The exhibition Overlays was the first time I was involved in an exhibition not just as a participant, but as one of the main coordinators. Together with Magda, I was one of the major speakers for Media Design, which meant that we were responsible for coordinating everything related to our major. From around December onwards, we regularly met with the other major speakers to discuss what still needed to be done for the exhibition. These meetings included topics like floor planning, budgeting, and deciding what each major wanted to present. At the same time, we also talked a lot within our own major, not only about what we wanted to show, but also how we wanted to show it. For us, it was important that Media Design would not just present simple screens with films, but create something more thought-out and spatial. Alongside the weekly meetings with the other speakers, we also had occasional update meetings with the major leads. These were important to keep everyone informed about our progress and to clarify open questions early enough.
One of my personal challenges during this time was managing everything alongside the short film project. At that point, the short film was very close to my heart, and I was already deeply involved in it. I noticed that balancing both projects was harder than expected and made me reflect a lot on my time management and prioritisation. It was a good reminder that even exciting projects can become stressful if everything happens at once. Working together with Magda was a very positive experience. I felt like we complemented each other well and balanced out responsibilities and levels of engagement. Especially in stressful moments, it helped a lot to not be alone with decisions and tasks. Before the Christmas break, the exhibition still felt very abstract and far away. After the holidays, however, it suddenly became very real. Deadlines got closer, decisions had to be made faster, and naturally, the stress level increased. For Media Design, selecting projects was relatively straightforward, since multiple projects could be shown on shared screens. One of our main focuses was the “cinema” area, where we planned to show two short films. Additional individual projects were displayed on a screen wall, inspired by an exhibition magda had seen in Switzerland. We also included a separate screen for passion projects. Overall, everyone from the major had the opportunity to submit and exhibit work. Looking back, this phase taught me a lot about coordination, communication, and responsibility. Being part of the organisational side of an exhibition showed me how much work happens behind the scenes before anything becomes visible to the audience.
