A closer look at
Knights! Enhanced
Where Stories Come to Life
What do you call an exhibition that combines 1950s tunes, medieval arms and armor, and interactive iPad activities led by a friendly dog? A thoroughly different and engaging museum experience! Access spoke to some of the WAM creative minds behind Knights!
Education and curatorial staff collaborated on iPad content, and illustrator Veronica Fish added animations of our mascot, Helmutt. Assistant Curator of Education Katrina Stacy says her favorite iPad is the one that accompanies the painting Venus at the Forge of Vulcan from the workshop of Jan Breughel the Elder. “The iPad walks viewers through the process of how armor is made and educates them about new vocabulary,” Stacy says. “Most importantly, it gets them to look more closely at the artwork.”
Cue the Music For Head of Education Marcia Lagerwey, music was a way to add female perspectives. “I was thrilled to find a deeply moving Vietnamese song, ‘Lament of the Soldier’s Wife,’ which captures the ache of a woman waiting for her soldier husband’s return,” Lagerwey says. It’s one of several songs heard near the Triumphal Arch that highlight the hidden costs of war. Knights! is a playful exhibition too. Nowhere is that more audible than in Ethel Merman and Howard Keel’s delightful rendition of “Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better,” heard in the Dance of Love and War section.
Art that Brings Clarity and Complexity Dance of Love and War also offers some of the most poignant juxtapositions between art from WAM’s collection and the newly acquired Higgins pieces. The story of chivalrous knights and virtuous maidens is a familiar one, according to Museum Director Matthias Waschek, but here it illustrates something broader. “In Western art, this tension between Mars, the god of war, and Venus, the goddess of love, was used to illustrate the fragility of peace and its necessary coexistence with war,” he says.
Tim Furman, web design coordinator, led the software development with the help of several Worcester Polytechnic Institute students. The tight schedule was the most difficult part of the job, he says, but the WPI team was up for the challenge. “Working with them was a real pleasure, and they rolled with all of the changes that we threw at them.”
We Are Listening! Knights! is an ongoing process of testing new ideas, and we want your feedback. Please let us know what you think of the exhibition in any of the following ways: At the Museum Leave a comment on the iPad at the end of the exhibition. Complete a visitor survey, located throughout the Museum. At home Share your comment on Facebook or Twitter. Email us at information@worcesterart.org. Thank you!
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