A digital museum experience
The concept carries the proud legacy of sculptor Gustav Vigeland while at the same time making room for new modern art — just like the Vigeland museum does.
BACKGROUND
The Vigeland park is one of Norway’s most visited attractions, with over a million visitors every year. Nevertheless, many people don’t know much about the Vigeland Museum, a museum with a unique history and architecture. The monumental brick building at the edge of the park used to be the artist’s studio and home. Today the museum building holds a large part of Vigeland’s work and tells the story of the great Norwegian sculptor. In addition the museum is a well-established arena for sculptural contemporary art.
The Vigeland Museum wanted to revitalize its digital presence through a new website to better present the art and quality of the building, and to answer to the great demand for knowledge and information related to both the museum and the park.
SOLUTION
The main aim of the new website is presenting the totality of the Vigeland destination, with three defined goals; to clarify the connection between the park and the museum, present the museum as a vivid arena for contemporary art exhibitions and lastly convey the incredible experience of moving around the building with its unique light and monumental art.
A key feature is the use of two graphic symbols that incorporate significant and recognizable features from the museum and the park, establishing a perception of one destination with two visitor areas. We also developed a dynamic poster generator for temporary exhibitions that clearly signals that the museum is also an institution for contemporary art, independent of Gustav Vigeland’s work. And with the help of photographer Mathias Fossum we were able to convey a sense of the experience being inside the museum through slow-moving videos of the interior, alongside beautiful nstallation photos by Ivar Kvaal.
Another important element of the website is the custom typeface designed by Ellmer Stefan in collaboration with NODE for Vigeland’s 150th anniversary. Inspired by an old plaque found at the museum, the typeface creates a sense of monumentality reflecting the neoclassical architecture of the building.
Moving around the museum building is in itself a sacred experience. And with the combination of a journey through Vigeland’s heritage and the foremost within contemporary sculptural art, makes it a destination without comparison.