We took an immersive approach to presenting the Royal Academy’s 250th anniversary exhibition, Oceania – also celebrating 250 years since Captain James Cook set off to explore the South Pacific.

With over 200 objects spanning 500 years, the show celebrates the extraordinary art, navigational skills and social and cultural traditions of the indigenous peoples. Real Studios’ scheme uses strong colour, bold lighting and the architecture of the Royal Academy itself (either highlighting or masking the neoclassical setting, where appropriate) to tell powerful stories of voyaging, place making and encounter.

The exhibition travelled in 2019 to the Musée du Quai Branly, Paris, where we designed a distinctively different scheme to maximise impact in its open-plan and contemporary spaces.