Moesgaard Museum

Moesgaard Museum engages our senses

The museum, which reopened under the name MOMU in 2014, has long since positioned itself as a flagship for a new way of creating historical exhibitions. Our shared history is told with dramaturgical devices from theatre and film, designed to enable us to embrace the telling of history. Visitors and critics alike are rewarding the museum with high visitor numbers and critical acclaim, and the museum is currently having tremendous success with the exhibition ´RUS - Vikings in the East´.

When we enter an exhibition room at Moesgaard, we arrive in a universe that arouses all our senses:

The scent of tar from a Viking ship, the smoke in our throats and the crackling of a fire at a Viking site, the twittering of birds and the rippling of water in an atrium garden in Pompeii, the sun in our eyes at a gladiator fight in the Colosseum arena.

All this will prepare us for the scientific dissemination, says architect Ole Birch Nielsen, head of the exhibition design studio at Moesgaard Museum:

– We want to arouse senses and the emotions - and then we add knowledge. In our exhibition on gladiators, people experienced a day's battle in the arena first-hand. First you saw the gladiator, then the arena, and here you could see the lion in the cage or experience the gladiator fight from the imperial lodge. So, when you walked into the museum, you understood that the gladiators fought for their lives with the helmets and armour on display.

It is a strategic move to put the people who use the objects at the centre - and not the objects themselves. The idea is that we must learn from the past, and this requires identification and empathy with those who came before us to make the past relevant for modern man.

– Everything must start with a human because we mirror the past into the present. So, we don't exhibit an object for its own sake, it's human history we want to convey, says Ole Birch Nielsen.

We want to create magical worlds

Ole Birch Nielsen heads the museum's exhibition design studio, which employs 14 people who works on concepts, developing and building exhibitions that are also sold to other museums in Denmark and abroad. They are constantly focused on creating the right design balance between factual historical dissemination and storytelling with an element of interpretation:

– It is the researchers who deliver a story, and we convey the heart and soul of the researchers. But we don't need 100% scientific proof for what we show. We want to make magical worlds. We want to create the atmosphere of being in a magical bog, like in the room with ´Grauballe Man´. And scientists also need to be ready to give an interpretation, when we tell about a braid that was sacrificed in the bog. We don't KNOW that, but it is a qualified analysis.

According to Ole Birch Nielsen, the goal is to work with the art of suggestion rather than recreating the past 1:1. He elaborates: `if we go naturalistic and don't get it right, we end up in uncanny valley', referring to the concept in computer technology that when a robot looks too much like a human, the expression becomes uncanny.

However, he says that the museum also works with external reconstructors who have reconstructed past people naturalistically based on DNA analysis and bone material. These include the prehistoric humans you see on the museum's staircase, which connects the floors.

An exhibition is a story people move through

But this is an exception to the concepts worked with in the exhibition design studio. Here, exhibition architects, theatre scenographers, multimedia designers, animation instructors and others work closely together to develop exhibitions inspired by theatre, film, visual arts, and literature.

However, the exhibition medium has a special opportunity that the other art forms do not offer:
– We all know the experience of being immersed in film, theatre, and literature. It's the same thing we want here, but here we can move physically in the exhibition space. That's the power of the exhibition medium, and an opportunity that the other arts don't offer, that you are moving through time and place. Suddenly we are in the middle of the great battle that preceded the weapon sacrifices in Illerup Ådal in a.d. 200, or dancing with our dead ancestors in the square in Mexico on the Day of the Dead, says Ole Birch Nielsen.
Telling stories in space - that's the task. For this task the team draws on the dramaturgical devices of the classical arts:

– For us, dramaturgy is about shaping a story in a space with intro, action, and outro. An exhibition is a narrative that people move through. It's different from the theatre and a book, because it's not a linear sequence in the museum, but we can still work with the same approaches.

Ole Birch Nielsen describes the exhibition team as a pool of creative and artistic forces, and it is in the meeting between the different professional profiles that ignites the spark. Or as he puts it: ´This is where the poetry comes in´:

– Our set designers and theatre people come with a different texture than the architects and have a different understanding of storytelling. They are highly skilled in dramaturgy and know how to tell stories in space. On the other hand, classical theatre scenography is not used to the audience being on stage or moving in space - that is the expertise of the exhibition architect, it´s when the two meet that magic happens.

Technical ceiling with inspiration from the theatre

It is not only the exhibition architecture, but also the building architecture that draws inspiration from the world of theatre. The award-winning building, designed by Henning Larsen Architects in collaboration with Kristine Jensens Design Studio, is based on a black box principle, which, like the theatre, has no incidence of light.

And that was a wish of the exhibition design studio when they designed the building, says Johan Ahrenfeldt, who is responsible for the exhibition technology at the museum, i.e., light, sound, and images:
– We wanted no incidence of light in any of the exhibition rooms. The stairs are the only place with natural light. This way we are in control and can decide whether it should be day or night. On the other hand, all exhibitions have access to a break room where there is lots of light.

