Out of this World
Curator: Jacob McMurray, Therese Littleton
Exhibition Design: Steven Berardelli, Jacob McMurray
Interactive Design: John Grant, Brian Phraner
Films: David Wulzen
Art Direction: Jacob McMurray
Fabrication: Pacific Studios (casework), WarpCorp (curved fabric walls)
Venues:
Science Fiction Museum, Seattle, WA, June 16, 2007 - September 30, 2007
Oshkosh Public Museum, Oshkosh, WI, February 16, 2008 – May 16, 2008
Museum of the Rockies, Bozeman, MT, June 14, 2008 – September 7, 2008
The Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn, MI, October 11, 2008 – January 11, 2009
Clay Center, Charleston, WV, February 7, 2009 – May 10, 2009
Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, Spokane, WA, June 6, 2009 – September 5, 2009
The California Museum, Sacramento, CA, October 3, 2009 – January 10, 2010
Orange County Regional History Center, Orlando, FL, February 6, 2010 – May 16, 2010
Kalamazoo Valley Museum, Kalamazoo, MI, June 13, 2010 – September 12, 2010
Turtle Bay Exploration Park, Redding, CA, October 9, 2010 – January 9, 2011
Synopsis:
Out of this World is an original exhibition of costumes from the most popular genre films and television shows of all time, including Star Wars, Blade Runner, The Terminator, Star Trek, The Wizard of Oz, Lost in Space, and more.
Costumes play a crucial role in defining characters for visual storytelling media such as films. The exhibition examines how costume design incorporates color, style, scale, materials, historical traditions and cultural cues to help performers and audiences engage in new or accepted ways with the characters being portrayed. The exhibition’s purpose is to offer educators, school groups, and museum visitors new ways of seeing characters as defined by their costumes.
This exhibition was slated to debut on the 3rd level at the Science Fiction Museum, which is a cavernous, high-ceilinged space within the Frank Gehry-designed building. The room feels like the inside of a giant ribcage - a very alien, H.R. Giger-esque environment, complete with a half mezzanine with great sightlines. I used this as my initial inspiration for the show. I really wanted the casework, lighting, music, everything to make the visitor feel as if they were entering into an alien spaceship, or a broken-down temple on another planet, with the environment flickering to life as you enter the space.
Working with exhibit designer Steven Berardelli, we used spherical and cylindrical shapes as the main motif, and incorporated eerie lighting into each of the cases. Knowing that the costumes would sell themselves, I wanted to spend a lot of time on the casework details, to create something that was unexpected in a museum setting. David Wulzen created a series of textural, non-narrative videos featuring film and television footage of the costumes on display. For the ambient music in the gallery, I pulled together tracks from avant garde German electronic musicians, Oval, To Rococo Rot, and Mouse on Mars, which accentuated a feeling of mystery and alien-ness. Given that it's the most popular traveling exhibition for EMP|SFM, I think it's a success.
Exhibition Design: Steven Berardelli, Jacob McMurray
Interactive Design: John Grant, Brian Phraner
Films: David Wulzen
Art Direction: Jacob McMurray
Fabrication: Pacific Studios (casework), WarpCorp (curved fabric walls)
Venues:
Science Fiction Museum, Seattle, WA, June 16, 2007 - September 30, 2007
Oshkosh Public Museum, Oshkosh, WI, February 16, 2008 – May 16, 2008
Museum of the Rockies, Bozeman, MT, June 14, 2008 – September 7, 2008
The Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn, MI, October 11, 2008 – January 11, 2009
Clay Center, Charleston, WV, February 7, 2009 – May 10, 2009
Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, Spokane, WA, June 6, 2009 – September 5, 2009
The California Museum, Sacramento, CA, October 3, 2009 – January 10, 2010
Orange County Regional History Center, Orlando, FL, February 6, 2010 – May 16, 2010
Kalamazoo Valley Museum, Kalamazoo, MI, June 13, 2010 – September 12, 2010
Turtle Bay Exploration Park, Redding, CA, October 9, 2010 – January 9, 2011
Synopsis:
Out of this World is an original exhibition of costumes from the most popular genre films and television shows of all time, including Star Wars, Blade Runner, The Terminator, Star Trek, The Wizard of Oz, Lost in Space, and more.
Costumes play a crucial role in defining characters for visual storytelling media such as films. The exhibition examines how costume design incorporates color, style, scale, materials, historical traditions and cultural cues to help performers and audiences engage in new or accepted ways with the characters being portrayed. The exhibition’s purpose is to offer educators, school groups, and museum visitors new ways of seeing characters as defined by their costumes.
This exhibition was slated to debut on the 3rd level at the Science Fiction Museum, which is a cavernous, high-ceilinged space within the Frank Gehry-designed building. The room feels like the inside of a giant ribcage - a very alien, H.R. Giger-esque environment, complete with a half mezzanine with great sightlines. I used this as my initial inspiration for the show. I really wanted the casework, lighting, music, everything to make the visitor feel as if they were entering into an alien spaceship, or a broken-down temple on another planet, with the environment flickering to life as you enter the space.
Working with exhibit designer Steven Berardelli, we used spherical and cylindrical shapes as the main motif, and incorporated eerie lighting into each of the cases. Knowing that the costumes would sell themselves, I wanted to spend a lot of time on the casework details, to create something that was unexpected in a museum setting. David Wulzen created a series of textural, non-narrative videos featuring film and television footage of the costumes on display. For the ambient music in the gallery, I pulled together tracks from avant garde German electronic musicians, Oval, To Rococo Rot, and Mouse on Mars, which accentuated a feeling of mystery and alien-ness. Given that it's the most popular traveling exhibition for EMP|SFM, I think it's a success.