2016
Reframing Modernism is National Gallery Singapore’s first international collaboration with Centre Pompidou, Paris. This exhibition reframes the existing paradigm of how modernist painting is understood. Drawing on over 200 iconic works by modern artists from Southeast Asia and Europe, it invites us to reconsider how artists working in different global contexts approached modern art and modernism in the 20th century.
As many of the artworks feature common approaches to modernism, common ways of working and common conceptual orientations, we made use of the symbol a cluster of frames to represent the emphasis on shared qualities, mimicking how visitors will move between bodies of work across nebula like structures, thus be encouraged to make their own connections between different bodies of work. The serif logotype is deconstructed amongst the frames which bring forth a sense of broad minded dialogue and interpretation between the viewers and the artworks.
In collaboration with Superfat Designs
Spatial & Wayfinding Design
Spatially, the exhibition is designed in such a way that the eye is drawn along large horizontal walls and within nebula clusters, which creates a natural rhythm and allows viewers to be able to physically draw a direct correlation of artists from South East Asia with their European counter parts with the help of textual explanations on the walls. Portions of the artworks throughout the exhibition can be seen through gaps between walls which strengthens the notion of the interrelated case studies. The artworks are always laid out adjacent to each other to allow for with more work to be captured in the viewers peripheral vision. This leads the viewers to the next artwork and how they should be viewed.
As the exhibition spans across three galleries, we also created a series of way finding devices that all ties in neatly with the branding elements we’ve created such as the frames and deconstructed text to conjure a consistent look and feel throughout, allowing for the viewers to be directed seamlessly throughout the galleries and the various activity stations.
Experience Station
Education Station
Exhibition Collaterals
