Exploratorium's “Self, Made: Exploring You in a World of We,” is a heavily interactive social science exhibition that was also an ethical project providing visitors with a range of tools to better understand and grapple with the most complicated aspects of identity, from how we negotiate our relationships, to gender, to the ways we perceive and respond to race, disability, or sexuality.

Through dozens of new interactive exhibit experiences, works of art, and curated collections of cultural objects, visitors are invited to explore how we form and perform identity. The exhibition featured a selection of artworks expressing different facets of identity including: Academy Award–winning costumes created by Ruth E. Carter for the Marvel film Black Panther; work by Afro-Arab and Canadian artist Esmaa Mohamoud; work by contemporary artist Melissa Cody; work by Kehinde Wiley, painter of the official White House portrait of President Barack Obama; and Humanae, Brazilian artist Angélica Dass’ compelling photographic work-in-progress, which is an inclusive challenge to racial categorization.

Responsibilities: Interpretive planning; exhibit design (including the design of interior architecture, individual exhibits, and exhibit vocabulary); art direction (for graphics and media); curation; oversight of exhibit development, fabrication, and installation

Project type: Exhibition Design
Location: San Francisco, CA
Size of project: 8,000 sq. ft.
Team: Exploratorium, Paul Troutman (Fabrication & Installation)
Open: May 2019

Link: Bold, Playful Exhibition Takes Visitors on a Journey of Identity
Link: AAM Excellence in Exhibition awards

Photos: Courtesy, Exploratorium