Star Wars Identities: The Exhibition


Star Wars Identities: The Exhibition is an exhibition that serves as an interactive experience mainly exploring the characters of Luke Skywalker and Anakin Skywalker. The characters are scrutinized by three major themes: their origins, the influences that shaped them, and the choices they made during their lives. This also touches on characters such as R2-D2, Chewbacca, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda, and how their individual relations and roles affected Luke and Anakin.

The exhibition was created by X3 Productions and the Montreal Science Centre in conjunction with a scientific community consisting of neuropsychologists, psychologists, a biochemist, a social psychologist, an occupational therapist and an expert in education.

The exhibition also explores the factors that shape an individual, such as genetics and familial and social influences, using the Star Wars universe as background. The visitor is invited to create an original Star Wars character based on him- or herself, temporarily stored to a smart-technology bracelet or keycard, by interacting with ten stations throughout the exhibit. For example, by the first station where the visitor chooses a race (based on a selection of fifteen Star Wars races) and gender, genetics is explored as an influence.

Items in the exhibition include original props used for filming, models for special effects, costumes worn by the actors, original concept art, and production notes for the films and later productions such as Star Wars: Clone Wars and Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

The exhibition ran at the Montreal Science Center in Montreal, Quebec, from April 19 to September 16, 2012 and then embarked on a six-year world tour to 12 cities, visiting the TELUS World of Science - Edmonton in Edmonton, Alberta, from October 27, 2012, to April 1, 2013 and the Canada Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa, Ontario, from May 10 to October 14, 2013.

It then toured through Europe once it left Canada and was in Paris, France, at Luc Besson's La Cité du Cinéma, from February 15 to June 30 2014, then Lyon, France until April 19, 2015, Cologne, Germany until November 17 2015 and Munich, Germany till October 17, 2016. From November 18, 2016, it was at The O2 in London, UK until 3 September, 2017 and was then in Utrecht, the Netherlands till March 11, 2018. It visited Brussels, Belgium from April 2 to September 2, 2018.

From November 16, 2018 to June 10, 2019, the exhibition was held at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, Australia. It was in Japan at Tokyo's Terrada Warehouse from August 8 2019 to January 13 2020 and made its 12th and final stop at Singapore's ArtScience Museum from January 30 to July 25 2021.

Sources


  • Star Wars Year By Year: A Visual History, New Edition

Appearances