This is another blast from the past article, recalling a visit that dates back almost 10 years. The International Star Wars Day offers a perfect opportunity to revisit this 2018 exhibition.
The Star Wars Day is an informal commemorative day. Not a real one, like the International Museum Day, which is an official (internationally recognised) international day. This is rather a tradition, followed by millions of fans worldwide on May 4 to celebrate the Star Wars media franchise. The date originated from the pun “May the Fourth be with you”, from the Star Wars catchphrase “May the Force be with you”.
The Star Wars Identities exhibition, which ran from 2012 to 2022 as part of a world tour, was an interactive experience exploring the central characters of the franchise: Luke Skywalker and Anakin Skywalker. The show took us on a journey to explore the origins of these characters, the influences that shaped them, and the choices they made throughout their lives.
This is more than just a simple animation, as the exhibition was created with the Montreal Science Centre in collaboration with a scientific community comprising neuropsychologists, psychologists, a biochemist, a social psychologist, an occupational therapist, and an expert in education. Since COVID-19, every museum has upped its interactive game, but in 2018, this was a really groundbreaking exhibition.
The visitors were equipped with a wristband containing an RFID chip that held the avatar, created at the beginning of the tour. This avatar was developed through a series of life-altering questions at about a dozen interactive stations throughout the tour.
The exhibition also featured several well-known characters from the Star Wars universe, such as R2-D2, Chewbacca, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Yoda, with connections to Luke and Anakin Skywalker.
There was a selection of Jedi knights and Sith lords from the prequel series, including Kit Fisto and Plo-Koon, as well as Darth Maul and, of course, Darth Vader.
The exhibits included original props used during filming (such as Jabba’s eyes), special effects models, costumes worn by the actors, original concept art, and production notes for the films.
For the models, there was a dedicated segment featuring various starships (such as the iconic Star Destroyers and the Mon Calamari Cruiser) and fighters, mainly from the original series.
The models came from different scenes, so the scales weren’t proportional, with fighters nearly as big as starships. Nevertheless, each of them was a great spectacle, and from the right angle, you could take really nice photos with the lights around the ship.
