Habitat, in the snow

Before the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted everyone’s life, if the weather were terrible … well, at least you could pop into a museum and while away an hour or two.

Museums in the Washington, DC region are currently closed to the public, but there is still opportunity to see outdoor exhibitions — even in terrible weather. I took these photos yesterday, of the exhibition, Habitat, that I designed for Smithsonian Gardens. (More photos, taken in warmer times, along with a project description.)

If you’re interested in exploring the Habitat exhibition, on the National Mall in Washington, DC, here is the wayfinding map to help you locate the different exhibits:

What interesting outdoor exhibitions have you seen recently? Let me know in the comments!

Two more at the Hirshhorn Museum

Phew! It has been a busy 14+ months since I last posted. (14 months?! Oh my....) In that time, I’ve designed seven exhibitions of varying size and scope, four print projects, and three large production jobs. I am currently in early design development for an exciting project in Maine, and then there is the typical day-to-day of running a small design studio. Yep, just sitting around eating bon-bons.

In an attempt to get back into posting on The Exhibit Designer, I am kicking off with a book-end to my last post: two more exhibitions at the Hirshhorn Museum. These two were both located in the same gallery, and were on view one right after the other.

Baselitz: Six Decades ran from June 21, 2018 through September 16, 2018, then Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: Pulse opened in its place on November 1. Pulse is on view for another month, if you’d like to check it out.

The title treatment for Pulse played on the visual of the pulsing incandescent light bulbs hanging from the ceiling in Lozano-Hemmer’s installation Pulse Room …

… while the title for Baselitz was a straight-forward title lockup. An early concept, in which “George” and “Baselitz” were alternately flipped upside down (Baselitz is known for his “inverted” paintings) was rejected, and I am a little sad for what could have been.

In the end, the final title lockup and entry wall treatment created a neat refraction effect when ascending the escalator, as the letters reflected in the glass.

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Post updated in January 2021 with minor text edits. This post was originally published at theexhibitdesigner.com on 25 March 2019.

Markus Lüpertz: Threads of History

A quick check-in here. I stopped by the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden this past weekend for Sound Scene X, and to take some photos of a project I currently have on view in the museum’s lower level: the exhibition Markus Lüpertz: Threads of History, on view through September 10.

I developed the concept for the exhibition graphics, and after many rounds of refinement, handed over template files for the museum’s designers to produce final graphics (with the exception of the timeline graphic, which I laid out). I much prefer to handle the layout of final production files but aligning the museum’s schedule with mine was tough in this instance.

I also designed two exterior signs advertising the exhibition, for display outside the museum. The blue sign has already been replaced with one for another exhibition — things move fast on the Mall sometimes! Additional information about the exhibition can be found on my portfolio.

Please check out the exhibition if you're in the DC area! And if you like it, there is a concurrently-open exhibition to see, Markus Lüpertz at the Phillips Collection. I have become a fan of Lüpertz’s work — particularly the Donald Duck paintings, one of which is visible through the exhibition’s entrance (in the first photo) and on the blue sign above.

This weekend was a good time to be a kid (of any age) at the Hirshhorn—the galleries were full of interactive sound installations, live museum, and sound-related activities, all part of Sound Scene X: Dissonance.

While there, I took the opportunity to also check out the newly-opened, Ai WeiWei: Trace at Hirshhorn.

I am currently working with the museum on another exhibition, Ilya and Emilia Kabakov: Utopian Projects, set to open in a month. Stay tuned for that!

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Post updated in January 2021 with minor text edits. This post was originally published at theexhibitdesigner.com on 10 July 2017.

Mr. Toilet House and Nam June Paik

In April I spent two weeks in South Korea and a week in Japan. While there, I did what I always do while touristing — visited many museums. Some of them were forgettable, but many are worthy of a post, including these two that are thematically very different but, geographically, neighbors; they are both located in Suwon, about 20 miles south of Seoul. First up is the Toilet Museum (Haewoojae) also known as “Mr. Toilet House.”

