Early designs for children's exhibition revealed

Interior concept design for exhibition

Today the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) is pleased to reveal an early concept plan for our upcoming new children’s exhibition, demonstrating what this exciting new space might look like.

The Tasmanian Government has committed $1 million to the creation of this new, long-term interactive space, in recognition of the importance of family learning at the heart of the museum experience.

"TMAG aims to inspire a sense of wonder and discovery in everyone, especially young people who are the visitors of the future," TMAG Director Janet Carding said.

"It’s exciting to see the plans develop for a new experience especially designed for this audience."

The new exhibition is intended to be a space where young people and their families can learn and play together, and plan to visit regularly. The intended target audience is children aged 0-7 and their carers.

Following a tender process, Thylacine Design has been engaged as the exhibition designer.

"Thylacine have successfully created place-based experiences for TMAG in the past, such as the award-winning ningina tunapri exhibition,” Janet said.

"The early concept plan released today aligns with the overarching theme for the exhibition, which is ‘Little Big Home’, as well as important sub-themes including homes, habitat and Tasmanian Aboriginal culture, and the place-based features of the natural environment including island geography and our mountains and rivers.

"The design also shows how Thylacine intends to make use of physical height in the gallery to facilitate the active and tactile nature of children’s learning."

The TMAG Children’s Reference Panel (CRP) has played an integral role in the development and planning of this new exhibition space to ensure that children’s voices are central to both the concept development and its implementation.

Initial feedback from the CRP on the early concept design has been extremely positive, with panel members such as 15-year-old Morgan White excited by the opportunities for families and small groups to undertake activities together in the gallery.

"I think there will be some really fun technology for kids and parents to use together as well as lots of opportunities to explore natural materials, to keep it real," Morgan said.

TMAG will continue consulting with CRP members and other key stakeholders throughout the concept development phase until the final plans are completed in September.

The delivery of the project will employ Tasmanian based fabricators and installers during the construction and installation phase, commencing later this year.

The new exhibition is scheduled to open at TMAG in April 2021.

Image details: Thylacine’s interior concept design for the new TMAG children’s exhibition.