Interpretation and Implementation
Synthesis
Image: “Dead Sea Water Receding” Noam Bedein
Salt dissolving and recrystallizing will serve as a metaphor for the introduction, assimilation and recognition of immigrant culture in America.
Visitors experience the exhibition from the perspective of an immigrant as they generate transformation within the space.
Immigrants lead the conversation within the space as they are the teachers. Curated storylines within the exhibition are driven off of visitor content consumption to display a personalized storyline that conforms to the narrative trajectory, this will be executed through projection mapping.
Adhering to the emergent and fragile system of salt formation, the exhibition is a self-organizing system with random, unstable, individual components that evolve into a complex, orderly, stable structure.
With a divided top layer and bottom layer, visitors will experience the exhibition from top floor to bottom as their movement will generate an unstable environment - precipitating them down, where they will eventually settle and rest at the bottom - a moment of reflection and self discovery.
Coated in a ‘preserving’ layer, the top layer of the exhibition will be a separate entity from the intervention with no sense of order or connection, these random, individual parts will slowly transform into a seamless form - a representation of immigrant culture being introduced to, dissolving within and forming western culture. As individual cultural identity is dissolved, cavities are formed in the intervention, representing distress. At the bottom layer of the exhibition, the layer of preservation will restructure and emerge as a complex, orderly, stable structure, saturated with color and pattern.
Individual cultures come together to form something greater than itself, but can often get concealed and repressed in the process. When looking at the system as a whole and analyzing it, the individual components that make it up can be identified with a sense of perseverance, value, and beauty.
Reference Class Forecasting
Each of these museum experiences offers a way to immerse the visitor in content to create a dialogue and understanding through confrontation and engagement.
Traditionally, cultural museums follow a narrative of history, demonstration of suffering and triumphs, and an embrace of individual identities. Often, these museums mainly attract the minority group they are addressing.
Emphasis should be placed on the integration of an individual concept with a larger universal outlook. There should be a focus on connection, interaction and influence between communities rather than on disconnected groups. It’s important to look at the individual component and its universal connection at the same time to acknowledge influences, impacts and affects. The focus should be placed on attracting and involving those unfamiliar with the topic.
The reference sets all focus on the visitor experiencing an intimate connection with the exhibit to create a relationship. That may be done through immersive technology or quality of the space. This connection between visitor and exhibit creates more empathy and awareness.
The various outside contributors to these reference class sets stem from government entities, to economic providers, pop culture and media support, to companies knowledgeable in the subject area. A range of outside people involved in the projects ensures that the exhibits are understood in through multiple perspectives and delivers a well informed solution.
Risk in the project can be subdued by being predictive of possible biases or misinterpretations and acknowledging the affect the project will have on the local and global community.
National Museum of African American History and Culture - David Adjaye
Thinning Ice - Studio Gang
Clock Museum of the Cultural Revolution - Jiakun Architects
Image: 1-3: Alan Karchmer 4: Chip Somodevilla
The museum has become a pilgrimage site. It makes the invisible aspects and realities of African Americans in America, visible. The museum makes known that there is an undervalued ‘dark presence’ in America. A linear, chronological experience takes visitors through a historical journey through the complex past of African Americans to a hopeful future. Through interactive technology, visitors are taught to rethink about what they know/what they’ve learned about African Americans in America as they are virtually placed in situations from the past. This confrontation and engagement through immersive technology creates a dialogue and relationship between the realities African Americans faced and the visitor to generate a more empathetic society. The museum is involved with government agencies, National Park Services and pop culture influences to sustain, promote and spread awareness of the museums message.
Image: Steve Benisty
Establishing a rule that awareness must be brought to environmental concerns, this exhibition brings a focus to the urgent need for environmental action. Through the study and analysis of an emergent system, shifts in temperature and evaporation are addressed as ice loses its crystalline structure and melts. Through human-scaled glacial structures, a dialogue can be established with the visitors. The intimate exhibition changes beliefs as glacial melt and its consequences provide an uncomfortable reality for the visitor, encourages discussion and promotes thoughts of solutions. Through the exhibits random forms developed by water movement, an educational experience is provided that allows guests to reflect on what they know about the crisis. Through discussions with Swarovski, ideas of conservation, preservation and sustainability were able to be implemented.
Image: Bi Kejian
This museum establishes the rules that economy and culture are reliant on each other. Sited in the center of a commercial zone, the museum acts as a concealed shrine as it offers rest from the exterior chaos. Height and width of spaces and passageways are manipulated to create movement and reflection. Immersive experiences and displays challenge beliefs through displays of information. Secluded spaces offer visitors a sense of disconnect as they can experience a moment of connection with nature. A visitors understanding of cultural relationships is challenged as a dialogue between economy and culture is encouraged to preserve and sustain cultural traditions over time.
Translation
Decision Tree
Materiality, Technology, Manufacturing Methods
Recycled Steel
Image: 1. Roberto Schmidt/AFP/GettyImages 2. Reuters/Akhtar Soomro 3. Indian Registry of Shipping
Using green ships recycling processes, ships are sustainably broken down and parts are re-used. Steel scraps will be processed to be used throughout the intervention. This material will be used to direct movement, play with sense of scale, contain, protect and provide structure.
Additive Manufacturing
Image: 1. Future Bridge 2. Aya Bentur
A disruptive manufacturing technology, forms are produced in a layer by layer manner, often through 3D printing. Additive manufacturing leads to potentially lower costs and flexibility. Lattice structures and complex geometries can easily be manufactured and are light and strong.
Concrete
Image: 1. Leonardo Finotti 2. Uve Sanchez 3. © Xia Zhi 4. Young + Ayata
Concrete is sustainable and widely available. Throughout the intervention, concrete will be utilized as a structural material forming the floor planes, vertical circulation and columns. The long life cycle and resilience of the material represents strength and perseverance.
Projection Mapping
Image: 1. Box by Bot and Dolly 2. Adrien M / Claire B 3. studio Flat-e
Through spatial mapping properties, projection maps can take dimensions found in physical space and project images onto it to alter the environment into a digital landscape - adding the illusion of 3 dimensionality on flat surfaces. An immersive environment like this provides direct confrontation and engagement with a visitor leading to a greater emotional response.
3D Printing of Recycled Glass
Image: 1. Pierre-Thomas Brun 2-4: MIT Media Lab
3D printed glass can provide various shapes, forms, optical properties and opacities. The textured surface can lead to beautiful patterns when illuminated as the light scatters. Form, color, transparency, light transmission, reflection and refraction can be manipulated throughout the exhibit to support the narrative as needed.
Big Data Analytics
Image: 1. Muvi.com 2. Megan Andersen
Visitor content consumption, buying patterns and behaviors can be tracked and analyzed to curate a highly personalized experience for each guest. Analyzing large amounts of data will reveal hidden patterns, correlations and insights. This collected information will be translated in terms of appropriate story line to present to each visitor to provide insight and a view into content or a culture that they are unfamiliar with and aren’t revealed in their discovered behaviors and patterns.