ORGANISATION OF THE EXHIBIT

 The following text is taken out of the presentation given by the Chairman in Bangkok. It shows how to relate the plan and the developed to the layout of the exhibit, in order to organise the exhibit in the most effective and appealing way. The full presentation is available on request either on paper or as a “ppt”.

3. THE STORY LINE

Each exhibit presents the concept according to a logic, that develops along a STORY LINE

- philatelic (traditional, postal history, etc.)

- thematic (our class)

• This represents a thread (file rouge, roter Faden) linking each page, each item to the previous and to the following one

• The flow of the thread must be continuous:

- no breaks

- no jumps

- no loops

3. ORGANISATION OF THE EXHIBIT - WHY IT IS IMPORTANT

Presentation means a consistent, clear, clean layout, to make "transparent" the organisation of the exhibit.

Hence Organisation includes and supersedes Presentation, as it means the overall arrangement of the items according to the plan in order to

a) Demonstrate the title

b) Make evident the story line

• In every page (correct sequencing)

• Through the pages

c) Explain the contribution of items which are not self-explanatory

d) Provide philatelic details whenever necessary

A good organisation of the exhibit represents the best way that the exhibitor has for communicating HIS/HER THOUGHTS, KNOWLEDGE, PERSONAL RESEARCH TO THE PUBLIC AND TO THE JURORS

3. ORGANISATION OF THE EXHIBIT – HOW IT IS IMPLEMENTED

• The plan page should tell the viewer how the exhibit is organised

• Headings (titles & subtitles) matching the plan should present the development of the story line along the pages, without useless repetitions (but "running titles" could help to track the plan)

• Page titles should be unique so that the story can easily be followed at this level

• Items should be placed in the page following strictly the story line, without considerations based on item size (or other criteria)

• Captions should be direct and short, aiming at the best understanding of the items and, if the case, of their philatelic peculiarities

Some exhibitors place a thematic text at the beginning of each page aiming at giving the overview of the page, so that the sequence of these texts present clearly the whole story.

                                                         May 2004 TC News Page 8

NOTES ON PRESENTATION

The last time Thematic Guidelines were rearranged, the Bureau decided to take out the detailed considerations on Presentation, as it was assumed that the overall text was too long and the advice on presentation had been already well understood. After the many changes in the Commission it has been felt useful to make available the relevant available for general reference.

In order to achieve these characteristics, the following considerations are offered, based on the experience of the best presented exhibits.
Pages and presentation techniques

White or pale-coloured sheets, which do not detract from the material, are preferred.

Presentation techniques (e.g. the mounting and framing of stamps and documents) should be consistent and neat throughout the pages.
Whatever the approach selected for the headings and the text (manual, typewriter, computer printer, etc.), the readability of the exhibit may be improved by using different character types and/or sizes; presenting the text in different colour is not necessary and might be more confusing than useful.

Presentation of material

The page shall not be overcrowded or too emptyA known thematic principle is to use only one item out of a long set (stamp, postal stationery, cancellation, etc.) with the same design; this approach will also prevent overcrowding. The use of several items with exactly the same design should be limited to special circumstances, e.g. reasons of symmetry, balance in the text, specific thematic and/or philatelic significance of the material, philatelic studies.

This principle does not apply when the same design is common to different types of material (stamps, and/or the imprint/the illustration of postal stationery, and/or special cancellations, etc.), or when the items belong to several countries.

Sometimes the same item can be used to describe several thematic points (e.g. because of its secondary designs). It is suggested that, to avoid repetition, the item is shown - if possible – in different conditions (e.g. single, variety, proof, on cover with a relevant thematic cancellation). In the case of very common items, the overcrowding of the page with documents and postal stationery items can be avoided by showing the essential thematic and philatelic parts through cuttings in the page ("windows"). 

This often represents a viable alternative to cutting the documents.
Larger documents can sometimes adversely affect the aesthetic balance; they may be accepted if they actually present a greater thematic and/or philatelic significance.

The overlapping of documents cannot always be avoided. This is often expected for normal, commercial, service, and official correspondence, and it is less disturbing for some themes (e.g. organizations, events, specific history) than for others (e.g. artistic or aesthetic themes).

