Aug
06
2026
Route 66 has always been more than a highway– it's a thread connecting stories, places, and people across America. As it happens, that same thread runs through two decades of Ideum's work. From the steps of the Art Institute of Chicago to the coastline of Santa Monica, we've had the privilege of building interactive experiences at museums and cultural institutions all along the way.
The famous Mother Road starts in front of the Art Institute of Chicago, where we’ve partnered to create custom kiosks and iPad displays. You can find them throughout the museum in exhibits like Arms and Armor, but of course our favorite work is the New Mexico room in the downstairs Thorne Miniatures Gallery. If you make your way down the museum campus, you’ll find more of our custom reader rails as soon as you enter the Field Museum. The custom stretch displays were the first iteration of our Reader Rail Kiosk, which is now a core part of our touch kiosk lineup. These displays have a unique 16:5 aspect ratio, and support up to 20 simultaneous touch points. There are over 80 of these units throughout the museum. By providing further interactive information and images, these kiosks help to give visitors a more in-depth understanding of the artifacts on display.
From Tulsa to OKC, Ideum has left an indelible mark on some of Route 66's most storied museums. At the Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art, we developed an immersive exhibit that allows visitors to dynamically pan, zoom, and explore more than 500 synagogues. The exhibit was designed to showcase photographer Louis Davidson’s stunning images from around the world. At the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum, we provided touch tables & touch displays over the last decade to honor history through meaningful, interactive storytelling. More recently, we had the pleasure of returning to collaborate with Oklahoma History Center on a dedicated centennial interactive application for their exhibit The Longest Stretch: Route 66 in Oklahoma. Through a map of historic Route 66, visitors can explore both historical and modern communities, discovering their unique details and highlights. To focus on specific areas of interest, such as roadside attractions, visitors have the option to filter these communities and customize their learning experience. Finally, at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, our designs bring the spirit of the American West to life. Using our custom-fabricated Reader Rail Kiosk to control the projection, visitors can choose from over 100 videos spanning 30 years of Professional Bull Riders’ history, including top rides from last season. Debuting this summer, the PBR Heroes & Legends Hall of Fame exhibition at The Cowboy features a blend of physical objects and digital interactives that illustrate the story of rodeo and the PBR. As we progress toward the full grand opening of the National Rodeo Hall of Fame exhibition in November, Ideum’s development will expand to include a jumbotron, a large video wall, and additional digital interactive experiences. Across these different stories, our mission remains exactly the same: turning history into an unforgettable experience.
Arriving in Amarillo, Texas, we’re visiting the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame & Museum. Over the last year, our team has collaborated with the museum on a five-phase renovation to modernize the visitor experience while honoring the deep legacy of the American Quarter Horse. We recently completed the installation of new exhibits and AV systems in the Grand Hall, which sets the tone for visitors the moment they walk through the door. With new interpretive features and immersive media, we are sharing stories of the people and horses who shaped the world’s most popular horse breed in a space built to welcome visitors, both old and new. The full exhibit is currently in its final stages to open later this fall.
In the heart of our home, the ABQ BioPark Botanic Garden lies at one of the most significant intersections in North America, where the world-famous Route 66 crosses the Rio Grande alongside the historic El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro. In 2015, Ideum designed and developed a motion-based interactive for the new BUGarium that allowed visitors to “Be the Bug.” Just down the road, the ABQ BioPark Zoo carries that same spirit of connection as home to species from six continents, all rooted in the high desert landscape that defines our state’s story. We contributed to the groundbreaking immersive exhibition in the Penguin Chill habitat where visitors can take on a Sub-Antarctic Expedition. In the heart of Old Town, the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science traces an even longer timeline, from the dinosaurs that once roamed this land to the volcanoes that formed our skyline. Recently reopened this spring with freshly renovated exhibitions, this city staple features the Hall of Ancient Life, a space for which Ideum designed two projects–Postcards from the Paleozoic and Exploring Earth. Three destinations with one thread. We are proud to partner with each of these institutions to help bring their stories to life through interactive exhibits that invite visitors to explore, touch, and connect.
In 2016, we partnered with Lowell Observatory on Mars Hill above Flagstaff—the 130-year-old site where Pluto was discovered just four years after Route 66 was established. Flagstaff features the route's highest elevation at 7,000 feet and preserves 14.2 miles of the historic highway. We helped create the Space Guard Academy exhibit, where visitors register as cadets to learn about asteroids through interactives and media. Cadets choose a name and receive a printed ID card to scan into activities, tracking progress as they earn points, ranks, and badges. Ideum developed activities including an asteroid photometry interactive matching shapes to light curves, and an astrograph activity simulating a blink comparator to identify moving objects. A final quiz checks knowledge and snaps a photo of visitors "in uniform," which is displayed with their rank, score, and badges in the "Hall of Fame".
The last stop on Route 66 was Ideum’s first! Some of our earliest projects were in Los Angeles on the MOCA Exhibition Archive Website and LA Zone Map. More recently, we’ve returned to help create the California Science Center’s Life Beginnings exhibition. This collection of playful and innovative interactive exhibits narrates a story shared by everyone: tracing the journey from organic conception and development to genetic inheritance, and illustrating how environmental factors shape our final form. At the end of the road, in collaboration with the Cayton Children’s Museum in Santa Monica, Ideum developed In Tune with Nature, an imaginative and beautifully illustrated interactive room designed to transport visitors into a living mountain meadow. Within this immersive space, children can play alongside dragonflies, butterflies, fireflies, and other whimsical creatures as the surrounding environment seamlessly shifts through the daily cycles of dawn, daylight, dusk, and night.
Reflecting on Ideum’s journey from projects on the shores of Lake Michigan to the Pacific coast, we are reminded that just like the best road trips, exceptional exhibitions are defined by more than the final stop. It has been our pleasure to help craft these narratives and leave our own mark on Route 66 over the last two decades.
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