OUR WORK

Flying Fish’s long-term collaboration with the U.S. Space & Rocket Center

In working closely with museums and science centers, Flying Fish’s staff naturally has an intimate appreciation for the types of products/exhibitions their clients are seeking in several global markets. In 2016 when considering which exhibition topics to present, Flying Fish noticed a lack of quality space exploration exhibitions in the U.S. and Asian markets.

 

In order to develop the best content in this genre, Flying Fish approached the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, AL to present an exhibition concept. Together, Flying Fish and the U.S. Space and Rocket Center produced a touring exhibition, Neighborhood Earth, for a 2017 world premiere.

 

Since then, Flying Fish secured 5 exhibition venues in China’s most populous cities. The exhibition’s success and the revenue share arrangement allowed for Flying Fish and the U.S. Space and Rocket Center to develop, design and build another touring exhibition, Apollo: When We Went to the Moon, which will begin touring in 2019, just in time for the 50th anniversary of the moon landing.

A Queen Within – art, fashion, and chess

In 2013, a small, unassuming museum in St. Louis, MO, developed a blockbusting exhibition demonstrating Alexander McQueen’s fashion against the theme of the game of chess and the roles of a woman. The World Chess Hall of Fame presented the exhibition, A Queen Within: Adorned Archetypes, Fashion and Chess to a very excitable St. Louis that seemed to be craving an exhibition of the type.

 

After learning about the exhibition, Flying Fish contacted the producers to determine the possibility of continuing the life of the exhibition for one of our clients. Shortly thereafter, the exhibition’s producer contracted Flying Fish to design and build/prepare the exhibition for display at the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA). Out of our fabrication facility, Flying Fish designed and built custom exhibit furniture, scenic elements, and shipping crates. Meanwhile, our project director organized the shipment of artifact loans from around the world. We installed the exhibition in NOMA’s beautiful exhibition gallery and opened the exhibition directly following the Mardi Gras celebrations. The exhibition received national press and increased visitation and local exposure to the museum while allowing the exhibition to reach another city and many thousands of visitors.

Flying Fish’s long-term collaboration with Australian Museum

Australian Museum launched Tyrannosaurs – Meet the Family at their museum in Sydney in November 2013. The exhibition went on to become the most attended exhibition in their 190-year history. At that point in time, Australian Museum had a well-developed domestic touring program, touring Australian-centric exhibitions within the regional market.

 

Upon visiting Tyrannosaurs, Flying Fish saw an opportunity to extend the Australian Museum brand internationally with Tyrannosaurs as the premiere exhibition. Flying Fish prepared a proposal on building an international touring program with Australian Museum, ensuring to highlight the opportunities in the international marketplace with Tyrannosaurs and potentially other exhibitions to follow.

 

Flying Fish illustrated the strong financials in a well-run international tour to Australian Museum’s executive management. Once the museum had committed to touring this exhibition internationally, Flying Fish consulted on every aspect from commercialization and financial models, to exhibit design, crating and logistics in preparation for tour commencement.

 

Australian Museum and Flying Fish have continued their partnership since 2014. Today, Flying Fish handles Australian Museum’s entire international touring exhibition program as turn-key, managing everything exhibition-related from sales & marketing to maintenance and logistics. The partnership has seen the roll-out of two large international exhibitions (now to include Spiders) with successful tours having commenced in North America at the beginning of 2017. Due to the tremendous success of the program, Australian Museum has highlighted international touring as a long-term commitment in their recent master plan, with several exhibitions in development for roll-out internationally through 2023.

More global touring potential found in Sydney, AUS

As is common in Australia, Sydney Living Museums was producing exhibitions for its own presentation and limited regional touring around New South Wales and regional Australia. These tours were generally undertaken as a mandated initiative from the State Government rather than a brand-building or financial endeavor. Many of these regional tours struggled to cover costs or generate any form of notable financial return.

 

Upon hearing of Australian Museum’s international success under the guidance and management of Flying Fish, Sydney Living Museums requested a consultation with Flying Fish in 2016 to gauge the viability of touring a new exhibition which they had produced internally. Towers of Tomorrow with LEGO™ Bricks was a small, regional touring exhibition with great content, however, the exhibition needed upgrades and refurbishment in order to appeal to a broader market and survive an extended global tour.

 

Flying Fish worked closely with the team at Sydney Living Museums to double the number of LEGO™ towers and thus doubling the size the of the exhibition, produce brand new marketing materials, and consult on crating and logistics for a prolonged international tour. After six months of local preparation and of Flying Fish’s efforts in sales and marketing, the exhibition left for North America in October 2016 for its premiere institution in the Midwest USA.

 

Since its North American premiere and opening to record visitation in December 2016, Towers of Tomorrow with LEGO™ Bricks has toured continuously throughout the U.S. and Canada and it remains one of our most popular exhibitions. The tour has produced significant brand extension and financial returns for Sydney Living Museums resulting in reinvestment of these funds into their now broader international touring program. Flying Fish and Sydney Living Museums are currently at work on more exhibitions for the European and Asian markets.

Neil Armstrong Gallery at the Cincinnati Museum Center

Known for its work in developing stellar space exhibitions for the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, Flying Fish was invited by Cincinnati Museum Center to develop a new permanent gallery at the newly renovated museum to honor Neil Armstrong. Using Apollo 11 footage, Flying Fish developed customized and synchronized motion graphics in 360-degrees with a central hemispherical projection surface. Here, visitors are educated about Armstrong’s life which is punctuated by his work for NASA in a cinematic experience. This permanent exhibition is entirely unique in that the experience offers a sensory journey through an important time in our nation’s and our world’s history.


In order to produce this experience, Flying Fish’s team of designers, motion graphics artists, and fabricators developed the Neil Armstrong cinematic experience within a larger gallery devoted to the same subject. Within Flying Fish’s scope, the build consists of large-scale projections, a complete truss system for mounting state-of-the-art projectors, custom-built curved walls, a central hemispherical projection surface with surrounding bench-like structure for added seating, flooring procurement and complete installation. Flying Fish managed this project from conceptualization through to installation with site visits in between to assure seamless communication with the museum and effective project management across continents. The exhibition opened Spring 2019.

The Dressmaker Costume Exhibition

Client: National Film & Sound Archive, Australia

Project: The Dressmaker Costume Exhibition

Services Provided:

  • Consultation
  • Design
  • Fabrication
  • Logistics

Following a brilliant display of The Dressmaker Costume Exhibition with costumes designed by Marion Boyce at the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), the NFSA received significant interest to tour the exhibition regionally. In late 2019, NFSA contracted Flying Fish for its expertise in touring exhibition services – to transform a one-off display into a turnkey touring exhibition. After extensive consulting on everything from visitor-flow to efficient logistical planning and exhibition design, Flying Fish recently began fabricating the exhibition in its new facility outside of Melbourne. The exhibition will debut in its touring form at the Waltzing Matilda Centre in September 2020.

Image credit: The Dressmaker Costume Exhibition at NFSA, Acton. Image courtesy Grace Costa, 2019. Exhibition courtesy FilmArt Media in conjunction with Marion Boyce and NFSA.

 

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