The story behind Mr. Toilet House: Suwon’s late mayor Sim Jae-Duck was given the nickname “Mr. Toilet” for his passionate leadership of the “Toilet Culture Movement” to improve public toilets. In 1996 he started the Beautiful Toilet Culture Campaign, and the city declared its intent to build the most beautiful public toilets in the world (motivated also in part by the then-upcoming 2002 FIFA World Cup which they were to host). Mr. Toilet took things a bit further than merely creating government departments and task forces, however, when he rebuilt his own house in the shape of a toilet and named it Haewoojae, which means “a room where you can relieve your worries.” It features a central toilet room as the “core of living,” with transparent glass walls that turn opaque with the flip of a light switch. The house was completed in 2007, and upon Sim’s death in 2009, it was willed to the city of Suwon. The city then converted it into a museum and culture park.

The museum is small and has clear, simple graphics (nearly all with English translations) that earnestly convey information about the history and global spread of modern sanitation, and other toilet-related subjects. There are also lighthearted illustrations of poops and flies (including on the floor, used as a navigational device) and hilarious double entendres in the writing.

Outside, there is a culture park. A meandering path leads you past examples of toilets, used throughout Eastern and Western history, that give an understanding of how toilets have physically changed over time.

Next door you can visit the Haewoojae Culture Center for a birds-eye view of the Toilet Museum.

Our next stop in Suwon: the Nam June Paik Art Center. The Nam June Paik Art Center opened in 2008 and holds 248 pieces of video installations and drawings, mostly of Nam June Paik’s but also of other contemporary artists. The art center hosts changing exhibitions of Paik’s work, special exhibitions of contemporary artists, performances, events, and educational programs. It also houses Paik’s archives and a library, undertakes research, and publishes scholarly journals and monographs.

The art center changes exhibitions regularly; they use their Nam June Paik-focused exhibitions to focus on different aspects of his work. While I was there, the exhibition was called Point-Line-Plane-TV, which “explored Nam June Paik’s canvas including intermedia [sic] such as television, score, film, and video, in notion of flatness.”

On the mezzanine level is the Education Room, seen in the photos below; a quiet place to have a seat and read some tables about the artist’s life.

Upstairs was Imaginary Asia, a special exhibition of 23 pieces in the motion images genre. Many of the videos were projected onto large walls, with small bench nooks that could sit 2–3 people for viewing.

Like at Mr. Toilet House — and actually at many, many places I visited in South Korea — navigational cues and directions were applied directly to floors. In the Point-Line-Plane-TV exhibition as well they applied interpretive text to the floor. Interpretive text was in both Korean and English.

Outside, the curved glass exterior of the the art center is modeled on the form of a grand piano, a common motif in Paik’s work, and on the letter P. But that is only apparent when you look at the museum map — the actual experience from outside is simply of an impressive modernist building.

There is a small park just beside the museum — perfect for a rest after an afternoon’s museum visit — and nearby are the Gyeonggi Provincial Museum (which has limited English translations) and the Gyeonggi Children’s Museum.

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Post updated in January 2021 with minor text edits. Broken links have been replaced with archived URLs, courtesy of archive.org. This post was originally published at theexhibitdesigner.com on 24 May 2017.

Space for Life, part 2: Insectarium

Update: The Insectarium is being redesigned, and is scheduled to reopen in 2021.

The Insectarium was our second stop in Montréal’s natural museum complex, Espace Pour La Vie (“Space for Life”). It’s a fascinating and excellently-designed museum. Its exterior looks like a home for insects, almost like a bee hive:

The permanent exhibition is called We Are the Insects and it is predominately ... very green. Graphics are a mix of strikingly clean layouts and comic book-inspired illustrations.

Here’s the view down to the bulk of the exhibition:

Each of the glowing cubes is a display case. Specimens are pinned to a rear-lit graphic, around text and images arranged in a clean, gridular design. Each layout looked nicer than the last, so I'm going to share photos of many.

Some layouts have a sense of irreverence, like this one, with its marching ants:

The different accent colors and stylized illustrations indicated the habitats (e.g. tropical forests) for the specimens.

