In this mostly-gray-sometimes-white winter it’s nice to think back on a summery project we did last year: an exhibition for the Museum of Gdańsk, entitled “The Gardens of Gdańsk.” The exhibition was held in the Uphagen House, a museum of historical interiors, taking up one floor of it, and it illustrated the history of public and private gardens in Gdańsk, as well as the very philosophy of gardening in the – mostly – 18th century. The exhibition was curated by Ms. Zofia Maciakowska and Ms. Katarzyna Rozmarynowska and all the (often problematic) organizational problems were expertly managed by Mr. Wojciech Szymański of the Museum.
We designed the entire exhibition: the spacial arrangement, colors, typography and all the prints displayed. The materials were fun to work with because they consisted of old maps, prints and illustrations.
The map of the Oliwa Park at the entrance to the exhibition.
While we really wanted to use real plants, the rooms didn’t have enough light and so we used artificial ivy and other plants, arranged on wooden garden constructions painted according to historical conventions (this lovely green-gray color is actually historically accurate, as we learned).
The walls were decorated with illustrative etchings and large quotes about gardening.
A close-up of the quote with the author.
The boards have different depths, with the thicker sides painted the color contrasting with the wall (pink in the green room, green in the pink room).
The typeface not only fits the conventions of the 18th century serif typefaces with their large contrast and geometrical shapes but also have decorative variants that match the etchings.
Next week we’ll show you more photos.
re:blog 