Oceanic Projection
Overview
The Oceanic Gallery is a smaller satellite gallery located adjacent to our Modern & Contemporary Galleries. During the early development and layout of this space, along with traditional label development, we started to brainstorm ways to help visitors with additional context for Oceania, the artists that created the works in the space, and the works themselves. The desire was to create something that wasn’t deliberately didactic, but rather, because of the size of the space and intended experience, could become part of the overall theming of the gallery.
Serving as almost visual muzak(tm), we creating a morphing video projection situated prominently on one of the large exterior sloping walls. This morphing, which plays through 16 random vignettes, provides a distinctive visual backdrop for the space. Each vignette cycles through a series of images comprised of an object from the collection, the place from which it came, the artist if know, and the object in context or use in the original environment. Between each vignette, a large, labeled map of the Pacific Ocean and islands is displayed and serves as the segue between different vignettes as it zooms in and out.
Initial visitor testing and observation has revealed a surprising amount of engagement with visitors and plans are already underway to extend the life of the experience through the next set of rotations in the gallery.