The VanGo! Museum on Wheels
I am the director of a mobile museum called the VanGo! Museum on Wheels, based out of the Susquehanna Art Museum in Harrisburg, PA.
The VanGo is a 31-foot Winnebago with a museum gallery in its cabin. I usually spend April and May driving the VanGo (a 31-foot Winnebago) to schools and festivals, presenting to thousands of students. This year's exhibition is a combination of biology and surrealism called Surreal System. I've transformed the show into an animated storybook inspired by early video game graphics and it debuted last weekend at Harrisburg's annual art festival. It's called Surreal System: A VanGo Story.
The VanGo is intended to be our visitors' first experience in an art museum. I create hands-on stations and I use exhibition design to facilitate independent exploration. I really don't think there is a virtual replacement for this experience, especially for those first-time museum goers, so I focused on creating something entirely new. My hope is that it serves as a great companion to the actual exhibition rather than a replacement. I love the concept of world-building in fantasy and I've tried to apply it here.
