Origins, identity, and life are at the forefront of a new exhibition at the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum, but they are overshadowed by artifacts from some of the most popular science fiction movies ever.
Star Wars: Identities runs at the museum until Sept. 2.
The exhibit asks visitors to think about where they come from and how they are shaped as individuals, while still admiring over 200 models, costumes and drawings from the six Star Wars movies and one T.V. show.
Sophie Desbiens is director of communications at X3 Productions, the company that produced the exhibit. She said the idea came from a wish to do something different with the material.
“All they told us was that they wanted to do something educational. We came up with the idea to do identities, because obviously lots of people would go and say ‘OK, let’s do something about space, or aliens, blah blah blah,’” she said. “We wanted to make sure the experience was something exciting.”
While visitors look at original models of storm troopers, Yoda, and Darth Vader, as well as drawings from the various movies, they create their own Star Wars character at different stations. They decide where the character grew up, what kind of parenting they had, as well as their role models and life-changing experiences. In between, videos explain how a person’s identity is formed through these various aspects of their life.
Desbiens said the interactivity puts the visitor into the exhibit.
“By creating a new identity, you get to learn what we’re talking about in the exhibit, but you’re also the subject of the exhibit in a way. So it makes for a more immersive experience,” she said.
Stephen Quick, director general of the museum, said the museum was keen on getting the exhibit to Ottawa.
“X3 were looking for a third place to show this in Canada, and they came to us last fall and said would we be interested, and we kind of jumped at the chance,” he said.
This is the first “blockbuster” exhibit the museum has hosted, Quick said, and he hopes it helps bring visitors to the museum.
“It’s something we’ve never done before,” he said. “We thought this is time for us to really try to see what a blockbuster does for us.”
Mark MacKenzie, a visitor, said he heard about the exhibit while visiting Ottawa from New Brunswick.
“We heard about this, and it’s kind of my vintage. It was sort of a nostalgic trip for me down memory lane,” he said.
Though he’s not the biggest Star Wars fan, MacKenzie said he still enjoyed seeing the movie artifacts up close.
“To see them life-sized was interesting, as opposed to seeing them on a one-dimensional screen,” he said.
Though the characters are at the forefront for most people, Desbiens said the movies’ notability can help the message the exhibit is trying to send.
“It’s a new way to look at the Star Wars characters. I think that when you’re using such iconic characters,’ said Desbiens. “They are very significant to a lot of different generations. The best thing that can come out of this exhibit is people discussing.”