The choice between mint or used stamps is left to the exhibitor. From a visual point of view, it is recommended that an exhibit consists of only one or the other. When this is not feasible because of philatelic reasons (e.g. a stamp which is by far rarer in the other condition), or of difficulty of acquisition, at least the mixing of mint and used stamps on the same page should be avoided. However, the inclusion of postally carried items on a page does not imply that every stamp on the same page must be used.

Postal stationery can be shown mint or used, according to their philatelic importance and to the taste of the exhibitor. They must not be cut.

Moreover, the "windowing" of stationery items should be strictly limited to very common items, shown because of their cancellation, and should never be used when the item is shown because of its imprinted stamp and/or side illustration.

Stamps used to describe the development should not be shown on documents without a relevant thematic cancellation, unless the document has a clear philatelic significance. Only for justified philatelic reasons should the same stamp be shown single and on cover or card. In principle it is sufficient to present the latter.

Covers or postcards where too many different stamps are not related to the theme (e.g. a set of which only one or two items are relevant) should not be used.

In some cases only one or two items are available on a thematic detail. This should not result in devoting the page to these two items alone, unless their size requires it; in general other items could be presented on the same page, as much as a balanced arrangement allows.
Appropriate sub-headings may be used to mark the necessary separation between the different thematic details.

Headings

The headings on the page should identify the arrangement according to the subdivisions of the plan and summarize the contents of the page.
Where necessary, this can be achieved by utilizing fine/finer subdivisions in form of headings and sub-headings that go beyond the divisions of the plan, in order to provide an easier understanding of the contents of the page.

The repetition of the title of the collection/exhibit or of the entire chain of headings on each page is only a waste of space; only the levels of headings necessary for the best understanding of the exhibit should be presented on the page.

When a numbering system is adopted for the plan page, it should also be used throughout all the pages.

Text

The text should be the most concise possible. Any unnecessary information (e.g. redundant adjectives) should be eliminated, since the role of text is only complementary to the material.

The thematic description may concern individual items or a group of them, with a short bloc of text. However, for better understanding of the specific connection, the text should be positioned as close as possible to the relevant items.

Photocopies or photographs, marked as such, of any hidden part of a document (showing e.g. the stamp imprint of postal stationery or postmarks), may be used if, only in this way, important thematic and/or philatelic information is highlighted.

Simple and effective maps and/or diagrams may be used in few exceptional cases as a supplement to the text, where they help towards a better understanding of the development and shorten the text.

It is recommended that those exhibitors who often show at international exhibitions and do not normally use a FIP language prepare a new presentation with text in one of the most spoken FIP languages, so that their efforts can be better understood by judges and visitors.
           
                                                           "TC NEWS", MAY 2004

THE CHOICE OF THEME

The first question that is posed to a new thematic collector, concerns surely the choice of the theme of his collection. The answer in this question “which subject do I choose?” is particularly important. From this answer depends the future course of ones exhibit, perhaps the entire thematic career of the exhibitor.
Concerning that point, abbot de Troyer, the Belgian pioneer of thematic philately, said: “The choice of the theme is really difficult. It must be inspired by serious causes. A thematic collection needs multi-annual study in-depth. The collector should be mastering the subject. Otherwise he might not correspond to the serious requirements of this development".

First condition for the successful development of a thematic collection is the collector's love for the theme that he will select. That's why his first choice should be a subject of what his interests are about. All of us we have “obvious or clandestine loves” out of the social, professional, artistic, athletic, scientific etc. space. The “obvious” love of a doctor who appreciates so much his science, that even his hobbies report into medicine; or the musician's who, apart from the continuous effort of improvement on his musical knowledge and dexterities, he likes to extend his musical encyclopedic knowledge, by gathering gravures with musical subjects or original correspondence of composers, old scarce records etc. It is the craftsman or the industrialist of footwear that collects posters and other advertisements from old firms of shoe-making and exposes them in some special space at his office, or one who seeks and collects old tools or pioneer instruments about the art of the shoes. All these, because one loves his work and uses its materiel even as a hobby.
The above examples of “obvious loves" can create collectors with brilliant future in thematic collections of corresponding themes. As who could be more of a specialist than the doctor on the creation of a collection on a medical subject? Who is more suitable than the botanist in the creation of a collection on a theme concerning “plants”, “flowers" or of a mineralogist for “mining”…? etc…

In the case of “obvious” love, apart from the per se important condition, also exists the facility of confronting the subject because for the development of a theme is required the knowledge of the object. Who could better know the treated object in a collection than the scientist, the artist, the corresponding professional?

