A different kind of three-dimensional storytelling

Apologies for the radio silence. I’ve been up to my eyeballs in a rather fun project that isn’t a magazine, but does have a lot in common with them.

One of my many other hats proclaims that I’m the co-founder of an organization called The Museum On Site. We create site-specific, free experiences in places where people already are (in other words, not museums or galleries), to enhance people’s understanding of the world around them.

And this is what we’ve just created:

Photos don’t really do it justice. Called Westminster Stories, it’s a huge 3D diorama of two blocks of Westminster Street in downtown Providence, RI, situated inside an empty shop window on the street itself. And here’s the periodical kicker: though the 14 foot by five foot model remains the same, every week we change the thematic labels on view.

The label texts are based on more than 130 interviews we’ve conducted with passers-by on that street, with local politicians and property owners, and with those who work in the buildings featured, as well as outreach to community groups and historical research in the city archives. Think of it as a weekly, hyper-local magazine about the street, except one with a single, huge image, in a window instead of on paper.

A small section what we sent to the printer

In our first week, we told stories about coffee, and this morning we installed ‘music‘. It’ll continue for 14 weeks, and will also feature other events, including a special life-size museum of the street next year, and a free, public conversation about the area and people’s hopes for the future. Oh and there’s also the obligatory website, Twitter feed, and Facebook group. The Westminster Stories website in particular is worth a look – it’s a stand-alone retelling of the stories and our research, updated daily.

It’s already causing a bit of a stir downtown, among office workers, smokers, clubbers, Christmas shoppers, students and everyone else that passes by. Which is just how we like it.

Fun. And exhausting. Still, I’m close to resurfacing, which means finally taking a look at the huge pile of print that has gathered around my desk in the Blogsplosion’s absence. Some of it is really, really lovely. More on that very soon. Did you miss me?

(Top photo by Paul Nickerson)