HOLIDAY EXPRESS: TOYS + TRAINS FROM THE JERNI COLLECTION
NEW-YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY
New York, NY
This festive holiday exhibit, Holiday Express, featured approximately 300 pieces from the New-York Historical Society’s Jerni Collection in vibrant displays that showcased the beauty and allure of toys from a bygone era. SKOLNICK combined theatrical lighting, multimedia installations, visual effects, and evocative ambient sound to transform the space into a delightful wonderland that was exciting for children and nostalgic for adults.
Services
Exhibit Design and Development
Graphic Design
Script Development
Size
3,000 sf
ALL ABOARD!
The visitor experience began in the New-York Historical Society’s signature rotunda where an installation of large-scale multimedia screens and carefully curated audio effects evoked the feeling of full-scale railroads roaring through the space. Other areas throughout the main level of the building featured their own uniquely crafted immersive exhibits.
HISTORIC TOYS COME TO LIFE
An immense 360-degree display in the Berkowitz Sculpture Court filled with a mountainous landscape of 10 separate scenes invited visitors to approach and view the toys and trains from any side. The Weisberg Monumental Treasures Wall Case featured a miniaturized scene for toy trains with a subtle orchestration of lighting effects creating a time-lapse transformation of dawn to dusk. Child-friendly elements including a crawl-through space and a pop-up semi-sphere, drew the youngest visitors into the Holiday Express exhibit and placed them even closer to the action.
RELATED PROJECTS
THE MURTOGH D. GUINNESS COLLECTION
DIMENNA CHILDREN’S HISTORY MUSEUM
THE BISHOP’S BASILICA OF PHILIPPOPOLIS