A shutdown period at THEMUSEUM is quite an experience to go through. There’s a great “can-do” spirit that envelopes the entire staff. Its power is quite contagious and has people taking on jobs and responsibilities outside of their normal scope of capabilities. I get sort of charged up by the energy and enthusiasm flowing through the building but of course I’m not experiencing the stress levels of people like Laurel, Director of Programs and Exhibit, or Rob, the Facilities Manager, and his tireless staff.

 

The past 9 days since Animal Grossology finished up and RAM | Rethinking Art & Machine setup began have seen an absolute whirlwind of activity. The monumental task of removing the Grossology animatronics and readying them to ship out can’t be overstated. Forklifts brought down from the third floor everything from pooping penguins to giant submarines - while walls, our front desk and pieces of our front entrance were removed to make room for their getaway. Meanwhile on the fourth floor, new massive walls were installed, painting, lighting and other electrical work was adjusted and crates upon crates of technologically complex artwork were shipped from all over the world from 7 international artists. We’ve had artists camped out in our building, meticulously assembling their remarkable installations. The travelling children’s exhibition Beyond The Image was installed on the third floor. The building banner wrap was unveiled yesterday and new exhibit signage placed throughout the building. Blackberry Playbooks have been mounted providing additional information on the artists in the show, a digitally projected title wall was set up, local artists’ work hung throughout THEMUSEUM space, and videos edited for any screen that we can spare. Don’t forget Canadian artist David Rokeby setting up his terrifyingly amazing sound experience in our Underground Studio. And just because we’re insane, we decided to host a wedding, and for good measure re-varnished the floors, rendering the atrium completely off limits for over a day.

 

To get all this done in 9 days takes a special commitment to teamwork and planning – planning that has been ongoing for over a year now. Kudos to Laurel, Rob, RAM curator Marla Wasser and all THEMUSEUM staff for pulling together as a team and powering through this daunting schedule.