Interactive Exhibits and Interior Design
SFMOMA Painting and Sculpture Interpretive Gallery
Client:
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Venue/Location:
Gallery 218, 2nd Floor
Browse:
highlights
Client:
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Browse:
highlights
With their 2016 expansion, SFMOMA reaffirmed its commitment to visitors—to act as the gateway to the art for our time, and to reveal fresh ways of seeing, thinking, and engaging with its collection and the artists who created it. SFMOMA enlisted Belle & Wissell as a collaborator to co-create an interpretive gallery containing two complementary experiences that further these visitor-centric objectives.
The Wall and Table Experiences available in the museum’s second floor galleries are designed to help visitors make meaningful, personal connections to art and artists, in a comfortable, welcoming space that allows them to pause, think, and reflect.
The Wall Experience presents a series of large interactive “posters” exploring thematic connections between collection objects; hidden stories contained in key objects by presenting them at magnified scale; and revealing looks inside artists’ studios, providing insights into their creative processes. The Table Experience allows visitors to dive deeper into narrative stories, and is triggered by selecting pairings of evocative words and images.
A significant component of the project—and a unique challenge for Belle & Wissell—was the innovative Eyes-Free Mode. Eyes-Free Mode preserves the unique content presentation that sighted visitors experience, while delivering responses to touch-based interactions through audio feedback, making this content accessible to visitors with low vision or without sight. This combination of expressive, spoken descriptions, captivating imagery and video, and self-guided interaction help ensure these experiences serve all SFMOMA visitors.
Project Accolades:
Communication Arts “Exhibit,” 2017
Belle & Wissell Team Credits
Principal: Gabe Kean
Studio Producer: Sarah Trueblood
Technology Lead: Edward Tang
Creative Director: Thomas Ryun
Senior Designer: Edrea Lita
Senior Designer: Eric Harvey
Studio Coordinator: Natalie Karbelnig
Senior Developer: Scott Thiessen
Programmer: Nathan Selikoff
Programmer: Nathan Harris
Quality Assurance Engineer: Serge Bokach
Additional Project Credits
Associate Curator, SFMOMA: Peter Samis
Project Coordinator, SFMOMA: Julia Askenase
Art Director, SFMOMA: Bosco Hernández
Chief Content Officer, SFMOMA: Chad Coerver
Head of Web and Digital Platforms, SFMOMA: Keir Winesmith
Head of Interpretive Media, SFMOMA: Erica Gangsei
Senior Content Strategist, Interpretive Media, SFMOMA: Tim Svenonius
Interpretive Media Assistant, SFMOMA: Anastasia Pahules
Eyes-Free Consultant: Sina Bahram
A/V Hardware Integrator: BBI Technologies
Interior Design/Build Partner: BEMA
Furniture Designer and Fabricator: Anthony Lockwood
Furniture Designer and Fabricator: Marcus Crider
Design/Build Project Manager: Ruth Lockwood
Belle & Wissell Team Credits
Principal: Gabe Kean
Studio Producer: Sarah Trueblood
Technology Lead: Edward Tang
Creative Director: Thomas Ryun
Senior Designer: Edrea Lita
Senior Designer: Eric Harvey
Studio Coordinator: Natalie Karbelnig
Senior Developer: Scott Thiessen
Programmer: Nathan Selikoff
Programmer: Nathan Harris
Quality Assurance Engineer: Serge Bokach
Additional Project Credits
Associate Curator, SFMOMA: Peter Samis
Project Coordinator, SFMOMA: Julia Askenase
Art Director, SFMOMA: Bosco Hernández
Chief Content Officer, SFMOMA: Chad Coerver
Head of Web and Digital Platforms, SFMOMA: Keir Winesmith
Head of Interpretive Media, SFMOMA: Erica Gangsei
Senior Content Strategist, Interpretive Media, SFMOMA: Tim Svenonius
Interpretive Media Assistant, SFMOMA: Anastasia Pahules
Eyes-Free Consultant: Sina Bahram
A/V Hardware Integrator: BBI Technologies
Interior Design/Build Partner: BEMA
Furniture Designer and Fabricator: Anthony Lockwood
Furniture Designer and Fabricator: Marcus Crider
Design/Build Project Manager: Ruth Lockwood
With their 2016 expansion, SFMOMA reaffirmed its commitment to visitors—to act as the gateway to the art for our time, and to reveal fresh ways of seeing, thinking, and engaging with its collection and the artists who created it. SFMOMA enlisted Belle & Wissell as a collaborator to co-create an interpretive gallery containing two complementary experiences that further these visitor-centric objectives.
The Wall and Table Experiences available in the museum’s second floor galleries are designed to help visitors make meaningful, personal connections to art and artists, in a comfortable, welcoming space that allows them to pause, think, and reflect.
The Wall Experience presents a series of large interactive “posters” exploring thematic connections between collection objects; hidden stories contained in key objects by presenting them at magnified scale; and revealing looks inside artists’ studios, providing insights into their creative processes. The Table Experience allows visitors to dive deeper into narrative stories, and is triggered by selecting pairings of evocative words and images.
A significant component of the project—and a unique challenge for Belle & Wissell—was the innovative Eyes-Free Mode. Eyes-Free Mode preserves the unique content presentation that sighted visitors experience, while delivering responses to touch-based interactions through audio feedback, making this content accessible to visitors with low vision or without sight. This combination of expressive, spoken descriptions, captivating imagery and video, and self-guided interaction help ensure these experiences serve all SFMOMA visitors.
Project Accolades:
Communication Arts “Exhibit,” 2017