NEW PERCEPTIONS OF TECHNOLOGY
EXHIBITION OF CONTEMPORARY EXPERIMENTAL CRAFTS
Hangzhou, China 2023
NEW PERCEPTIONS OF TECHNOLOGY
EXHIBITION OF CONTEMPORARY EXPERIMENTAL CRAFTS
Hangzhou, China 2023
Designer Steve Jensen, of SJD collaborated with academic Xiaofei Huang, from China Academy of Art and curator Xue Runzhi. To create an exhibition of contemporary experimental crafts and their relationship with new technology. 80 artists were invited to display works at the Crafts Museum of CAA in Hangzhou.
The system of archive, catalogue, connection and distribution drives the narrative of display and exhibition journey.
Information graphic classification, inspired by the Periodic Table, allows visitors to access complex systems of information along the spatial path.
Understanding materials, technologies and traditions in the archive graphic system, will inform and also be a fun experience for the visitors. Connecting physical artefacts to stories and technical information in a straight forward and simple way.
We set the Archive within the landscape of Chinese tradition of gardens. Gallery space becomes the garden boundary, the landscape set within.
A typical Chinese garden is enclosed by walls and includes one or more ponds, rock works, trees and flowers, and an assortment of halls and pavilions within the garden, connected by winding paths and zig-zag galleries. By moving from structure to structure, visitors can view a series of carefully composed scenes, unrolling like a scroll of landscape paintings.
An architectural device, we called the interface, controls the relationship between artefact and archive, a physical link, prop, plinth and spatial envelop. A timber grid system that is adaptable and flexible.
The pixels grow from the X, Y and Z axis depending on the needs of the objects to be displayed, creating a unique elevated stage on which the object can perform.
The timber interface structure is constructed from local pine 45mm square section. Multiple legs provide stability and allow each structure to be stabilised on the galleries unique a varying degree of sloping floor.
Graphics and materials are connected to the interface where needed. These are called pixels; the system works with the timber grid and can serve to inform but also become material backdrop to the artefacts. A simple colour coding and numeric language guides the viewer through the complex array of technologies and construction systems and technologies.
The artefacts, or objects, are set out on plinths within the interface system, alongside appropriate pixel information graphics and material backdrops.
After the exhibition ends the locally sourced materials will be deconstructed and returned to local businesses for re-use.