Museum of Brisbane, The Local | Speculative Architecture

Two principal ideas formed the basis for the exhibition design:

Reframing how audiences see themselves within the museum, as being part of the Museum’s collection, and contextualising the artworks and artefacts in the collection to convey the progression from a collection of a municipality’s ephemera to a collection of contemporary art.

An immersive experience was developed that avoided the white cube gallery space and instead presented a spatial experience with familiarity. There is a sense that you are walking within a vitrine, that as a viewer you are part of the City’s collection.

In addition to this, Hugh Hamilton’s drawing Queensland Pub of 1886, and Taloi’s own experiences in Australian pubs are drawn upon for the design. A version of a pub, ‘the local’, is made that reflects a space of sociability and prejudice (what is allowed in, what is collected, what is excluded).