Case Studies

We’ve briefly documented a short list of commissions to give you a glimpse into the depth and breadth of what’s possible with a Museum in a Box.

A plywood Box installed in the V&A’s Seeing Red exhibition

Victoria and Albert Museum
Seeing Red: Posters of Protest and Dissent

One Box, 12 postcards, supplemented by a copy of the cards and new audio over the lifetime of the exhibition

  • Oral history recordings made of the (living) original printmakers talking about the work they made in the 70s. Postcards depicted original posters.
  • Box was installed in the Seeing Red exhibit at Lansbury Micro Museum, plus hyperlocal in-school outreach when the museum was closed. Students were interviewed to hear their responses to the social themes raised by the posters, and this was incorporated into the exhibition.
  • Collaboration with sound expert Lucia Scazzocchio.

Object example: Protest
George and Charlie with the Barnsley Museums team and their anemometer collection!
George and Charlie with the Barnsley Museums team with their anemometer collection! (from Barnsley Council’s press release)

Barnsley Museums
Work & Life in Yorkshire 

Six boxes, six collections, each with a mix of 3D prints and cards

  • Boxes were installed at welcome areas of six historic sites under the Barnsley Museums umbrella. Now also being lent out in Box lending program.
  • Full content production, 3D digitisation service.

Object example: Snap Tin
Boyzie, Wilfred, Nini, Thuli and Thandi investigating the “Zulu” objects at Iziko Museums, Cape Town

King’s College London
Amagugu Ethu (Our treasures)

Two boxes, two copies of one collection of one 3D print, 24 cards

  • Collaborating with seven Zulu community experts, two academics, an artist, and a theatre director. On site visit at Iziko Museums in Cape Town.
  • Object selection and description by Zulu experts, in English and isiZulu, audio recording and production by MB team.
  • The Box now lives at the Luthuli Museum in KwaZulu-Natal.
  • See the full project blog write up

Boop: Singing

Information gathering with the Bata Heritage Centre volunteers

Bata Heritage Centre
Work & Community at the Bata Shoe Factory in East Tilbury

One box, two collections, mix of 3D prints and cards

  • Now installed in the newly refurbished Bata Heritage Centre near the original factory.
  • 3D digitisation services & object photography
  • Heritage Lottery Fund supported
  • Full content production (writer, actors, recording, etc)

Object example: The New House

Monroe County History Center
Living with History

One box, one collection of 15 postcards

  • For use in loan program for dementia sufferers and their carers in domestic setting. Postcard set designed to match with original objects drawn from the collection, which are also in the loan box.
  • Voiceover track provided by client, Team MB took care of curation of photography from open cultural archives; audio editing/post.
  • Worked with a US dementia care expert.
  • Transformed into Make Your Own customer.
  • Stunning results in testing environment. Dementia sufferers responded with delight and speech and stories from their past.

Object example: Swimming
Photo by NJMLearning: Postcards used in workshops to show where the various “characters” in court are sat

National Justice Museum
Creative Courtroom

One box, one collection of six cards

  • Full content production, in collaboration with the museum education team (as brief writer), and the illustrator they already worked with.
  • For use supplementing existing primary school workshops to familiarise students with courtroom ‘characters’, what they do, and where they sit.

Object example: The Judge
Tower of London in a Box!

Historic Royal Palaces: Tower of London
The Tower, but for Locals

One box, one collection of 18 cards

  • Exploring the themes of Fortress, Palace, Prison
  • Recordings made use of existing audio resources created for use inside the Tower, with some editing by ToL team and MB.
  • Box is being used by the HRP Community Access Scheme team, in community places very local to the Tower.
  • Developing licensing/royalty arrangement so anyone with a Box can experience the collection.

Object example: Guy Fawkes