NG Stories to highlight National Gallery history
The lives of 14 Victorian children who grew up living in the National Gallery will be among human histories brought into the spotlight, as NG Stories: Making a National Gallery launches, an immersive digital experience with online and in-person elements.
NG Stories: Making a National Gallery will be open to the public from 4th October, 2024 to 12th January 2025, and will blend the digital and physical worlds to shed light on the people and ideas that shaped the history of the National Gallery as we now know it – many of whom worked behind the scenes or whose names have been forgotten.
Taking over two rooms of the Gallery’s ground floor, and accompanied by histories shared online and on social media, NG Stories is one of the key strands of NG200’s digital engagement programme, supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies.
NG Stories provides a contemporary exploration of the Gallery’s 200-year history, highlighting lesser-known people using inventive digital methods to make use of rich archival material. Stories range from the Gallery’s first housemaid and the Keepers and porters who lived in the basement of the Gallery to keep the paintings safe around the clock, to the public appeals and key people that have helped acquire new works for the nation.
The on-site experience weaves “poignant” stories from the public with major milestones from the 200-year history of the Gallery. Online visitors will also have the opportunity to read and share their own experiences; a selection of these will also feature in the Gallery’s new digital display when the Sainsbury Wing reopens in May 2025.
The event will consist of two rooms, one with interactive and immersive elements that put the visitor ‘in the frame’ as they explore the content, the other providing a large-scale audio-visual digital journey that brings the Gallery’s rich history and connections with the public to life.
