USS Midway Museum
Transforming a storied vessel into a captivating journey
The USS Midway Museum in San Diego, California, is a premier historical destination, attracting over one million visitors annually. We have been proud to partner with this iconic institution to unveil the new “Midway’s Engineers: Service, Sacrifice and Everyday Life” exhibits. This 5,400-square-foot exhibition celebrates and illuminates the unsung heroes of the engineering department aboard aircraft carriers.
Client
USS Midway Museum
Services
Experience strategy Exhibition design Interactive media Immersive sound
Date
2024
To create a captivating and multi-sensory experience, we employed first-person audio storytelling using the authentic voices of past engineers, allowing visitors to step into the shoes of the Midway crew. Through textured lighting and large-scale photography, motion-triggered audio and atmospheric soundscapes, motion graphics and interactive artefacts, the ship feels like a living and breathing organism that awakens and responds to visitors’ movements.
By embracing the ship as the primary storyteller and leveraging its exposed pipes, low ceilings, and compressed spaces as an architectural canvas, we infuse authenticity and emotional depth into the “Midway’s Engineers: Service, Sacrifice and Everyday Life” exhibits. This innovative approach transforms the ship's structural constraints into a vivid backdrop that brings history to life, making the exhibition not only informative but also profoundly moving. The experience serves as a powerful testament to the resilience and ingenuity that thrived aboard one of America's most storied vessels, capturing the magic of the Midway and honouring the spirit of those who served on it.
Work undertaken with the team at Art Processors; all image and text belongs to Art Processors.