Common Threads: Weaving Stories Across Time featured a newly commissioned opera inspired by a set of 16thcentury Flemish tapestries in the Museum’s Tapestry Room. A table at the center of the gallery, designed to embody the opera’s lyrical qualities, was a visual beacon where visitors could pick up headphones and watch an introductory video. “Threads” made of electrical conduit rose up from the center of the tabletop as if it was unraveling, dispersed at the ceiling, and descended to become label holders for the tapestries, guiding visitors to the works. With no outlets on the floor to power the video monitor or media player charging station, one of the threads was used to disguise a path for electrical power that came down from the ceiling, and one section of the table was a hidden drawer that concealed the charging station. Since the opera itself had no form, the installation functioned to give it physical presence.