OUGD406 - SB2 - Exhibition Research

OUGD406 - SB2 - Exhibition Research

OK-RM - Fear and Love

In a talk with Nicer Tuesdays, Co-Founder of design studio OK-RM - Rory McGrath talked through the studios approach to curating the ‘Fear and Love’ exhibit at the Design Museum in Rotterdam. 

McGrath described the studios process very well, saying for the research, they literally started thinking about physical objects which are associated or relate to objects in the exhibit in order to bring the ideas into a more 3D context. This was before even realising and idea for the exhibit. It was then that they started to examine the relationships between pieces in the exhibit and the interplay between them, how the atmosphere and narrative of a room could be altered depending on which objects are in there, and how that could be further embellished. McGrath emphasised the idea of ‘beautiful surprises’ and how random pieces could seemingly interact harmoniously.

This then informed the curation and decoration of each room; a theatrical theme and vernacular was adopted, each room had a different theme like acts within a play and each piece in the exhibit had a character and name. A publication was specially written for the exhibit, creating stories around these characters. All of these ideas contributed to a creative and immersive exhibition, making it an experience for visitors and while these ideas were explored, developed and refined to the highest level of quality, McGrath also mentioned about being careful not to ‘over design’ and come up with too many ideas . 

Thoughts and Ideas

I really like the idea they came up with for this exhibit, when curating an exhibit with no overarching theme, simply a collection of objects/pieces, coming up with a theme would be hard however by concentrating on the individual relationships of the pieces, the theatrical theme came. It reminds me of Rana Begum’s Occasional Geometries exhibit and how she positioned objects depending on how they interacted with each other. 

In terms of how this could relate to curating the micro-genre exhibition, they seem unrelated at first because firstly, there is a musical theme, and we’ve all been told to do a cassette, flag and object, meaning it’s not as random. However the idea of micro-genres alone do not provide a discernible theme because all micro-genres have different themes, aesthetics, moods etc. Therefore OK-RM’s approach of immersing yourself in research and letting that inform the theme of the exhibit sounds like the way to go. Their idea of examining the physicality and presence of each piece is a very interesting idea and will be useful to consider when thinking about there curation; how the objects will be displayed and grouped, will they be ordered depending on their micro-genre to create an atmosphere walking around the exhibit, or will all the cassettes be together, and all the flags together etc.

The Happy Show - Stefan Sagmeister

The Happy Show exhibition by Stefan Sagmeister aims to explore and examine happiness through a collection of art, design and infographics. In a certain section, Sagmeister displays infographics and information about happiness across the walls with vinyl stickering, adding interactive elements to various parts also. He retains this constant style and visual identity throughout the whole exhibit through the constant use of this vinyl in places such as the stairs, hallways and elevator - creating a more immersive experience. 

Thoughts and Opinions 

The most successful elements of this exhibition lie in the well established visual identity and experience and the interactivity. Interactive elements such as rating how happy you are or drawing your ‘happy symbol’ generally just engage you more with the exhibit, but more so than that is the fact the subject of the exhibit is relatable to everyone, almost like you’re learning about yourself.  It’s also quite funny as well which is important and very effective sometimes.