How an Exhibition Begins: Space, Choices, Atmosphere

Entering an exhibition is often an automatic gesture, yet rarely a neutral one. Even before we look at the artworks, we are already immersed in an atmosphere shaped by light, distances, sounds, and silences. It is from this awareness that Setting the Tone of the Exhibition (prologue body) takes shape, an exhibition at the Inside-Out Art Museum in Beijing that invites audiences to reflect on how an exhibition comes into being and how it welcomes us. Bringing together works by nine international artists, the exhibition focuses on minimal gestures - sound, sculpture, performance, and installation - that guide visitors’ movement and influence how artworks are perceived. The emphasis is not only on what is shown, but on how and when everything begins: well before the opening, in curatorial decisions, spatial arrangements, titles, and seemingly secondary details. Part of a broader research project on the “anatomy of exhibition openings,” the show treats beginnings as key moments in the construction of meaning. Extended captions and questions addressed to the artists accompany the exhibition, encouraging visitors to imagine alternatives, rethink displays, and mentally “re-curate” what they see. The result is an open, participatory experience that turns the visit into an exercise in attention and imagination, revealing how even the most invisible choices can set the tone for an encounter with art.