Virtual Hall of Remembrance interactive development

In September 2018, we're marking the centenary of the end of the First World War with a series of exhibitions and events across our museums in London and Manchester.

As part of the public programme, we will be examining the story of the never-built Hall of Remembrance and how it plays into the early history of IWM.

The Imperial War Museum, established in 1917, was charged with collecting a wide variety of material documenting the war, including art.

In addition to acquiring works produced under the Department of Information scheme, the museum commissioned its own artists.

In February 1918 the Department of Information became the Ministry of Information and established the British War Memorials Committee.

This committee widened the scope of the war art scheme considerably by planning a Hall of Remembrance devoted to 'fighting subjects, home subjects and the war at sea and in the air'.

This was to be a record and a memorial to the Great War through paintings commissioned from the best and, on occasion, the most avant-garde British artists of the day, including Percy Wyndham Lewis, Stanley Spencer and John Singer Sargent.

However, because of lack of funding after the war, the Hall of Remembrance was never built, and the collection of paintings was given to the Imperial War Museum, now IWM.

The Brief: We are looking for to work with an agency to produce an interactive experience that will look at the history of the Hall of Remembrance and the collection of artwork now held by IWM.

1.

Aims • Raise awareness of IWM as an institution and our collection of artwork and how it relates to the First World War. • Support digital activity around the anniversary. • Host creative content, to provide background and interpretation for events, such as articles, film, audio etc.

2.

Requirements The interactive experience will be hosted at www.iwm.org.uk and should be sensitive to the design and identity of the site.

The interactive should: • Be tied closely to Hall of Remembrance as a concept and IWM as a historical site. • Promote content around the Hall of Remembrance and art collection - including audio, video, text and photography. • Incorporate the IWM visual identity. • Integrate with our collections pages where possible, allowing users to find more content. • Be image and media rich. • Look towards a legacy on iwm.org.uk after the project ends 3.

Personality When discussing the brief for the interactive, the team thought that the interactive should be celebratory and engaging.

If it was a person it might be Dan Snow or Simon Schama.

The pages should bring alive the identity of the project, by communicating the importance of the anniversary.