The building's technical rooms also draw on inspiration from the world of theatre:
– We have technical infrastructure beneath the floors and above the ceiling, just like in the theatre - and that's something other museums envy, Johan Ahrenfeldt says.

The technical ceiling gives freedom to place projectors, speakers, and lamps optimally, and to use different lamps and light sources, as you are not limited by the fact that they must fit into a rail system. In addition, the infrastructure has the obvious advantage of being able to hide the equipment.

According to Johan Ahrenfeldt that allows for illusions to be created:
– We create a total scenography, where everything merges into a whole. That's the big task. And the black box design and the technical infrastructure create the framework for this.

Light and shadows

Johan Ahrenfeldt works closely with the museum's lighting designers, media designers, and external sound designer to make light, sound and image merge into a whole that supports the vision of the exhibition architect.

´It's about choosing the right technologies´, says lighting designer Lasse Ugilt Sø:
– We rarely project on conventional screens, but actively use the materiality of making moving images on parts of the set. Image and set design must merge to be magical, and this is done in close collaboration between the set designer, the media designer, and us lighting people. For example, in 'RUS - Vikings in the East' we have an interactive media production on part of a large wall print. Here, everything must play for everything to melt together and the story to come alive.

Light and image work together, and the projection is adjusted live by the media designer so that colours, angles, etc. play together. The media designer also creates the content for the projection.

According to Lasse Ugilt Sø, the museum's lighting designers work with shadows just like in the theatre world:
– Both in the exhibition space and in the displays, we work as much with the shadows as we do with the light. We use spotlight and practically never create flat ambient light, which illuminates everything equally. The light must create depth in the space.

He is supported by colleague Torbjørn Strandborg Eriksen, who also draws a parallel to the visual arts:
– You take a black room and make focal points, put the light in some stripes that make a movement. Sun streaks on a wall print, for example. It's like the Skagen painters, they just did it with brushstrokes, but it's the same way we work with light and shadow.
The two lighting designers agree that working with light is intuitive. `We can see when it's wrong', they say.

The light is the storyteller on the Viking expedition

In the current exhibition `RUS - Vikings in the East´ about the Scandinavian Rus Vikings who travelled east and achieved both wealth and power, light plays an essential role as storyteller. On the long journey from the cold north to the warm south, the museum's lighting designers have used cold and warm light to support the scenography and create different moods in the individual rooms.

But the set has been a challenge, says Lasse Ugilt Sø:
– The exhibition includes these 4.5-metre-high free-hanging flat banners with prints. My fear before we started was that it would be a flat space with the set in the middle and the banners along the walls. It's about illuminating them properly, he says, adding:
– These prints are made with a technique called 'matte painting' and have a pearlescent texture. They need to be spot lit so it doesn't become flat - you can't just wall wash it. So, we've worked with alternating cold and warm temperatures to emphasise the colours and tones in the material and make highlights, it could be a ship sticking out for example.

You must experience the set to be able to make the lighting, says Torbjørn Strandborg Eriksen:
– We often try to make a starting point from drawings, but it doesn’t do the job. Furthermore, we create 3D rooms where we can walk around the exhibitions with VR glasses, but you must walk around the physical rooms and experience the set design to create the optimal lighting.

Working with lighting is a creative process - even when it comes to using lamps:
– We can't figure out how to use lamps in an ordinary way, we tweak conventional lamps, and make our own gobos and masks. The light must do what we want it to do - support the narrative and make everything melt together, says Lasse Ugilt Sø.

Also in the Viking exhibition, light interacts with the other visuals to stimulate our senses:
– We have used hazers in the Viking castle in Kiev to create a cinematic effect. The smoke creates a condensed atmosphere, it creates depth effects and makes the light cone stand out in the space. We also work with staging in the Byzantine church, here we have poured water in the baptismal font. We find that people throw coins in like in a wishing well, so it's almost an interactive work, Torbjørn Strandborg Eriksen laughs.

In the design phase, lighting designers estimate how many lamps they need. They have most lamps in house but buy special lamps when needed.

For almost 10 years, the museum has worked with Gobo, among others, which makes lighting and supplies lighting equipment for museums and other exhibition venues. And cooperation with suppliers is important, says Lasse Ugilt Sø:
– Good suppliers are up to date; they always know what new equipment is available. They have their eye on the ball, know their customers, and may say 'hey, this might be something for you'. Jens Lind from Gobo is good to talk to, because he works with some of the same things as we do. Jens is not just interested in selling products. He wants us to get it right.

The light is the storyteller on the Viking expedition

Vikings

The sun must be controlled

If you ask the two lighting designers which of the museum's exhibitions best manages to engage all our senses, they hesitate, as they would rather not single out one exhibition, but when forced to choose, the answer is 'Pompeii'. The 2019/2020 exhibition 'Towards disaster - Pompeii and Herculaneum' showed both the sweet life of the Romans in Pompeii and Herculaneum and the consequences of the violent natural disaster that occurred when the volcano Vesuvius erupted in 79 and buried the cities in ashes.
– Pompeii was a sensory exhibition with strong atmospheres and cinematic character. Pompeii is the most theatrical thing we've done. It was the contrast between a summer garden and the room with the dead.