A second category of collectors that can easily select a subject and lead it easily far, up to the tallest steps of an international exhibition, are those with the “clandestine loves”. He is a banking employee that always dreamed to become a musician but “life commanded otherwise” or a doctor whose hobby was astronomy. He installed a small or bigger telescope in the rooftop of his house and, with the passion that nourishes this hobby, he can recognize stars, groups of stars, can distinguish galaxies and nebulae of galaxies. He has become a small astronomer. All about Ipparchus, Aristarchus, Thales, Pythagoras, Eratosthenes, Ptolemy, Copernicus, Galileo, Newton, Kepler etc. are for him “familiarities".

He knows and remembers them perhaps better than a practicing astronomer. Well! In the hands of such a hobbyist, a collection with the theme “Astronomy” can make marvels. As in this case exists the love, combined with the knowledge. A knowledge that in this case does not emanate from academic study, but from training out of a sideline interest.

The remaining categories of candidate thematic collectors have sure difficult work in the choice of their theme, and a great difficulty to bring it to a favorable end. Lets say that somebody sees, for example, some stamps or a collection of “mushrooms”. One is impressed by their beauty, shapes, colours. He decides therefore to make “mushrooms” too. With what encyclopedic knowledge? With what knowledge of the theme? This collector has surely heavier work to do. At first, because he should begin gathering information from zero. What is “morchella] comestible”, or “[Pleyrotos] [ostreodis]”, what are “[amanites]” poisonous?

Varieties, families, species, subspecies, their use by the man as comestible products, their use in pharmaceutical, the way of natural and technical reproduction, places where they are grown, hosts of mushrooms, types of poisonings mushrooms…. Where should one start and where should one end, when without previous knowledge he will try to create such a collection? This precise difficulty has an additional danger, much more important: Due to the increased difficulty, one can be quickly disappointed and abandon the effort totally, or, simply, maintain certain pages of an album full of “mushrooms….”

There are no few examples of collectors who began a theme and soar it into higher levels, even though they did not have any direct or indirect relation with the topic. Simply, it is a matter of will and insistence.

A point into which the collector must pay particular attention when beginning a new theme full of ambition, should be the existence of supporting postal/philatelic material. There are themes, to develop for which exist old and good material, capable to drive them to a high level of distinction, while other topics are condemned to a limited award. “Dinosaurs”, for example have appeared very late on stamps. Much later than the “flowers”, the “trains”, the “football” etc. This means that all the existing material will be very modern and, in consequence, the collection will be of smaller range in the view of the “value and rarity of the material”. There are of course voices that protest for these discriminations and ask that the collections should be judged on the basis of the available material. But, doesn't it happen the same in the other philatelic classes? Would we judge in the same way the Postal History of a town, of a prefecture and a whole county? Could one ever compare a collection/study of an isolated classic stamp next to a complete collection that includes the full set, or the stamps of the complete classic period? It is of course a question of range.

Other examples of subjects to be avoided because of their small “range” are the modern personalities (the life of the Pope John-Paul II', of President Mitterrand etc), modern technologies (computing, satellites), modern types of planes etc.

Something that is also important for the future of a thematic collection is the breadth of the theme, that should be neither very big, nor very small. A collection entitled “animals”, “birds”, “flowers”, or even wide subdivisions, as “mammals”, it is condemned to be drown into the chaos of species, subspecies, varieties etc. How to deepen a similar theme? How can the collector present nicely balanced all the species, without injuring none, so that, this which will finally be presented in his collection will correspond in the title expectations that has been created?

When, on the contrary, the theme that we select is very “narrow”, there will be difficulty to cover the minimum of the pages that are necessary for an exhibit collection. Themes like “Pelicans”, “Anemone”, “Arabic Horse”, “Marsupials”, as it is not possible to cover enough pages, cannot constitute the theme of an autonomous collection.

