Science Museum identifies creative groups to work on Aliens exhibition

The Science Museum is collaborating with a raft of design groups, including Urban Salon, Bibliothèque and Art+Com, on its long-anticipated autumn ‘blockbuster’ exhibition, Aliens.

The organisation has appointed consultancies to create the exhibition identity, space and installations and is poised to select a design group to develop the Web presence.

Bibliothèque is tasked with creating the exhibition’s identity and Urban Salon is designing the overall look and feel of the space.

The Science Museum has a shortlist of two consultancies, whittled down from an initial six-strong pitch list, which it will select to design the exhibition’s on-line domain. The consultancies are due to take part in a creative pitch next week.

Specific design details of the exhibition are being kept under wraps, but the touring exhibition will be designed to travel and comprise different visitor zones, Design Week can exclusively reveal.

Art+Com has been appointed to develop the digital media installations for one of the zones: The Science of Aliens; Are we alone? Urban Salon is currently putting out to tender other projects for ‘installations and packages’ that will feature in the exhibition.

‘It is going to be exciting – we are thinking through different design components at the moment and are looking at how to display the artefacts and put the narrative into context,’ according to a spokeswoman at Urban Salon.

The exhibition will be located in a temporary space on the mezzanine floor of the museum before it launches worldwide.

The show will be based on extra-terrestrial phenomena and is likely to have a strong educational role, rather than being sensationalist. It will aim to portray the various scientific aspects of the possibility of forms of ‘life’ existing in outer space.

‘The exhibition will examine our enduring fascination with the search for alien life and look at recent scientific development in the field,’ says a spokesman for the Science Museum.

The project is being run by a team working closely with professor Tim Malloy, head of strategic design at the Science Museum, according to a spokesman at the Science Museum.

Aliens Exhibition • Aliens identity design by Bibliothèque

• Travelling exhibition space created by Urban Salon

• Web design group yet to be appointed

• Exhibition runs from October 2005 to March 2006 ahead of a worldwide tour