Exhibit on CFS Alert
A museum exhibit made for the National Air Force Museum of Canada. based around CFS Alert located in Nunavut, Canada. The entire exhibit was designed and built in house. The exhibit is low budget and had a focus on including several large artifacts and interactive components.
I later followed the subject of the exhibit up to Alert myself.
Summer Internship Project
Team: NAFMC Curatorial Staff
National Air Force Museum of Canada
Duration: 19 Weeks
2024
Designed and built for:
Background
The subject of the exhibit is Canadian Forces Station Alert (CFS Alert) is a little known collection of buildings located in Alert Nunavut, Canada only 817km from the North Pole, and only 40km south of the northernmost point in Canada. CFS Alert holds the record as the most northerly permanently inhabited location in the world. It is known for it’s scientific research and history of military operations.
Focus Points
Generalized Audience
The NAFMC has been making moves away from military jargon and acronyms which limit the accessibility of exhibit’s content.
Interactive Elements
With an increase in families attendance and school group programs interactive elements are a goal of the NAFMC.
Multidirectional
Due to the layout of the NAFMC the exhibit needs to be able to be approached from either end, while retaining a loose timeline from south to north.
Exploration
Through the use of physical space and CAD the exhibit took shape throughout the project. Key elements were placed early, often large artifacts fit only into a single space, and the rest had to be built around the exhibit. Using CAD allowed for artifacts to be placed and elements to be explored quickly and limited handling of artifacts.
The Alert Sign
The main feature of the exhibit is the original Alert Sign artifact. Alongside the artifact, the museum collected almost a hundred photos of people with this sign and its successor from 1967 when it was put up, until 2025 when I personally travelled to Alert and had my picture taken with the new sign.
In the final exhibit the sign is prominently displayed with floor decals guiding visitors to continue taking pictures with the sign. Beside it is an interactive tablet where they can scroll through images of the sign through it’s history.
