changed throughout their “lives,” Unboxed: Adventures in Cardboard is a constantly evolving entity that transforms with each child who enters. Children can move the boxes, stack the boxes, draw on and reshape the boxes and generally put their own stamps on the exhibit. “So many people get it.” Mertz explained. “They just start grabbing and creating. It’s a different exhibit each day. The ordinary boxes become extraordinary in their hands. The kids have really made the exhibit their own.” Jennifer Farrington, president of the Chicago Children’s Museum, noted that while the cardboard box is the dominant theme of the exhibit, creativity and ingenuity are the real stars of the show. Since the exhibition opened last fall, Merz said the feedback has been glowing. “So many parents have related their own home-version box stories, it just tells us we’re on the right path." The exhibit took approximately 18 months to develop from conception to execution. And while most museum exhibits are of a linear nature, with a specific beginning and ending point, Mertz said designers did not want to take that approach with Unboxed. “We’ve been moving away from that trend with our inhouse developed exhibits,” Mertz said, “wanting to create an exhibit driven by the actions of children and their families.” Unboxed features several permanent pieces. One of the most popular such pieces is the 10-foot-tall Box Giant, which straddles a miniature town of cardboard, appropriately called Tiny Town. While the Box Giant is permanent, children can add to the town below with their own individual architectural designs. Museum designers worked with Chicagobased artist Megan Hovany to create a 43-foot long 3-D cardboard mural that covers the exhibit’s outer wall. One section, called The Cardboard Studio, provides children the opportunity to “design, engineer, build, tear apart and remake” their own cardboard creations. The children are only limited by their own imaginations. Another popular section of the exhibit is called the Box Maze, an ever shifting labyrinth of cardboard boxes that, with a little ingenuity, can form a space station, an underwater castle or anything that the young mind can think of. Other exhibit areas include artistic play. The Cardboard Studio allows children to paint, draw, cut and shape cardboard boxes into their own artistic creations. Those creations can then be taken home, or left to become part of the exhibit. There is also an area specifically developed for infants and toddlers to explore their motor skills and cognitive development. Back in August, before launching the exhibit, the Children’s Museum opened Mr. Imagine’s Toy Store in Wicker Park–a store
that promised “if you can imagine it, we have it.” And, as you can imagine, it was a store filled with ordinary cardboard boxes that, with a little ingenuity, could become extraordinary in someone’s hands. Visitors entered the unique shop, chose a cardboard box and took it into another room filled with a myriad of art supplies and began creating. Volunteers were on hand to provide assistance and to show off some creations of their own. The studio in Mr. Imagine’s mirrored the same one found in Unboxed. Mertz said the store was tremendously successful for the nine days it was open. Over the course of the life of Unboxed, its simple artifacts have had to be switched out every few days due to expected wear and tear. However, the museum partnered with Abt Electronics and International Paper to provide a steady stream of cardboard for the exhibit. “Our partners have been great, and we’re so appreciative of them,” Mertz said. While Unboxed: Adventures in Cardboard closes May 5, but like so many cardboard boxes we come across every day, the exhibit may very well have new life somewhere down the road. Mertz pointed out that due to the successful response from the public, Unboxed could very well return to the museum in the future. Children explore the wonders of creativity through the hidden treasures found in simple cardboard boxes at Unboxed: Adventures in Cardboard at the Chicago Children's Museum at Navy Pier.
Spring 2013CNCJA•55