Reversely, ideal are the themes that have a limited but satisfactory broadness, as they give the possibility of a more deepening of details, they require more and serious study and they can prove the particular effort of the collector. For example: Instead of a collection on the theme “birds”, it is much better a collection “rapacious birds”, or “aquatic birds”. It is much better a collection on" the music of Europe from the Renaissance up to date” rather than a collection titled “Musical Instruments”, or, even worst, “Music” (where obligatorily one would have to present ancient and modern music, music of other civilisations, musical instruments and… "there is no limit or end”!).

In any case, particular value is attributed, by judges and public, in the authenticity of the chosen theme. The authentic themes impress and are subsidized at the process of evaluation. Absolutely justified! Themes like “the fire”, “the night”, “the beard”, “the shoe”, “schizophrenia” (I am reporting on real and multi-prized collections), cannot be compared with the triviality of “flowers”, “insects” or “means of transportation”. For these themes is required inspiration, experience, bigger research, more study, and also much more “acute brain”, besides the difficulty of the material's discovery. Greek thematic collectors, is certain that acquire these qualifications. However a basic element is missing from them: the thematic experience. Without examples, without optical experiences, it is very difficult to expect “original Greek thematic collections”.
 

Therefore, in order to summarise, we recommend that the choice of a new thematic collection's theme has to be realized in the basis of the following choices:

• We prefer to select a theme that we love and we know, either because it is related to our work, or because it is included in our hobbies.

• We avoid themes of modern technology, biographies of modern personalities and generally themes that are supported by only modern material.

• We particularly avoid either very general subjects, or/and very specific and specialised ones. Very specific topics can be acceptable in a collection of One Frame.

• We prefer more original and less trivial themes. The regulations forecast 5 points for the originality and authenticity of the exhibits.
  
  
  
   

INNOVATION

This is one of the talks given on occasion of the FEPA jury seminar in Essen Thematic Championship (May 6th–7th, 2006). The article is published on the commission website. There, you can find all illustrations to which the text refers.

(http://www.fipthematicphilately.org/)

The new Thematic SREV: Innovation, by Joachim Maas

According to the Thematic SREV the criterion treatment is divided into the sub-criterions title and plan (15 points), development (15 points), and innovation (5 points). As innovation is the only "new" sub-criterion of the new SREV, it is worth-while having a detailed look at it as for exhibitors as for jurors.

Innovation can be shown by

- new themes

- new overall concepts

- new development of chapters or sub-chapters

- new development of pages or parts of pages

- new thematic application of material

In order to understand these five different possibilities and to distinguish between them, they are explained using some examples.
New themes are demonstrated by the title and / or the subtitle of the exhibit. Nevertheless, new themes should not be evaluated without considering the concept. New themes with boring concepts, which only consist of simple lists and which do not reflect environment, causes and effects, consequences, cross-references and so on, are not really innovative.

So it is not only sufficient to deal with a new species of animals, a new sports-discipline or a famous person never dealt with before, but such a new theme should be combined with an interesting plan. Consider the following fictitious example:

Umberto Miller, the famous composer

1. Precursors

2. His Life

3. His Works

4. In memory of Umberto Miller

This concept is known from dozens of exhibits dealing with famous people. Obviously, this is not an example of innovation, though the theme is completely new.

Of course, it is not always possible to create new themes. Therefore, new concepts are much more important than the theme itself. New overall concepts can be demonstrated by subtitles and / or by plans. Considering the title of the famous exhibit "Australasian Birdlife - a look at the bird world of the South Pacific region along zoogeographical lines", we realize a new theme combined with a completely new concept: the zoogeographical approach, which enables the exhibitor to demonstrate a lot of really new, important and interesting aspects.

