The Smithsonian: Unearthing Arabia
Motion Graphics, Exhibition Design
The Freer | Sackler Galleries, Kelly Doe Studio
America’s answer to Lawrence of Arabia, Wendell Phillips, was one of the first to research and uncover the ancient archaeological history of Yemen. Exploring the region long before it was politically or personally safe for outside adventurers, Phillips traversed the region searching for clues to The Queen of Sheba. Phillips and his team escaped with their lives, but were forced to leave many treasures behind. This exhibition stood as tribute to the items they were able to take with them, and the story of their time in Yemen.
Hieronymus worked with Kelly Doe Studio to bring to life the exhibit, Unearthing Arabia at the Smithsonian's Freer | Sackler Galleries. The project was extensive, and began with producing large-scale video installations. As sizes and locations for each video became larger and more grand, layouts for the exhibition space began to shape larger discussions of design, styling, and content flow throughout the exhibit. The final event focused on four large-scale video displays: the first acting as passageway into Wendell's Yemen, and the other three running large-scale on the interior wall, telling their own stories, and occasionally connecting to create one large, singular tale.
We partnered with Berlin-based Studiokamp to create and mix audio taken directly from Wendell’s 35mm film reels. The sound slowly drifted in and out throughout the exhibition, creating a beautiful, immersive experience for those exploring the artifacts and watching the videos.
The videos were a mix between live-action, vintage footage, and motion graphics, with a strong conceptual theme that held the story together. The videos were over twelve minutes long, and are available to view on request. Here we've selected highlights that give the overall feel for the design and aesthetic, as well as show some of the process leading up to the final.
Film was scanned and manipulated to give a sense of time and place
As scope and size of the video installations grew, 3D renders helped to map out the space and make sense of scale
In the end, one large, single video to welcomed people into the exhibition
Once inside, three videos projected onto the wall. Videos appeared in each panel or spanned all three to dynamically tell the story.
Early text designs invoke a sense of wind and desert.
In the end, we used a simplified version.
