Ukraine: War, Technology and Human Cost
Project Overview
In March 2025, The Tank Museum opened a major temporary exhibition exploring the ongoing war in Ukraine. Installed within the Cold War Hall, the exhibition tells a contemporary story of conflict through armoured vehicles, first-hand testimony, and the lived experiences of civilians and soldiers.
The exhibition sits at the intersection of military technology, human impact, and international cooperation, reflecting the Museum’s unique position as both a national collection and an active training site where Ukrainian troops have trained alongside British forces.
Introduction & Back Story
The Ukraine Exhibition was developed to help visitors understand an ongoing conflict through space, objects, and narrative. Set within the historic context of the Tank Museum, the exhibition connects contemporary warfare to lived human experience, presenting complex events in a clear, grounded, and respectful way.
The chosen gallery brought significant challenges. The space was prone to seasonal flooding, and the previous exhibition had been poorly conceived, with little consideration for infrastructure. This made new installations slow, costly, and difficult to deliver. In response, the space was re-engineered properly from the ground up. All construction was flood-proofed up to 200mm from floor level, with no MDF or electrical components used below this height, allowing for fast clean-up and minimal damage during winter flooding.
Clean, high-metal jumbo stud walls were introduced alongside removable stretch graphic locations and a flexible lighting system. This transformed the gallery into a robust black-box environment suitable for temporary exhibitions. Beyond the Ukraine Exhibition itself, the project established a long-term, adaptable framework, reducing future costs, shortening installation times, and ensuring future exhibitions could be delivered more efficiently.
