Arctic Studies Center Anchorage Museum, Smithsonian Institution; Anchorage, Alaska
The Smithsonian Institution's Arctic Studies Center includes a cultural resource center, a study center, an archaeology lab, a seven-screen synchronized orientation film, an immersive soundscape and listening space, and a 10,000-square-foot permanent exhibition gallery that presents over 600 objects and tells the stories of the Alaskan Native communities that created them. The project represents a reunion of Alaskan Native cultural and material heritage with the dynamic voices of contemporary Alaskans as they share their lifeways and reflect on their history. The objects in this exhibition are interpreted in a series of ongoing consultations with contemporary Alaskan Native scholars, curators and community elders representing fourteen unique communities.
As Senior Exhibit Designer and Project Manager at Ralph Appelbaum Associates, I managed the Living Our Cultures, Sharing Our Heritage exhibition planning process from schematic design through completion. I collaborated with the Anchorage Museum team which included the Smithsonian Advisory Group (Alaskan Native Scholars); conservators and museum staff; the architects David Chipperfield and Kumin Associates Inc.; specialty consultants for engineering, audiovisual, lighting, mount-making and media producers.
Three themes were established to inform the objects' arrangement in each community case: Land, Sea, and Environment; Ceremony and Celebration; and Community and Home. An Orientation Film is choreographed across seven monitors (one at the front of each community case) featuring interviews with Alaskan Natives introducing the visitor to their community’s way of life, images of objects and landscapes. Periodically the projections are synchronized across all the screens to depict a continuous landscape, a single image, or a quotation. An adjacent 40-foot long thematic case represents all of cultures and how they relate to each other. A commissioned soundscape features Alaskan Native languages and ambient sounds from all Alaskan regions.
At the Arctic Studies Center, one of the primary functions of the institution is the ongoing study of the objects in consultation with members of the native communities. Objects are periodically removed from the showcases and brought to a consultation room, where Alaskan natives and scholars interpret them. To allow for this level of access, Conservation-grade showcases were designed and built with sophisticated mechanized hardware and seals to automate frequent opening and closing. We designed customized object mounts that meet the strictest seismic and operational criteria.
photos courtesy of RAA (Chuck Choi)