The British Museum Pilot Projects
Journey & RAA worked with the British Museum to develop new approaches to interpretation in the Assyrian and Roman Britain Galleries. Leveraging our sound, motion, interpretive, and narrative design expertise, we translated ancient artifacts’ stories into captivating multidimensional experiences. The Assyrian reliefs are masterpieces depicting royal exploits in the Assyrian age, while the Vindolanda Tablets are amongst the most significant archaeological finds from Roman Britain, each tablet giving an insight into daily life for Romans. Despite their value, these objects were overlooked. Here was an opportunity to make these stories come to life, enabling all visitors, especially younger ones, to connect with and relate to everyday life in ancient empires.
Agency
Journey, Ralph Appelbaum Associates (RAA)
Practice Area
Client
The British Museum
Industry
The Challenge
The team’s objective was straightforward: through initiatives to increase visitor dwell times and attract diverse age groups and backgrounds, they sought to captivate a new generation of visitors with these awe-inspiring historical epics.
Project Vision
Few galleries are more endowed with astounding treasures than the British Museum’s. However, aside from the occasional collection rehang or vitrine rebuild, a visitor’s experience would not differ from one decade or century to the next.
That has now changed with the advent of groundbreaking digital interventions. By bringing objects to life in ways never before seen at the British Museum, empowering visitors to see, hear, and feel these stories in profound and moving ways. The people, places, and narratives become vivid and alive as never before.
The Assyrian Reliefs at The British Museum.
Journey
The Assyrian Reliefs at The British Museum.
Journey
Design + Execution
At first glance, the Lion Hunt gallery resembles an archaeological exhibition in a traditional museum. Dwell longer, however, and you’re swept up in the thrill and danger of an Assyrian lion hunt. The experience charts a story carved in stone over 2,500 years ago. Spotlights progressively illuminate sections of the relief, while the accompanying thunder of chariot wheels, horses’ hooves, and lions’ growls heighten the immersion. The story climaxes with projections of color, light, and dust effects—thousands of years after Ashurbanipal’s last hunt.
In the Roman Britain gallery, a digital exhibit and lenticular graphics introduce the Vindolanda Tablets in engaging, visually captivating ways, humanizing Roman life for visitors of all ages. Sound plays a pivotal role in layering the immersion. An installation beckons visitors with outlines of Romans, shapes of their world, and whispered voices. As they view the tablets, a Roman wife narrates the earliest example of female handwriting in Britain: a birthday invitation.
The Assyrian Reliefs at The British Museum.
Journey
The Vindolanda Tablets at The British Museum.
Journey
The Vindolanda Tablets at The British Museum.
Journey
The Vindolanda Tablets at The British Museum.
Journey
The Vindolanda Tablets at The British Museum.
Journey
Project Details
Design Team
Ben Townsend (project director)
Eleanor Greenleaf (senior creative)
Photo Credits
Journey (photography, videography)
Open Date
June 2024