Rugby Art Gallery and Museum

We’ve worked with Rugby’s Art Gallery and Museum for nearly ten years. In 2016 the curatorial team asked us to design a gallery based on the theme of a notional market at Tripontium, a Roman settlement being unearthed near Rugby. Not put off by the seven week deadline, we dived into the brief of an accessible, busy display that would bring to life late Romano-British society in the East Midlands. It was essential that RAGM could display all of their main artefacts as well as including an area to encourage school groups to dress up and become part of the experience. We used showcase displays, interpretation graphics, models, theming and interactives. The whole kit and caboodle. 

“We were asked to put together a new archaeology gallery in a very short space of time. We wanted to make sure we were showing the best of our archaeology collections from our Tripontium Roman site and also to insure we could carry on our education program. I think what Vertigo did really well is that they listened to us and they took the initial brief on board but they also went a bit further and really researched the whole market stall themed idea that we wanted to kind of encapsulate. Vertigo was able to re-create it in the space to a really high standard. One thing I really liked was the use of graffiti and Vertigo went to a lot of trouble to research Roman graffiti that had been found at various sites and added to our market place. Now that it’s finished we are really excited to open it to the public and it’s a fantastic addition to our museum.”

Catherine Shanahan, Collections Officer, Rugby Art Gallery & Museum