FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 14, 2023
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MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM PROVIDES FIRST LOOK AT FUTURE MUSEUM
EXHIBIT CONCEPTS, MILWAUKEE REVEALED GALLERY
Immersive, explorable gallery showcases Milwaukee, past and present
MILWAUKEE —Today, Milwaukee Public Museum (MPM) and exhibit design partner Thinc Design unveiled sketches of the Future Museum’s Milwaukee Revealed gallery, the third of five permanent galleries to be revealed through the coming months. Each gallery, or group of related exhibits, will focus on a specific overarching theme, and its many dioramas and individual features will help visitors learn about the interconnectedness of nature and culture tied to that larger concept.
In the Milwaukee Revealed gallery, visitors will find a charmingly familiar urban streetscape, set at the magical hour of dusk, featuring stores and buildings. Closer inspection will reveal hidden details, historical stories and interactive features just waiting to be discovered. Open a door, peer through a window or find the secret lever to discover a hidden history or learn about the familiar from a totally new and unfamiliar perspective. The gallery not only takes visitors back in time, but also behind walls and under the surface of the here-and-now.
“As any Milwaukeean or MPM visitor knows, there’s more to Milwaukee than meets the eye,” said MPM President & CEO Dr. Ellen Censky. “Just as Milwaukee is an urban environment built on a rich natural landscape, Milwaukee Revealed will simultaneously explore the bustling business corridors and neighborhoods of the city, the unique ecology of the lakefront and waterways and the ways in which nature and culture come together in confluence to create the place we call home.”
MPM is sharing a sampling of some of the exhibit features for the Commercial and Neighborhood areas of this gallery. The final gallery will also include immersive exhibits about Milwaukee’s relationship with its rivers and Lake Michigan.
At each turn, the gallery will reveal to visitors the ways in which residents of a city or community interact with the natural environment and how those choices and behaviors impact neighbors and a community’s collective future. Considered the spiritual successor to the Streets of Old Milwaukee exhibit currently part of MPM, the Milwaukee Revealed gallery will give visitors the unique opportunity to immerse themselves wholly into Milwaukee’s many facets, getting lost in the gallery and discovering something new with each visit.
Gallery sketches and exhibit previews
The gallery details and exhibit examples shared below and in the enclosed sketches represent only a fraction of what visitors can expect in the Future Museum’s Milwaukee Revealed gallery. The final gallery will include many more exhibits, collections items and opportunities to learn.
Commercial
Upon entering the Commercial district of the gallery, visitors will be transported to a bustling, immersive urban environment. With a mix of historic and modern city landmarks, Milwaukee Revealed will evoke a contemporary view of Milwaukee. Take a closer look, though, and the past will be revealed to visitors.
Mitchell Building
Immediately upon entering the gallery, visitors will encounter the Mitchell Building, a recognizable, historic building that ties the present to the past. Look long enough and the Mitchell Building’s façade will fade away to reveal the home of city founders Josette and Solomon Juneau, which once occupied the same site.
“Through choreographed lighting effects, the façade of the Mitchell Building will at times look solid, like any other wall, but once lit from the inside, visitors will see through the surface to find the silhouette of the Juneaus’ cabin – a hint at the stories they will encounter once entering the building,” said Chris Muller, Senior Exhibit Designer at Thinc and a lead designer for the Milwaukee Revealed gallery. “In exploring Milwaukee’s past and present, the Future Museum will reveal the history embedded in the buildings and streets Milwaukeeans encounter everyday.”
The Mitchell Building is one of many explorable spaces in Milwaukee Revealed, and visitors will be able to walk into the building and immerse themselves in the environment. Inside, visitors will encounter historic artifacts – including a portrait of Josette Juneau currently on display in MPM – and learn the story of the Juneaus’ relationship, the Fur Trade and their role in the founding of the City of Milwaukee as we know it.
Storefronts
Storefronts lining the gallery’s streets will give a glimpse into the industries and endeavors that have shaped Milwaukee. Among the shops featured will be a dress shop, where a window display will show a rotating collection of both contemporary and historic textiles from the Museum’s vast collection. Inside the shop, visitors will be able to explore the changing traditions and compositions of clothing from around the world.
Another storefront will feature a modern-day frozen custard shop, revealing stories about the local dairy industry, where the ingredients for Milwaukee’s favorite frozen treat come from and how Milwaukee connects to the rest of the world in perhaps surprising ways. Further down the street, a market storefront will give visitors a glimpse into other types of business and industry that contribute to Milwaukee’s identity. In this space, Museum staff will rotate the collections items on display, revealing something new on a regular basis.
