The Mummy Under The Stairs

In late 2012 and early 2013 Story Inc created a spectacular new installation for the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) in Hobart.

Generations of Tasmanian children (including, we’re told, the future founder of Hobart’s MONA, David Walsh), grew up fascinated and terrified by the Egyptian mummy under the stairs at the old Tasmanian Museum. Our installation is a structure containing an eclectic mixture of haunting, strange and amusing objects from the collection, topped off by the famous stairs themselves (complete with ghostly creaks). It is a homage to the power of museums and their collections over our imaginations.
TMAG has one of Australia’s greatest museum and art collections, housed in what is arguably the nation’s most significant precinct of heritage buildings. Our installation was part of a major redevelopment of TMAG which has won a number of major prizes – including overall winner and best permanent exhibition at the Museums and Galleries National Awards, and Hobart City Council’s Heritage Award. Lighting designer Adam Meredith, of Megs Lighting in Melbourne, was also awarded an Illuminated Engineering Society (IES) Commendation award for his work on the project.