In the Living West exhibit at the History Colorado Center, visitors enter a theater space depicting a 1930s house on the Colorado plains. Excerpts from oral histories and memoirs are used to narrate a story about the Black Sunday dust storm that engulfed the region on April 14, 1935. As the show progresses, visual effects out the window reproduce the giant dust cloud approaching the house until the space is overtaken by darkness. The combination of the visual effects and surround sound gives visitors the sense of being immersed in a dust storm – so effective, some visitors thought we had pumped actual dust into the theater.

Award:
Mountain-Plains Museums Association Technology Award

Role:
Producer, Creative and Technical Direction, Editing, Sound Design, Media and System Design

Exhibit Development, Design, and Fabrication (Prime): Science Museum of Minnesota