Adding to the experience will be urban soundscapes, including the rumble of vehicles down roadways and birdsong. Visually, silhouette projections of people and animals moving inside the gallery’s shops and houses, especially behind the windows on the upper stories of exhibits, will create a dynamic and immersive experience.
Schlitz Palm Garden
Behind the doors of a common, everyday shop, discover the golden years of Milwaukee’s beer-brewing kings. Another immersive space that visitors can enter and explore, the Schlitz Palm Garden will reveal the story of how German and Polish migration and labor, and access to natural resources like water, wheat and hops, led to Milwaukee’s famed beer production. Visitors will encounter German and Polish artifacts and some familiar collections items, too, such as a giant Japanese incense burner – or censer – which once stood in the real Schlitz Palm Garden and is currently on display in MPM.
Cream City Medical Society
Milwaukee Revealed will explore how the many ways of understanding care and practicing medicine have supported Milwaukeeans’ health and wellbeing through stories about holistic medicine, disease prevention and public health.
Central to these stories will be that of the Cream City Medical Society, Milwaukee’s first organization of African-American physicians that was established in 1927 under the leadership of Dr. Richard Herron – son of Milwaukee’s first African-American physician Dr. Allen L. Herron. Visitors will be able to walk into a contemporary pharmacy with an old-timey feel and learn about the different healing and medicine traditions held by Milwaukee’s diverse communities and the ways in which plants, such as chamomile and peppermint, have been utilized for medicinal purposes across cultures. The pharmacy will be constructed from Cream City brick, and exhibits will explore geological and industrial origins of Milwaukee’s iconic building material.
Lapham House
Wisconsin’s first scientist, Increase Lapham, is a key figure in the development of museums as we know them today. Visitors will be invited to enter a study, much like the one Lapham might have had in his own home, and see a precursor to our modern Museum – with collections of plants and geologic specimens displayed on shelves. A reproduction of his desk will contain examples of his scientific writings, journals, maps and botanical drawings that have been integral to shaping how museums study and share scientific knowledge today. A projection element will enlarge those writings and drawings on the wall so visitors can see in greater detail the breadth of what Lapham created and established. On low shelves, tactile fossils and geological specimen reproductions will be accessible for visitors to touch and interact with like scientists themselves.
Waterfront
In the Commercial district, a scenic lookout will give visitors the chance to look out over an exhibit demonstrating the Milwaukee River and catch a glimpse of what lies beneath its surface. The city’s dropping water table will be made visible below the river, and the city’s architectural skyline will change along the riverfront, revealing how the ecology and industry of Milwaukee has evolved over time. Lighting will create a dynamic effect similar to the movement of currents and fish, and a soundscape of rippling water will further immerse visitors into the scene.
Neighborhoods
Milwaukee is a network of neighborhoods and of neighbors: Plants, animals and humans intertwine in support of one another, often in unexpected ways.
Community Streetscape
The Neighborhoods area will recreate a quintessential Milwaukee neighborhood street, mimicking domestic architecture commonly found in the city. Here, visitors will be charmed by the surprising details that lie beneath the surface of ordinary homes and the kind of Easter eggs Museum fans love to discover.
“Like the Mitchell Building, houses lining the street will explore more than meets the eye,” said Muller. “The streetscape will reveal stories about the hidden systems that make modern living possible, such as the water and sewage systems that underlie all of Milwaukee. In other houses, visitors might glimpse animals like bats and squirrels that coexist with humans in the city and play an important role in our urban ecosystem.”
In a community garden, visitors will encounter live specimens of familiar garden creatures like spiders, ladybugs and other urban neighbors who live in and contribute to nature within the city.
Haymarket Candy Shop
Among the surprises, visitors will find a taste of the familiar. Tucked into the Milwaukee Revealed streetscape will be the Haymarket Candy Shop, a functioning store where visitors can purchase the sweet treats they know and love, to continue a beloved Museum tradition and honor the Future Museum’s home in the Haymarket neighborhood.
“We heard loud and clear the public desire for an immersive space dedicated to Milwaukee. Milwaukee Revealed will be a gallery visitors can lose themselves in – and learn a lot about Milwaukee, past and present, along the way,” said Dr. Censky. “Current fans of MPM’s Streets of Old Milwaukee will find many familiar, nostalgic elements in Milwaukee Revealed, including items like the penny-farthing bicycle and the one-of-a-kind Schloemer automobile. We also plan to include a virtual-reality experience of the current Museum’s Streets of Old Milwaukee and European Village, preserving the beloved exhibit experience for the next generation to explore in the Future Museum.”
