The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library
The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library is a landmark building in Washington D.C.
In partnership with Studio Joseph and Openbox, Bluecadet produced films and an interactive map for a core exhibition designed to modernize the library. Grounded in community research, the project showcases the breadth of the Library’s local-history collection and aims to foster new community connections through D.C.’s history of activism.
Film vignettes utilize archival imagery and motion graphic animations to tell the story of Washington D.C. activism through the lens of its leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr., Mayor Marion Barry, and grassroots organizers. Elevating the lesser-known people, everyday actions, and personal stories behind these iconic moments engage viewers through relatability, allowing them to readily apply learnings of the past to their present.
Interactive maps invite visitors to explore location pins detailing historical moments in D.C. Pins are accompanied by annotations and archival images, and the option to add pins of significance to the user’s personal activism, including resources for other community members. This tapestry of past and present gives museum-goers the opportunity to explore topics of interest to the exhibition, as well as contribute to both the history the Library seeks to preserve and the future it encourages visitors to create.
