Honoring Our Journey: Memory Wall, Shoe Collection, and Reflection Area

The Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience commissioned Belle & Wissell to design a media-rich honoring space in their new museum.

Belle & Wissell conceived and developed a series of dynamic media installations. The first, called The Memory Wall encourages visitors to contribute their memories (through written stories, videos, oral histories, photos, and poetry) to this ever-changing, animated display. The programming of this application enables museum staff to have direct control of additions and edits to content over time. Belle & Wissell also designed the physical enclosure of the rear-projection installation.

Another component is a projected animation portraying an undulating series of shoes from both the WLM collection and from the local community—to symbolize that this is safe “home” honoring space, but it should be respected, and encourages guests to remove their shoes. The projection helps to convey a sacred feeling within the space, just as the home is held sacred within Asian communities.

The final component includes a high-resolution, dynamic water projection and audio installation titled “Reflection Area”; this media experience was modeled and animated in Maya, programmatically generated. Water drops and waves are programmed to collide and change course around an artificial boulder—fabricated due to weight restrictions of the gallery floor. Encircling the projection and boulder are a series of Belle & Wissell-designed modular benches containing integrated speakers for an immersive audio experience.