MASTER CONCEPT DOCUMENT: TRANSFORMING RESOURCES

BIG IDEA

To meet our needs and wants, over timeCanadians have developed technologies to transform the Earth’s natural resources and in the process we change the world around us.

STORYLINE

What do we need and want in our daily lives?What is the correlation between our needs and wants and the natural resources sector? This exhibition will present: i) how by transforming natural resources we yield our essentials, comforts and conveniences, ii) how these transformations impact the world, and iii) how as our needs and wants have and continue to change over time so does the way we transform natural resources. This exhibition will be presented from a Canadian perspective.

Regardless of which entrance the visitors use, they will encounter a consistency of messaging and ideas, indicating that our daily conveniences are made possible by transforming natural resources.

The exhibition will consist of modules which show how humans have transformed and continue to transform natural resources. Visitors will encounter the final products of the process of transformation and will be immersed in environments which yield Canadian natural resources. Select hands- and bodies-on experiences will allow visitors to be agents of change themselves, manipulating the environment around them.The exhibition will recognize the complexities of natural resource transformation, will showcase how our needs and wants impact our world, and provide examples of steps that Canadians have been taken to mitigate these impacts.

SUBTHEMES AND CORE MESSAGES

What are our needs and wants?

  • Electricity, fuel, food, clothing, social interaction[A1], health, sanitation, safety, convenience[A2].

What do we need to materialize our needs and wants? The exhibition will focus on:

  • Fuel
  • Energy carriers
  • Materials
  • Fertilizer

We recognize that there are other elements such as forestry, fisheries, water[A3], GM foods that constitute an important part of the story. Because of the space and time constrains, these topics may be addressed in future updates.

How do we get fuel, energy carriers, materials and fertilizer from natural resources?

  • Energy mix (in the transformation of natural resources context)
  • Mining

How do we change the world around us as the result of these transformations?

  • Nature (climate change, land reclamation[A4], environmental monitoring)
  • Social (life cycle of communities, collaborative networks, economics, cultural expressions).

TARGET AUDIENCE

  • Multigenerational

VISITOR EXPERIENCE

  • Visitors will encounter experiential, participatory engagement opportunities.
  • Each modulewill provide multiple entry points for visitors to engage with the transforming resources theme.
  • Each modulewill incorporate various physical and intellectual visitor experiences to reinforce a common theme.
  • Each modulewill ideally include an interactive component andartifacts.

SELECT INTERPRETIVE TOOLS

  • Immersive environments
  • Theatrical experience (including lighting and soundscapes)
  • Artifacts from the energy andmining collections
  • Digital technologies allowing visitors to see inside an object and\or bring an object to life will complement the artifact visitor experience.
  • Mechanical interactives
  • Digital interactives
  • Projection, mapping, augmented reality, virtual reality
  • Storytelling
  • Imagery (infographics, large, real imagery and historical photography)
  • Text strategy (labels, instructional text etc.)
  • Gamification

DESIGN LOOK AND FEEL

  • Projections, lighting, sound and design techniques will immerse visitors in a constantly transforming gallery.
  • Visual, auditory and tactile experiences provide authenticity and create a sense of place.
  • With multiple gallery entrances, it is important that each module stands-alone and tells a complete story.
  • Design should encourage visitors to move between different modules.
  • Transition zones should be seamless, suggesting a gradual shift to a new environment (similar to nature).
  • The exhibition should reach audiences with diverse needs, with interpretive media being universally designed.
  • The gallery should provide a quiet zone, equipped with seating, to sit, re-charge and reflect.
  • Each module should have an ease of use which allows for full engagement without facilitation.
  • In select areas programming engagement opportunities may be incorporated.
  • All modulesshould be designed to provide ease of maintenance and service access. Modules that cannot be quickly serviced on the floor should be easily removable from the gallery.

TEAM

Sylvaine Champagne, Project Manager
Dawn Hall, Exhibition Interpretation Officer
Bouw Design, Design Firm / Anna Adamek, Curator
William McRae, Assistant Curator

1

[A1]From a resource perspective, presumably this includes telecommunications (phones, etc.), computing (computers), travel for social purposes (cars, planes)

[A2]Recommend adding water as the most essential need of all.

[A3]In my view, water is a big gap and I would recommend reviewing the decision to exclude it. Unless the view is to integrate it throughout the rest of the exhibit as it touches on most other aspects: water use in providing energy, water use in mining, water use in making materials, the intense water use in the mining of fertilizers, the change in the world around us as a result of water use in these applications; climate change impacts to water sources.

[A4]Will this cover land use change as a result of resource use and extraction as well as land reclamation following resource use?

Another concept includes biodiversity offsetting or biodiversity creation within the broader or regional ecosystem as a result of localised ecosystem changes from resource use activity. So not only does resource use have the potential to transform nature within its immediate footprint, but has the potential to contribute to positive change (or at least some transformation) at a larger scale. Examples include wetlands and fish habitat.