Expanded Narratives
Exhibition Design at Picasso Room, COAC
This exhibition embraces the selected works of the competition “Altres Pessebres” at the at Picasso Room of the COAC (Architects' Association of Catalonia) in Barcelona.
Relating to the landscape dioramas found in popular pessebres, the design of the exhibition is conceived as a new landscape made out of different layers, occupying the whole available exhibition space, and creating a path along which the visitor can find the artworks being displayed.
Location:
Barcelona, Spain Type:
CultureStatus / Year:
Built / 2014Size:
153 m² Client:
ICUB (Barcelona's Culture Institute),
Obra Social “La Caixa”The exhibition 'Altres Pessebres' brings together a selection of works of the competition of the same name, which was aimed at architects, designers, artists, and other creatives to reinterpret and expand the idea of pessebres.
In general terms, pessebres are representations of nativity scenes, and are very rooted in Catalan popular culture.
The objective of the competition was to start with the same narratives and then find other ways of conceptualization and representation, following key concepts found in pessebres, such as scale, attention to detail, materials and light.
The idea of pessebres became the excuse for creating small utopian worlds, imaginary landscapes, and visionary architectures.
The design of the exhibition is conceived as a landscape.
The landscape is a recurrent theme in the popular pessebre, and usually is shown as idealized. A technique often used is known as dioramas, which appeared at the beginning of 20th century, and mainly consists in building spatial depth by using flat layers of elements at different scales, from big to small, one behind the other, to create a three-dimensional effect.
Relating to this idea, the design of the exhibition is conceived as a landscape, occupying the whole available exhibition space, and creating a path along which the visitor can find the artworks being displayed.
Plan view and 3D view showing instructions to arrange the panels.
This new landscape is made of layers that represent different elements: understory, forest, lake, river, and mountain. Each layer is made of panels that embrace the artworks and guide the visitors.
Diagram showing landscape layers
The artworks to display were exceptionally varied and each one had particular requirements in relation to type of support and illumination, the way to be observed by the visitor, and the strategic position within the exhibition space.
The idea of creating a new landscape unifies all the artworks and gives architectural coherence. At the same time, it helped us to resolve unique needs, allowing isolation in relation to the other pieces.
The construction of this landscape is made using standard MDF panels, CNC cut, and coated with paint. The top of each panel has a silhouette representing the different parts of the layered landscape.
The panels are interlocked with each other to create and define differentiated areas. The interlocking system works in a very simple way, facilitating the assembly of the pieces on site. This is enabled by series of CNC cut slots in the panels and a sequence to assemble them together.
The exhibition was made with a very low budget. The design project had to be solved using low cost materials and fabrication processes, as well as a simple construction system, to reduce the time of execution and the workmanship required to do the assembly.
For this project we also did the graphic design, including texts and translations, and all the project coordination.
Collaborators:
Guy Matthews
Support:
FCP, COAC Barcelona
Fabrication:
FabLab Barcelona
Photography:
Adrià Goula
