MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee Public Museum and their exhibit design partner Thinc Design on Friday unveiled renderings for one of their new permanent galleries in their new downtown location.
The Milwaukee Revealed gallery will take visitors on a “familiar immersive streetscape set at the magical hour of dusk,” MPM said in a Facebook post announcing details of the new exhibit. It’s considered to be the “spiritual successor” to the Streets of Old Milwaukee.
That very exhibit caused quite a stir on social media earlier this year after the museum said it wouldn’t move entire exhibits over to its new space.
But officials later said they would introduce a similar space in the new museum. Now, that details of that space have been revealed.
“We heard loud and clear the public desire for an immersive space dedicated to Milwaukee. ‘Milwaukee Revealed’ will be a gallery visitors can lose themselves in — and learn a lot about Milwaukee, past and present, along the way,” said MPM President and CEO Dr. Ellen Censky.
In the Milwaukee Revealed gallery, visitors will find storefronts, buildings, houses and waterways.
However, unlike the Streets of Old Milwaukee, which features a look at 20th century Milwaukee, this new gallery will feature commercial and residential sections.
It will also have more interactive elements — such as buttons visitors can push to reveal hidden details of buildings, choreographed light displays that walk visitors back in time and immersive soundscapes. MPM said visitors of the gallery will be taken “behind the walls” and “under the surface.”
“As any Milwaukeean or MPM visitor knows, there’s more to Milwaukee than meets the eye,” said Censky. “Just as Milwaukee is an urban environment built on a rich natural landscape, ‘Milwaukee Revealed’ will simultaneously explore the bustling business corridors and neighborhoods of the city, the unique ecology of the lakefront and waterways and the ways in which nature and culture come together in confluence to create the place we call home.”
Here’s a closer look at each part of the new gallery.
Commercial District
The Commercial District in Milwaukee Revealed will showcase a “bustling, immersive urban environment.”
Upon entering this section of the gallery, visitors will be greeted with the historic Mitchell Building. MPM said that if visitors look long enough, they’ll see it fade away to show the home of Milwaukee founders Josette and Solomon Juneau, whose home used to occupy the same spot.
“In exploring Milwaukee’s past and present, the Future Museum will reveal the history embedded in the buildings and streets Milwaukeeans encounter everyday,” said Thinc Senior Exhibit Designer Chris Muller about the choreographed light effects.
The building will also host historic artifacts inside of it.
Storefronts, such as a dress shop, a modern-day frozen custard shop and another flexible store, will line the streets of this section.
Also within this district will be the first organization of African-American physicians (Cream City Medical Society), the Milwaukee River (Waterfront), a beer hall (Schlitz Palm Garden), the study of Wisconsin’s first scientist Increase Lapham (Lapham House), and the Lake Michigan lakefront.
The Medical Society will allow visitors to explore medicine and healing traditions in Milwaukee at a contemporary pharmacy. It will be built from Cream City brick.
The Schlitz garden will show the story of how German and Polish labor and migration and natural resources helped lead to the city’s popular beer production.
The Lapham House will reproduce some of Lapham’s scientific writings, journals, maps, botanical drawings and more.
Neighborhoods
Revealed Milwaukee will also let visitors take a stroll through Milwaukee neighborhoods. This section will mimic domestic architecture and also offer surprise details for museum fans to find.
The Community Streetscape will be one element within the Neighborhoods section of the gallery that reveals stories about “hidden systems that make modern living possible.” That includes things like water and sewer systems.
Inside the houses, visitors might find bats or squirrels. In a community garden, they’ll encounter bugs.
One element that might seem familiar in this space is The Haymarket Candy Shop, which is a “beloved storefront” in the current Streets of Old Milwaukee. It will be a functioning store in the Future Museum, meaning visitors can purchase a sweet treat.
Revealed Milwaukee will also feature signature museum items from the Streets exhibit, including the penny-farthing bicycle, the one-of-a-kind Schloemer automobile and the giant Japanese censer.
In March, MPM officials said they would share details on five new permanent galleries for their new space. Living in a Dynamic World and Rainforest are the last two that MPM has yet to reveal. MPM said those galleries will be unveiled on May 9 and May 23, respectively.