Coming Together
Project Type
Research + Game Design + Critical Design + Curation
Coming Together was an experimental engagement tactic designed for use within the US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s temporary ‘Americans and the Holocaust’ exhibition. It focused on the generative potential of a dash of mess. In order to achieve more deliberate and engaged interaction with the Exhibitions materials, a bit of unexpected, but traversable, confusion was introduced by design.
Role
MFA Candidate
Parsons, The New School
Partners
Parsons’ PETLab
US Holocaust Memorial Museum
Project Timeline
Mar-May, 2019
Challenge
To explore the potential of play and interactivity as support mechanisms to more fully engage visitors of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s “Americans and the Holocaust” exhibition.
Approach
This project occurred in two parts: (1) research, challenge scoping, and reframing, and (2) ideation, rapid prototyping, and rapid iteration.
In the research portion, desk research, interviews, and ethnographic observations were critical. This process informed a scoped sense of the issue—unengaged visitation to the exhibition—and a framed, design questions:
How might we disrupt visitors’ situated knowledges and confirmation bias seeking to inform a heightened awareness and connection to the exhibition’s meanings.
The ideation, prototyping, and iteration process enabled rapid playtesting with US Holocaust Memorial Museum staff and visitors in the exhibition. Participants volunteered and engaged in short debrief sessions following their visits. These debriefs helped identify successful experience design elements and necessary changes.
Outcome
Coming Together was presented and delivered to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Future Projects, Curation, and Tour teams.
Learnings have been incorporated into the ongoing collaboration between Parsons’ PETLab and the Museum.