Viral Journey is a shoe exhibition at the Museum at Fashion Institute of Technology that showcases shoes’ stance on a social and cultural setting through the lenses of fast fashion, hype culture in the 21st century, and provocation via shoes. It gives insight into how socially constructed fashion items emerge, the patterns they go through, and what luxury brands do to exist in a fast-paced setting. One of the critical activations includes using social media to create engagement and brand awareness.
When the visitors first enter walk into the museum, they immediately see backlit mirrors scattered on all the vertical surfaces with lots of upside–down mannequins wearing nothing but shoes. The mirrors paired with Instagram’s gradient color palette create an excellent opportunity for social media buzz. When they enter the exhibition, they realize that the mirrors are artificially intelligent; therefore, they can virtually try on any shoes from the collection.
The overarching activity is a system that lets all the visitors try on the shoes within the exhibition virtually. When the visitors enter the space, they see huge mirrors framing the space, all the way from the floor to the ceilings. The high–technology mirrors that are enhanced with artificial intelligence, and all the shoes within the exhibition are installed to their interface, which creates an opportunity for them to try on any shoes they want virtually.
Logos w/o Logos is an interactive introduction to some of the luxury brands, and their design aesthetics. There are individually–designed nooks for Chloe, Alexander McQueen, Prada, Chanel, Louboutin, and Saint Lauren. The exhibit is activated when the visitors see logos for each brand on the adjacent wall. For instance, when a visitor presses on the Chanel logo, that nook lights up in blue. They can learn more about each brand.
Memes, Hypes, and Wearable Jokes display conveys multiple layers of information. The visitors first encounter the wallpaper that is specifically designed for this exhibit. The color blocks are the Pantone color of the year, from 2010 to 2020. This graph is a rough recreation of the Gartner Hype Cycle, which was initially produced to provide a conceptual presentation of the maturity of emerging technologies.
Social Fetish plays with the idea of the socially constructed fetishization of particular fashion items. There are tall glass boxes, brightly lit from above and below, to house a pair each. Each pair of shoes assigned to every year from 2010 to 2020, and each is accompanied by an image that reflects how the shoe was styled in that year. Overall, the visitors learn more about the FIT collection, as well as what society dictates towards society.
Shoe Machine is an exhibition activity that lets visitors learn more about how some of the most popular shoes are constructed. The walls are in different violet shades, and there are custom wallpapers for each pair of shoes displayed, acting as a little clue for the activity. The replicated pieces of the exhibited shoes (Balenciaga Triple S, Nike x Commes des Garcon, Bathing Ape) are laid out, and the visitors are asked to recreate the original.
Anti–design exhibition activity is an interactive experience that raises several questions on the shoe industry, such as what makes a design unique, and who decides on the value of the items. Additionally, there are price tags in between the display areas, and they can be attached to the display cases with magnets. This activity engages the audience in a way that they can question things such as value, originality, and the worth of design.
Shoes, Right Now display is located at the end of the museum. It is a larger–than–life exhibit system that is inspired by the Instagram feed that we see every day. The visitors come across some of the oldest shoes of the museum’s collection, which creates a significant contradiction. This display also becomes the expanded museum experience, since it invites the visitors to share their shoes, old or new, with the hashtag #viraljourney.