The Munch Museum in Oslo has launched a newly redesigned website that will serve as a platform for digital exhibitions and art experiences. The new website has been redesigned to showcase the museum’s extensive collections, which include the most significant amount of works by Edvard Munch in the world. Over the past month, the museum has been working behind the scenes to bring forward the launch of digital art experiences on its new website, while the current museum is closed to the public.
We see this new look as integral to our dynamic vision for our museum – Stein Olav Henrichsen
Along with a new visual identity specially made for the museum in Bjørvika, digital engagement with audiences will be an essential element of the new museum’s offer to the public when the new building opens this autumn 2020. The first digital exhibition that the museum will showcase on its new platform will be a presentation of photography by Edvard Munch entitled The Experimental Self. The show will be free for users around the world to access and will offer the opportunity to encounter Edvard Munch’s lesser-known photography.
The digital exhibition at the Munch Museum will allow visitors to explore Edvard Munch’s experimental photographic works and find out more about Munch’s use of the camera as an expressive medium. The show will present approximately 60 photographs and film fragments in dialogue with graphic works, highlighting the connection between Munch’s amateur photography and his more recognized work as an artist.
Visitors will be able to interact with each photograph and understand the broader context for these pieces. Edvard Munch was among the first artists in history to take self-portraits using photography or “selfies.” Like his paintings, prints and writings, his amateur photographs are often focused on self-representation.
In these works, Munch assumes a range of personalities, from the vulnerable patient at the clinic to the naked artist on the beach. Sometimes he staged himself and people around him almost theatrically. Munch pursued his informal photography as an experimental medium, just like his paintings and prints. The artist himself was more than often the experimental subject.
Curated by Patricia Berman, The Experimental Self was initially developed by the museum in collaboration with The American Scandinavian Foundation/Scandinavia House in New York. The physical iteration of the exhibition was previously shown in New York and Stockholm.
The museum’s enhanced digital offer also includes several other interactive elements for users to explore. On the museum’s new website, visitors can access a series of live broadcasts from the museum exploring the collection along with video workshops for children.
Visitors to the new website can also take a deep dive into the collection, which is available in full online, as well as encounter the stories behind many of the most well-known works by Edvard Munch. Audiences around the world will also have the opportunity to learn more about figures who have been influenced by the artworks of Edvard Munch, along with Munch’s legacy and enduring relevance today.
Further digital exhibitions will continue to complement the museum’s programme, with details to be announced.
The London-based design agency North has created the design for the website, including the visual identity, which reflects the bold ambitions of the new museum. The new visual identity is inspired by Edvard Munch and developed in a new bespoke font. The architectural tilt at the top of the new building has inspired font with the same angular quality of the design by Estudio Herreros. The custom angle, in combination with the distinctive style, has created a typographic expression that relates to Munch’s uncompromising and courageous artistry.
“We’re delighted to debut this brand new visual identity ahead of the opening of our new museum. We see this new look as integral to our dynamic vision for our museum, which showcases the enduring importance of Edvard Munch for contemporary audiences. North Design has been with us on this incredible journey in the creation of this new visual identity, which reflects a bold museum for the future.” said the Director of MUNCH, Stein Olav Henrichsen.
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Visit The Digital Exhibition At The Munch Museum Here