Providing a quiet sanctuary from digital ‘noise’ is at the heart of a new exhibition at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney.
The Horizon Line temporary exhibition has been developed for visitors wanting a break from the anxiety and digital ‘noise’ of their lives.
Visitors to the exhibition will be given a single artwork that they can look on and calm down; the featured work is the only image in the space and will use lighting, soundscape and seating to focus attention.
The first display is that of a 1988 painting by Ian Hansen (HMS Investigator and Le Geographe) from the museum’s National Maritime Collection of artifacts.
It depicts the peaceful April 8, 1802, meeting between the HMS Investigator (commanded by Matthew Flinders) and French ship Le Geographe (commanded by Nicolas Baudin).
Despite the war between Britain and France at the time, this meeting proved peaceful; the captains exchanged information and charts then went on their separate ways. Their meeting place would later be named Encounter Bay in South Australia, site of the mouth of the Murray River.
A QUIET TIME
“Horizon Line is an invitation to pause in the middle of a busy world,” assistant director Nanette Louchart-Fletcher says of the ‘quiet’ experience.
“It offers visitors a different kind of museum experience, one that values stillness and reflection and creating an evolving series of encounters that will encourage repeat visitation and fresh ways of seeing.”
There will be tailored audio guides for adults, families, students, First Nations perspectives and sight-impaired audiences.
A shared journal will invite visitors to write or draw their reflections.
The museum will change the featured image in each temporary exhibition and the project has been developed with accessibility in mind; there is plain English interpretation, sensory-aware design and audio description supporting a wide range of visitors.
Horizon Line is free and opened at the Australian National Maritime Museum yesterday (Thursday, June 25); click here to learn what else is on.
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