‘Breaking Ground: 75 Years of Pioneering Archaeology’ at the Institute of Archaeology

the UCL Institute of Archaeology enrol on the ‘Exhibition Project’ course, in which they stage an exhibition using two display cases in the Institute’s A.G. Leventis Gallery. This year, the Exhibition Project had an added dimension in that the course-examiners were also our clients and subject matter. Eleven Museum Studies students, only two of whom had an archaeological background, were given the challenge of producing an exhibition on the topic of the 75th anniversary of the Institute of Archaeology. We were provided with £1,000, given a set of deadlines, and then largely left to it. The outcome – the exhibition Breaking Ground: 75 Years of Pioneering Archaeology – is on public display from May 2012 to February 2013 (Fig. 1). The Exhibition Project gives students a chance to discover what goes on behind the scenes in making an exhibition. The course is invaluable in teaching students how to work as part of a team and to take proper responsibility for their own learning – and results in a tangible piece of work. In making the 2012 exhibition, nothing was outsourced unless the team chose to do so, and the core exhibition roles were played by each team-member. One student was an Evalu‘Breaking Ground: 75 Years of Pioneering Archaeology’ at the Institute of Archaeology