Future announcements
Milwaukee Public Museum and its exhibit design partners at Thinc Design will be rolling out previews of each gallery from now until May 23. Each announcement will provide an inside look at a sampling of exhibits, collections items and features visitors can expect to encounter upon the Future Museum’s opening in late 2026 as the design team continues its work to identify each collections item and exhibit that will be on display. Below is a list of upcoming announcements. Additional details about announcement news conferences will be distributed in advance of each event.
Gallery announcement schedule
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May 9: Living in a Dynamic World and Mixing Zones
In the Living in a Dynamic World gallery, visitors will take an unconventional journey to five distinct ecosystems across the globe and be immersed in the landscapes and cultures that occupy them. The Mixing Zones, including the Burke Foundation Mixing Zone, are two spaces in the Museum that will provide rare, behind-the scenes views into the collections’ storage areas and turn the Museum “inside out.”
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May 23: Rainforest, Puelicher Butterfly Vivarium and the Bucyrus Rooftop Terrace
The Rainforest will take visitors to the tropics to learn about the biodiversity that flourishes in tropical rainforests and the life rainforest climates support. The Puelicher Butterfly Vivarium will welcome visitors into a warm, lush greenhouse thriving with real tropical plants and live butterflies flying freely throughout the space. The Bucyrus Rooftop Terrace will be a gathering space to reconnect visitors to the outdoors and natural world.
Additional specific details about the full array of exhibits and collections items that will make up each gallery are still being determined and are subject to change as the design process progresses. Additional information about visitor amenities, including the lobby space, Museum store, café and programming, will also be shared in the future.
More information about the Future Museum, including architectural renderings and a project timeline, is available on the MPM website.
About the Milwaukee Public Museum
The Milwaukee Public Museum is Wisconsin’s natural history museum, welcoming over half a million visitors annually. Located in downtown Milwaukee, the Museum was chartered in 1882, opened to the public in 1884, and currently houses more than 4 million objects in its collections. MPM has three floors of exhibits that encompass life-size dioramas, walk-through villages, world cultures, dinosaurs, a rainforest, and a live butterfly garden, as well as the Daniel M. Soref Dome Theater & Planetarium. MPM is operated by Milwaukee Public Museum, Inc., a private, non-profit company, housed in a county-owned facility with collections that are held in trust and supported by Milwaukee County for the benefit of the public.
About the Future Museum
The Milwaukee Public Museum, Wisconsin’s natural history museum, will be relocating from its current location on Wells Street in downtown Milwaukee to a newly constructed building due to open in late 2026. To be located on a 2.4-acre site at the corner of Sixth and McKinley Streets in the Haymarket neighborhood adjacent to the city’s Deer District, the Future Museum will be the largest cultural project in Wisconsin history. Heavily influenced by the ecological histories of Milwaukee and Wisconsin, the design of the new Museum will be reminiscent of the geological formations in Mill Bluff State Park, emblematic of the region’s diversity of landscapes formed by the movements of water through time.
The building will be approximately 200,000 square feet, including five stories, with an additional 50,000-square-foot collections storage building. Groundbreaking for the building is slated for late 2023, with Mortenson and ALLCON overseeing construction. The Milwaukee Public Museum’s current home will remain open until the new space is finished.
About Thinc
Located in New York, Thinc is a global design firm serving clients in North America, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. For nearly 30 years, Thinc has designed projects for a wide range of clients, including museums, science centers, aquariums, zoos, theme parks, corporations, and governments. Notable projects include the re-envisioned Empire State Building Observatory (TripAdvisor’s 2022 Travelers’ Choice Best of the Best as the #1 National and #3 Top World Attraction), the National September 11 Memorial Museum; the Steinhart Aquarium at the California Academy of Sciences; The Freedom Park in Pretoria, South Africa; The Jordan Museum; the USA Pavilion at the 2015 World Expo; and Terra, the Sustainability Pavilion for Expo 2020 Dubai. The firm has been the recipient of numerous prestigious international awards including the Red Dot Award, World Design Award, Core77 Design Award, Global Future Award, and many more. Founded by Tom Hennes in 1992 as an outgrowth of a successful, 15-year theatrical design practice, the firm has evolved into a dynamic and multi-disciplinary studio that transforms how people think about the world and each other. Showstoppers! represents a joyous return to those theatrical roots. To learn more visit thincdesign.com.
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