Aspiring to Precision
Gustavianum
In the original building of Uppsala University, founded in 1477, you find one of Sweden's most cherished museums. For this museum we designed, produced and curated ’Aspiring to Precision’, an exhibition about scientific precision instruments from the 19th century.
As a university museum, Gustavianum was keen to introduce visitors to some of the unique precision instruments from their vast collection. In the dynamic period of the early 19th century, scientists realised the importance of accurate measuring in order to present reliable data.
In the exhibition we designed the concept and display cases modelled to host instruments used for measuring magnetism, electricity, spectrography, astronomy and chemistry.
Electrifying Stories
Together with a team of scientists and specialists we curated the texts and content for the exhibition. The aim was to create stories interesting enough for a university environment, and yet fully accessible for all visitors regardless their previous experience within science.
A Lot of Men
Science in the 19th century was dominated by men. This fact is difficult to ignore, but could be challenged within the concept of the exhibition. Among one of the interesting stories about Jacob Berzelius, a great Swedish chemist, we also found the story about his housekeeper, Anna Sundström. She managed the kitchen where a lot of the experiments were taking place early on in Berzelius´career. She was regarded a skilled chemist, although without any official acknowledgement.
LOCATION
Uppsala, Sweden
CLIENT
Gustavianum, Uppsala University Museum
YEAR
2016 – 2017
SURFACE
200 m2
STATUS
Temporary
Monika Frelin
PRODUCER, CURATOR & DESIGNER
TEXT EDITOR
Textkultur
GRAPHIC DESIGN
ARDI, Södra Tornet
CONSTRUCTION
Etq
LIGHTING
Ljusdesign
3D GRAPHICS
ARDI
CURATOR OBJECTS
Anna-Zara Lindbom, Gustavianum
TEXTS
Sven Widmalm, Boel Berner, Ulf Danielsson, Otto Sibum, Jan Trofast, Erik Jonsson, Lars Andersson, Staffan Andersson, Karl Grandin, Eric Stempels, Staffan Rodhe
The Space
Gustavianum is a beautiful 17th century building with a great atmosphere. In the design process we considered the eclectic style of the space, as well as considering how to create an exhibition with a contemporary feel and a sense of the 19th century. The long display cases, the carefully lit objects and exhibition graphics, were all important features of the design.
