The Big Picture in IWM (North)

Abstract

The IWM (North), which opened in 2002, aims to enrich its visitors’ ‘understanding of the causes, course and consequences of war and conflict […] by creating vivid personal stories and powerful experiences’ (Manchester 2013e). Here, as in the ISM, the idea is that visitors can gain this understanding by immersing themselves in personal stories and memories of people who ‘fought in wars, tried to escape them, or had to live and work through them’. An audio announcement at the beginning of each Big Picture Show states: ‘Every image, every document, every voice is part of someone’s story.’ Although this is phrased in very general terms, the focus is clearly on the British perspective. Here, even more than in the ISM, film is the preferred medium to present these stories: large audio-visual projections do not so much provide details about the causes as focus on the consequences of war, or, to be more precise, the impact of various twentieth-century conflicts on (mainly British) people’s lives. There is no central projection space, but once every hour alternating image and sound shows are screened on the walls of the main exhibition space. After the opening of the museum, historian Matthew Hughes criticized the IWM North, arguing that ‘without the Big Picture, the IWM-N is just a box with a restaurant and a viewing platform’ (Hughes 2002).