Issue 37 Spring 23 WEB - Flipbook - Page 83
headline offers can make all the difference to established
venues that can often get caught up with the day to day
running of their site and let their visitor profile stagnate.
As Martin reminds us nothing they have installed
changed the integrity of the rooms which feel very atmospheric. “Projection and clever lighting is a great way to
re-imagine a space without damaging anything at all!”
Unusual Expo seem to be able to find the right use for all
sorts of unloved spaces. Martin continues “The Old Royal
Naval College in Greenwich had a redundant former
lecture theatre that was tantalisingly close to their main
public areas but had just been used for storage.” Thankfully the ORNC had seen the site’s potential and asked
Unusual Expo to see if they could add it to a forthcoming
exhibition about Nelson’s surgeon William Beatty.
With the theatrical flair for making the most of any
space set designer Stuart Wescombe soon got to work
transforming this redundant space into the famous
surgeon’s operating theatre. Martin reiterates, “Using
these untapped spaces can be a very economic way to
refresh your visitor offer. In this instance the room was
transformed into being below deck on HMS Victory at
the Battle of Trafalgar. I hope that our experience with
live events and media projects helps us work quickly to
answer a brief. A lot of the artists and services we use are
used to tight deadlines which is perhaps not always the
case in the museum sector?”
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