Hidden London: the Exhibition
The city reveals its subterranean secrets.
5 interweaving film works for this acclaimed exhibition.
Future Engineers
Permanent exhibition at London Transport Museum
Delivery of 19 video elements including – 6 visitor-triggered exhibit stations, promotional films, and social media ads.
The challenge: To lift the lid on the UK’s vibrant engineering industry and inspire a new generation of dreamers, planners, and fixers!
My response: The museum’s renowned design team created a pleasing geometric mesh for the physical environment. I decided to integrate elements from the mesh directly into my video composites. I wanted to provide a consistent user experience throughout the exhibition that was intriguing, but not overly distracting. I focussed on drawing visitors into an engagement with the engineering advocates that felt personal and conversational in nature.
Filming took place at various engineering locations around the UK. Elevation plan images courtesy of London Transport Museum.
“Museums are home to our sense of fascination and wonder about the world around us, so I was delighted when I discovered how much museums gain from working with storytellers like me!
It’s an exchange I really enjoy – whether being part of a large-scale exhibition, or helping a smaller regional museum tell its story. It is always very satisfying being a part of a team bringing powerful ideas to new audiences.”
– Mmoloki Chrystie
museums speak mmoloki (1 minute showcase)
Hidden London
London hides its secrets beneath layers of disused tunnels, steel doors, and rusting caverns.
The challenge: To recreate a celebrated collection of subterranean experiences within an active multistorey museum space.
My response: I delivered five narratively interlinked video pieces for this exhibition, which was designed by Skellon Studio and Seeing Things. The brief was complex – the spaces were brought to life through an interaction between a physical presence – the arrival of a tube train at a typical underground station – and an imagined space – an interface between abandoned locations and the network’s legacy as a frequent setting for international cinema production.
I filmed in challenging and amazing spaces, created dreamlike transitions between the real and the imagined, synchronised timelines across five screens and nine speakers, and edited segments of classic cinema moments (sadly, James Bond himself ended up on the cutting room floor!).
The exhibition won Museum + Heritage Awards 2020 Best Temporary Exhibition.
“The audio visual presentation is superb. Atmospherically filmed images interleaved with clips from films that have been made in disused stations and locations. In fact the sound and pictures are so convincing that, at times I could almost feel the air about me moving as I was watching!”
– Underground History UK
Clients & Partners