Throughout the exhibition there were terrariums with some live critters, and beneath some display cubes there were dioramas (faux terrariums, if you will).

There were wall displays, and plenty of interesting charts and diagrams. There were sections about insect lifestyles, diets, reproduction, and what people can do to protect endangered insects. The sheer number of displays could have made for a repetitive slog, but it did not feel that way at all — specimens were fascinating, text was succinct, and the layouts were visually varied while staying true to the design system.

Outside were additional exhibitions and a temporary interactive art installation. And then we were off to explore the Botanical Garden.

Post updated in January 2021 with minor text edits. Broken links have been replaced with archived URLs, courtesy of archive.org. This post was originally published at theexhibitdesigner.com on 15 March 2017.

I Want to Design this Exhibit: Banned Books Week

While scooting through downtown yesterday I saw these great big graphics on the side of the the DC Public Library on G Street.

I like the red blocks — they make me think of classified documents and redacted memos. Since the graphics had so successfully caught my attention, I was bummed to learn that I have missed Banned Books Week 2014 and its associated events. But I have enjoyed designing a little temporary exhibit in my mind ... books to flip through, excerpts printed large. I imagine someone reading one and saying, “really?! Charlotte’s Web??” and discussions about First Amendment rights and censorship.... Next year?

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Post updated in January 2021 with minor text edits. Broken links have been replaced with archived URLs, courtesy of archive.org. This post was originally published at theexhibitdesigner.com on 3 October 2014.

State of Deception, at USHMM

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has a temporary exhibition State of Deception: The Power of Nazi Propaganda that I’d like you all to see. (I know I have a stellar track record of posting about temporary exhibits after they’ve closed, but not this time — State of Deception is open through December 2011.)

The exhibition, by the museum’s description, “reveals how the Nazi Party used modern techniques as well as new technologies and carefully crafted messages to sway millions with its vision for a new Germany.” There are books, posters, newspapers, and photos to look at, archival sound recordings to listen to, and films to watch. There’s a lot to take in, but the exhibition does a great job of leading you through and presenting its themes clearly and succinctly.

I was drawn in by the compelling design of the exhibit’s graphics. I liked the modernist layouts, which reminded me of Die Neue Typographie and Jan Tschichold’s work during the mid–late 1920s. (Side note: Tschichold was arrested by the Nazis for his “un-German typography.”...If you're interested in being led astray by the internet: do some research into Nazi Germany’s changes in typeface doctrine.)

I liked that each graphic was unique — the torn paper and painting texture is all custom done. An interesting thing the designers did was to change the lengths of the secondary and label-level text panels to fit the length of the text. With a relatively small exhibit like this, it works well, though it would certainly be difficult to control for in a larger exhibit. But here it made every panel seem intentional and thoughtful. A lot of care was put into these graphics, and the effect is quite beautiful. I wanted to read every single label.

I also recommend that you spend some time with the exhibition’s accompanying website, if you make it to the exhibition in person or not. It is rich with information and the website design ties in well with the exhibition’s.

Post updated in January 2021 with minor text edits. Broken links have been fixed. This post was originally published at theexhibitdesigner.com on 7 October 2010.

Delay Junction

Outside the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden, Colorado — I love this hand-painted sign.

Post updated in January 2021 with minor text edits. This post was originally published at theexhibitdesigner.com on 23 May 2010.

Birds of Florida

At the Florida Aquarium, a star-shaped spinning wheel of bird identification:

Post updated in January 2021 with minor text edits. This post was originally published at theexhibitdesigner.com on 6 December 2009.

Design Research: a street-visible exhibition

What fun! D/R has temporarily reclaiming its former home at 48 Brattle Street in Harvard Square. An exhibition viewable only from the street, Design Research: A Retrospective celebrates the pioneering retailer of bold modernist furnishings, interior designs, and clothing. On view through April 2010. More information here, here, and here.

Post updated in January 2021 with minor text edits. Broken links have been fixed or replaced with archived URLs, courtesy of archive.org. This post was originally published at theexhibitdesigner.com on 29 November 2009.