The first weekend of February Expology left the Oslo winter for sunny Barcelona. The aim of the trip was to find inspiration and learn from great examples.

One of the places we visited was Museu Blau, a natural science museum developed by architects Herzog & de Meuron. The exhibition theme is "Planet Life". This is a huge scope and the content is ranging from multimedia installations displaying creation of life to classifications of species and minerals.

A wonderful aspect of the museum is how the building plays an integral part of the scenography and exhibition design. The architects have managed to create an ambient feeling in the building that contributes to the visitor’s sense of exploring. The exhibition creates a unique and harmonic auditory and physical landscape. The sound encompassing the exhibition creates an abstract landscape that amplifies the visual experience. The exhibition is both poetic and pedagogic.

What did we learn from our visit to Museu Blau? Artistic and poetic expressions are often lacking in exhibition design and are often seen as a competitor to rational and informative communication. This exhibition manages to combine the two in a beautiful way. The weak point of the exhibition is how static information is displayed. The at times overwhelming information and overloaded displays where competing for attention and the message of the exhibit where at times “lost in translation”, leaving the visitor with many impressions, but few insights.