One Question Interview: Ralph Appelbaum

Exhibit designer for Winnipeg's Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

What intrigued you about designing the Museum for Human Rights?

“Most of us know museums: they’re black boxes with objects in them. But in this museum, the artifacts are the stories we’ve been collecting for over 10 years, and we connect them deeply to the way people circulate through the architecture. There are no 90-degree-angle walls here. The exhibits have to be in a dance with the architecture. Basically, you’re climbing a mountain as you move up alabaster ramps and through gallery experiences, and you learn without realizing you’re learning. Going to the Museum for Human Rights is like going to an ethical spa: you encounter a set of experiences and stories that are meant to trigger in you a receptiveness and a recognition of your own sense of compassion and empathy.”The Canadian Museum for Human Rights opened in September. humanrights.ca