, the meeting hosted expert talks on the topic “Design & Interpretation of Museum Exhibitions” and it was very interesting as a kind of “sharing-best-practice” and exchange of ideas. There were 7 expert speakers from the UK and Austria including:

Mark Whitmore from Imperial War Museum London
Donald Hyslop from Tate Modern
Louise Fitton from Natural History Museum London
Walter Seidl from the Erste Foundation
Peter Husty from the Salzburg Museum
Otmar Moritsch from the Technisches Museum Wien (Technical Museum)
Franz Kirchweger from the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien (Museum of Fine Arts)

There were commercial officers present from 12 Central, Eastern and South-Eastern European countries, including Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Turkey, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Switzerland. The exhibition attracted more than 100 national and international delegates.

The overall feedback from the exhibiting companies was very positive and a number of companies have made promising contacts.

Further information available at:

http://ukinaustria.fco.gov.uk/en/business/events/CEME_2011

http://ukinaustria.fco.gov.uk/resources/en/pdf/CEME_brochure (Brochure, PDF)

http://ukinaustria.fco.gov.uk/resources/en/pdf/CEME_flyer (Flyer, PDF)