Exhibition
Let us start by defining what an exhibition is, an exhibition is to all intents and purposes a showing of something, be that 3D printers or a Picasso. From that we can ascertain that the act of showing, IS the exhibition. Having asked that question you also need to ask, "what is an exhibition to me", well in order to answer that we need to first go back to where exhibitions are held, for example, the NEC in Birmingham, which its long-winded title is the national exhibition centre Birmingham. So having picked on the NEC, it must be said that on the grand scheme there have been very few art exhibitions held here. There have been plenty of concerts, plenty of car shows and plenty of technology shows, so why not art shows, the coverall answer to that is that there are galleries and museums which do tend to specialise in art and the arts.
Having ascertained what an exhibition is, there is a need to explain what an exhibition means to me on a personal level. For me, an exhibition is an opportunity, something and or somewhere to highlight the art I create. It matters not the venue although for most the venue is pretty important, those people I feel have ideas somewhat above their stations, in modern times this is called self-entitlement, they honestly believe that as an unknown artist they should have their work in the Tate because that is their right, or so they believe. Personally, I would be grateful if someone with the space was willing to show my work whether that be a single piece of work or a few.
The gallery/premises owner is the one doing me a favour, for were it not for the owner my work would reach nobody in the real world. For me, the real world is the best way to operate, let people get up close and personal with your work. If you leave hidden things in your work and you are only putting your work online, people will not have the chance to inspect closely and discover these hidden gems, they will not get to speak with the artist face to face, to get a feeling for who the artist is and what the artist is about.
An exhibition is often something collaborative, whether with artists you know such as students, or a group of unknowns such as with a technology exhibition, which could also extend to art as well. However as previously mentioned art exhibitions tend generally to be smaller affairs and may not have the ability to fill such large venues. The one even that could be sidled with art are art materials and machines which can fill large venues because some items associated with art can also be construed as craft such as CNC machines from the smallest, to ones costing tens of thousands of pounds, other things that bridge the divide are 3D printers, welders, casting equipment and many more. So, while the end results (the art) may not be sufficient to fill a giant hall, the tools and machines certainly can.
