1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Light and Darkness is a major exhibition located within University of Sydney’s Chau Chak Wing Museum and surveys art from the 1960s to the 1980s and features internationally renowned artists. The major design intervention is the insertion of a room within the gallery space to anchor the exhibition’s most prominent works - luminal and kinetic sculptures that exemplify this experimental period in art history.
Through its enclosure, apertures, materials and scale, the box becomes a frame for viewing works, both within and outside the exhibition. The interior of this room - painted matte with a reflective floor provides a darkened atmosphere to heighten the presence of the luminal works, while the reflective exterior amplifies the presence of the chromatic works in the ‘white’ space. Built from timber-framed construction, there are only three finishes deployed across the whole space to achieve a varied textural effect.
Traditionally black boxes within gallery settings are treated as non-rooms - hidden, shapeless and without any discernible architectural character. Here, the black box is active within the exhibition experience, forms a playful backdrop for the artworks and anchors the curatorial themes.
Though the brief required a fully enclosed room, the design approach achieved this with two walls only. The full enclosure was achieved by building two wall, the third wall borrowed from the existing gallery and reusing an existing projection screen. In this manner the construction scope and material use were minimised.
The project is essentially a humble box - both in scale and construction - but with an innovative approach to finishes and careful studies of scale, enclosure and aperture.
Awards:
Commendation, Installation Design category, Australian Interior Design Awards 2022
Commendation, MAGNA (Museums and Galleries National Awards), temporary or travelling exhibition 2022
Photography: Hamish McIntosh