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The Folger Shakespeare Library

Shakespeare Exhibition Hall

The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., is an independent research library housing the world's largest collection of Shakespeare-related materials.

The Folger Shakespeare Library houses the world’s largest collection of Shakespeare materials, including over 80 First Folios.

Designed in partnership with Studio Joseph, the Shakespeare Exhibition Hall offers an accessible, engaging, and inviting space for 21st-century audiences to connect with one of history’s most influential playwrights.

Bluecadet teamed up with renowned brand studio Smith and Diction to create and implement a new brand identity across all digital and physical visitor touchpoints.

Shake up Your Shakespeare

Shake up Your Shakespeare is an immersive, theatrical installation inspired by a former Director of Education's dynamic card-based exercises with students. Players act out Shakespearean lines, with color-coded text to guide performance.

Featuring both single and two-player modes, the experience is enhanced by custom hardware, projection mapping, and shifting lights that spotlight the active player.

This installation transforms space into a magical, multi-dimensional theatre, bringing Shakespeare to life in unexpected ways.

"First Folios" is an showcases Shakespeare's first folios through three key components: the Light Case, Touch Screen, and Wings.

The Light Case

The Folger Shakespeare Library holds the world’s largest collection of First Folios, with over 80 copies—about a third of the estimated surviving editions—making it the most significant repository of this rare and valuable book.

The Light Case acts as a sculptural data visualization, illuminating groupings of the folios, with each grouping explained by a key legend. The Touch Screen allows visitors to explore the folios through three distinct lenses—Detective, Storyteller/Historian, and Collector—offering unique insights into these rare artifacts.

The Wings

Adjacent to the Light Case, The Wings feature LED plaques with capacitive touch, introducing the folios and their significance to modern audiences. This installation was a deeply collaborative effort involving curators, fabricators, and lighting designers, ensuring the folios' preservation while emphasizing their cultural importance.

"Printing with Light" is an innovative physiodigital installation that reimagines the traditional printing press.

Printing with Light

Printing with Light is a physio digital installation that reimagines the traditional printing press. Featuring two interactive printing stations with monitors, visitors assemble letter blocks on a surface, which are then scanned by computer vision technology. The selected text is projected digitally with a rich texture, mimicking the look of stamped ink. This experience blends physical interaction with digital artistry, allowing visitors to explore the art of printing, and some of Shakespeare’s most evocative language, in a modern, engaging way.

Bluecadet was an invaluable partner in transforming our notions of what an exhibition of rare books and Shakespeare could be. We felt strongly that a Shakespeare exhibition should be a no-intimidation zone, and Bluecadet designed media experiences that embraced this challenge whole-heartedly.

Greg Prickman, Eric Weinmann Librarian and Director of Collections

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