Consider a second example. Exhibits dealing with paper making, printing, book publication and the press are usually divided into four or five parts: (writing), paper making, printing, book publication and the press. These chapters then are dealt with separately, each chapter covering a very large period of time, without reflecting their mutual influence. So in order to avoid these disadvantages, the following new concept shows a clear historical evolution emphasizing the interdependence between the technical and the historical development:

Printing and paper making, motors of book publication and the press

1. Putting down written information before the invention of typography

2. The invention of printing by movable types about 1440 ...

3. ... gives impetus to book publication and to the press since 1500

4. Progress in paper making and printing techniques since about 1800 ...

5. ... supports modern book publication and the modern press

The third possibility of demonstrating innovation is a new development of chapters
or sub-chapters. Let us have a look at an example: The evolution of writing. Usual approaches emphasize the appearance of "characters" (pictograms, cuneiform writing, hieroglyphs, ...). Such approaches do not demonstrate the very essence of the development of writing. So the following new approach puts more emphasis on the way in
which the "characters" represent the content and later on the phonetic structure of languages. This concept combines examples from different cultures on one page and results in the following headings of the pages (see figures 1 – 5 on the website of the commission):

- Precursors of writing: picture- and symboltechnique

- Logography, representing the content of languages

- Beginning of phonetic writing

- A revolutionary development: first alphabets

Often it is not possible to create new overall concepts or new development of complete chapters. Therefore exhibitors can use a fourth possibility of demonstrating innovation: new development of pages or new thematic interpretation of items. Consider three examples (again, to be studied on the website):

Figure 6 is taken from the thematic field "the press" and shows a new thematic interpretation of the cancel "Genève, gazettes". This item should have been expected in a subchapter dealing with the distribution of newspapers.

Here it is interpreted in the following way: In the 16th century written news-"papers" were sold on the "Rialto", a central place in Venice; the price was one "gazetta", and the name of the coin was transferred to the papers, so that gazette has become a synonym for newspaper up to now.

Figure 7 is taken from an exhibit dealing with mathematics and shows an etymological interpretation of the word "calculate": Calculating developed from counting with pebbles (Latin "calculi").

As for the last two examples one might object that these are excellent examples for
demonstrating thematic knowledge, but they don't really demonstrate innovation. Of course, both examples are strongly based on thorough thematic knowledge. The use of the items in this thematic connection is so surprising that the combination of the thematic statement with the items really demonstrates innovation.

Figure 8 shows a thematic interpretation of philatelic varieties. The three stamps with the knight philatelically demonstrate the steps of the printing process, and the thematic text says: "As out of nothing a game like chess appeared ....".

 In figures 6, 7 and 8 items are used which are not new for the whole theme, but which are interpreted in a new and surprising way or which are used in an unexpected subchapter.

Furthermore, a fifth possibility of demonstrating innovation is the application of items which - in the thematic sense - are completely new for the whole theme.

Consider three examples:

Figure 9 shows a proof of Pythagoras’ theorem using 8 Columbian triangular stamps.

Figure 10 as well is taken from the thematic field of mathematics. The page deals with the Greek mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras, who tried to explain nearly everything by proportion of numbers. You would expect the US fancy cancel from the classical period showing a lyre to be integrated into an exhibit dealing with music rather than in a connection with Pythagoras. The thematic reason is that the starting point for Pythagoras' theory was the discovery that harmonic intervals are based upon simple proportions of the length of strings of music instruments like the lyre.

The last example (figure 11) is taken from an exhibit about chess and shows items, four of which would not be expected in this field of theme. The text explains that at the end of the European Middle Ages chess was especially popular among knights and minstrels and so became one of the knightly arts, besides e. g. riding, music, bird-catching and archery.

Summarizing, we have seen that there are a lot of possibilities of demonstrating innovation and that innovative concepts or development and surprising elements are much more important than the creation of new themes. So, this new sub-criterion is a chance for exhibitors more than a risk.

On the other hand, jurors should try to avoid the risk of allotting too few points because of taking into account the same mistake or omission several times. According to the new SREV, innovation should no longer be taken into account when deciding about the points for plans or for development. As for the evaluation of plans the new SREV explicitly does not contain the former aspects of originality and creativity any longer.

Proposal for allotting points for the sub-criterion of innovation:

Known themes combined with simple concepts: 0 – 2

New themes combined with simple concepts: 3

Known themes combined with good concepts, good development and some/ a lot of new items: 3 – 4

New themes combined with good concepts, good development and some/ a lot of new items: 4

new or known themes combined with innovative concepts or innovative development or a lot of new items: 5