And especially the lighting of the Roman atrium garden was a challenge, says Lasse Ugilt Sø:
– It's difficult to make a bright exhibition because it easily drowns the objects in the displays. It's much easier to work with light in dark spaces. It was especially challenging to create a summer day in the atrium garden. We had a huge Fresnel lamp that was supposed to act as the sun, but it was too wild and unruly, and the idea had to be abandoned. Eventually, the 'sun' was split into several lamps, so we had control of the light and it didn’t spoil everything else in the exhibition room.

Pompeii was an exhibition that caressed all senses. The Roman villa had a water basin where the water drops were orchestrated to the music. The exhibition's soundtrack was composed by Søren Bendixen, an external sound designer who used the musical instruments of the time. He travelled to Pompeii on research before the exhibition, so the birds that flew around the exhibition are birds you would find in Pompeii.
Every room has a sound

The museum has a special approach to sound, says Johan Ahrenfeldt:
– We stage with sound. Our sound design must lead people into the set - into the time and place where the exhibition is taking place, and then we back up the scenography with action sounds, which support something visual, for example a bonfire, wind, water, and instruments. The visitor must have all senses stimulated on a subconscious level, you must feel it, not see it.

In 'RUS - Vikings in the East' there is music, but not always. Sometimes they work with the sound of the room in a more subtle way:
– We work with what is called room tone, that is, we listen to how the room responds and use the sounds that are already in the room. For example, a church has by virtue delay in the sound. In addition, there will be someone walking or rattling a chair or a choir that activates that sound. There is virtually always something that activates the sound, says Johan Ahrenfeldt.

The museum has a lot of speakers placed in each exhibition, the special exhibition room alone has 55 sound channels, and the soundtrack is mixed directly to the individual exhibition room.

A Moesgaard exhibition, please

Half of the exhibitions developed in the exhibition design studio are developed for museums in Denmark and abroad.

– We don't participate in competitions, but we get a lot of requests from other museums, and then we choose based on what is in line with our exhibition line. We often hear from our customers that they want 'a Moesgaard exhibition', says Ole Birch Nielsen.

Among other things, Moesgaard has designed an exhibition concept for Nyborg Castle, the exhibition at the new HEX Museum of Witch Hunt in Ribe, developed an exhibition concept for a new Drents Museum in the Netherlands and an exhibition for Gross Raden Archäologisches Freilichtmuseum in Germany, and several new projects are in process.

Moesgaard is currently working on rethinking the dissemination concept at the Danish Jewish Museum.

– Daniel Libeskind designed an exhibition for the Danish Jewish Museum 20 years ago. As you know, he is also the architect behind the Jewish Museum in Berlin. We know that about 60% of the visitors to the Danish Jewish Museum come to see the exhibition architecture, which is described as a work of art, but the communication is poor. We are now working on rethinking the dissemination, using techniques such as showcase scenographies, projections, and media narratives, so that the historical narrative is given more prominence, but with respect for Libeskind’s architecture, says Ole Birch Nielsen.

Recycling exhibitions in the name of sustainability

Moesgaard also sells exhibitions to other museums, so far mainly in Denmark. The exhibition ‘Neanderthals – In the Land of Mammoth Hunters’ was sold to Natural History Museum of Denmark, and the exhibition ‘On the Steppes of Genghis Khan – Mongolia’s Nomads’ was developed in collaboration with and travelled to National Museum of Denmark.

Travelling exhibitions are one of the museum’s initiatives, as the reuse of exhibitions is more sustainable both in terms of climate and economy:
– We want to contribute to the sustainable development of society, which is why one of our priorities is to export more of our exhibitions to Europe. This means that we need to consider whether our exhibitions can be moved, divided up into several rooms, etc. when we design, says Ole Birch Nielsen, who is pleased that more foundations are prioritizing sustainability when allocating funds to museums.

The exhibition 'RUS - Vikings in the East' will be on display until 11 September 2022.

Fact box

When Moesgaard Museum reopened in 2014 under the name MOMU, it was with the aim of creating exhibitions that ranked among the best in Europe, setting new standards for museum education and ensuring a broader public interest in cultural history.

Today, 8 years later, the museum has created a series of world-class cultural and historical museum experiences. The museum is known for its innovative exhibition design, where the audience gets close to the people behind the exhibits via staged and dramatized narratives. And today their exhibitions are used as reference exhibitions for inspiration far beyond the borders of Denmark.

The museum has its own exhibition design studio, which consists of 14 employees with different professional profiles: exhibition architects, scenographer, exhibition designer, media designer, interaction designer, lighting designers, animation instructor, model builder and exhibition technicians.

The museum's large special exhibition space is almost 1,000 m2 with a ceiling height ranging from 4.5 metres to 12 metres at its highest point.

Moesgaard Museum

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