AVCI+ EXHIBITIONS
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Introduction AVCI+
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Approach Content interpretation Design Interpretation : Design Graphics and Details Interpretation: A Case Study
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Projects The Knight, the lady and the dragon Emona Lipikum Reflections of distant worlds Christianity in Slovenia Theatre Design
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Awards
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Clients
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You can navigate this PDF by clicking on index items on each page
Introduction
AVCI+ is a division of AVCIARCHITECTS devoted to projects where the narrative takes the lead: design of exhibitions and theatre productions. Led by Sanja Jurca Avci, AVCI+ has worked for clients such as The Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford, various national museums of Slovenia and the ICA in London. The range of work has been as diverse as the design of galleries and museums exhibitions, jazz concerts, theatre productions (both set and costumes) and design of exhibitions for corporate companies. Through designing both theatre productions and exhibitions AVCI+ has successfully merged the disciplines of both worlds to create unique events/spaces.
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AVCIARCHITECTS was established by Sanja Jurca Avci and Selcuk Avci in 1989. The practice has completed projects in England, Italy, Slovenia, Hungary and Turkey. Since 2006 it has been based in Istanbul and is working on projects both locally and internationally.
Designing exhibitions is telling stories in space 2
Introduction
We strongly believe that only an exhibition with a clear message is a successful exhibition. This is why we engage with curators in an intense “content interpretation� before we begin with designing.
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For every content we try to find its best spatial expression 3
Introduction
In this way our design reinforces and serves the exhibition content rather than owerpowering it. The final design is balanced and rebalanced until it works as a perfect whole and conveys the desired message.
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Final design is a balanced whole conveying the desired message 4
Before Design: Content Interpretation
Interpretation
Content Interpretation
What often starts out as dry, professional and predominently textual material, needs to be “translated� through a process of content interpretation into a storyline that touches and engages the target public. This can be done in an infinite number of ways and the challenge and the trick is to find the best way to interpret a particular content.
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Interpreting content is a process of translation 5
Content Interpretation
At AVCI+ we begin by working closely with curators on deciphering and translating. We translate what usually begins as very professionally and dryly written content into a form that will be understood and appreciated by the target public.
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We work closely with curators 6
CONTETNT
INTERPRETATION
STORYLINE
Content Interpretation
We call this process “combing� the content as, like when combing tangled hair, you have to do it over and over again, until the last tangle is resolved and the way through is smooth.
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... until the last tangle is resolved and the way through is smooth 7
IDENTIFYING THEMES AND SUBTHEMES VII. SCHOOLING AND COMPETITONS SCHOOLING • Why Horses Obey • Schooling History of Schooling Process of Choosing Suitable Horses COMPETITIONS • Equipment • Compterions • Achievements
ESTABLISHING THE DRAMATURGY OF THE STORYLINE
I. TIMELINE
Climax
IV. LIPICA STUD FARM THROUGH HISTORY • It All Began in the Karst Region • Lipica Stud Farm Today • Breeding Throughout History Nowadays Naming a Lipizzaner
Beginning Experience
CONTENT
The unique Lipizzaner Has been bred Throughout centuries Here, in Lipica, By planned Cross-breeding Of indigenous Carst Mares And Foreign Stallions.
ESTABLISHING THE MAIN MESSAGE
Finale Experience
STORYLINE
checking against the main message
Content Interpretation
ESTABLISHING CHILDRENS LAYER
INTERPRETATION PROCESS DIAGRAM
EXHIBITION
ESTABLISHING INTERACTIONS
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Asigning Roles to Respective Design Elements
CONTENT
STORYLINE
Exhibit
Shape
Colour
Material
Graphics
Size
Details
Light
Multimedia
checking against the story line
DESIGN
Establishing Visual HIerarchy and Legibility
DESIGN PROCESS DIAGRAM
EXHIBITION
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Developing Layers 9
INTERPRETATION
CONTENT
STORYLINE
interpretation : design
INTERPRETATION : DESIGN RELATIONSHIP DIAGRAM
EXHIBITION DESIGN
Interpretation and design go hand in hand with interpretation taking the lead..
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GRAPHICS HIERARCHY Space titles
DETAILED SHOWCASE INTERIOR DESIGN Title
Text Highlight
metal plates, 1mm thick, for fixing panels with text, nailed with steel nails
Contextualisation large image
Contextualisation graphic strip
Silhouette enriched with graphics
GRAPHICS AND details
FIXINGS DETAIL DESIGN
1. part fixed to the male silhouette
PLAN
opening for shield fixing perspex fixing nailed to the back of the showcase with steel nails; silhouette positioned in here
VIEW
Graphics are seen as part of spatial design and the detail of a showcase fixing as important as the exhibition layout. Every element is carefully considered and included in telling the story.
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AXONOMETRICS NOT TO SCALE ALL MEASUREMENTS IN MM
Our approach to exhibition design is all-encompassing 11
? Unengaging, unappealing
A family gathering
Imaginary life-size portraits
INTERpretation: a case study
Our Fathers’ Footsteps Permanent exhibition Pule Estate, Mokronog, Slovenia 2006
Some years ago we were invited to do a small boutique exhibition about the ancestors of a successful businessman. The curator handed us with a pile of archive documents in which the ancestors were mentioned. Turning those into an exhibition directly would have been a disaster – a boring succession of copies of archive papers.
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We brought the content closer to the visitor by identifying those family members, during whose life something significant had happened: one was a witness in a medieval court case; another one led the family when serfdom was abolished; yet another one was the black sheep who gambled away the family home... We enabled the visitors to look at these people in the eye.
Turning a potentially boring exhibition into an engaging one 12
Timeline
Meeting Matija eye to eye
Enjoying interactives
INTERpretation: a case study
Our Fathers’ Footsteps Permanent exhibition Pule Estate, Mokronog, Slovenia 2006
Moreover, we decided to commission short imaginary monologues by these people that might have been spoken or thought at crucial moments of their lives and that were reflected in the archives. Renowned actors interpreted the monologues, sound effects were added and they almost turned into vignette radio plays. Monologues were presented on a touch screen as an interactive and to spice the exhibition further, 2 simple computer interactives were also added to this area.
A family tree
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As a result of this the visitors now leave the exhibition feeling they have met these people and lived through a part of the history of this family.
Vistors meet the members of the family 13
Projects
Knıghthood
The Knight, the Lady and the Dragon Permanent exhibition Slovene National Museum Ljubljana 2013
Visitors’ path through the exhibition is directed by expressive spatial elements of sheet metal and chainmail that are used consistently and as such enable easy legibility of space and content. Within this framework, each chapter of the exhibition storyline has then found its own spatial expression: Knighthood Values are presented among the double-faced portals; Knights’ Life is explained in the space centered around the spiral of swords; their Domestic Life is revealed in a space surrounded by a soft curtain. Once on the Battlefield, the environment is all about weaponry, armory and their production, while the visitors experience the Demise of True Knighthood under a tournament tent. The final environment is devoted to the Echoes of Knighthood today.
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Carefully conceived sightlines offer surprising layering of views.
The theme is underlined by the materials and strict spatial organization 14
The exhibition title materialized
Knighthood values once upon a time...
...and nowadays
The Knights’ knight, world the lady and the swords
Showcase The hiddencomposition treasure
Invitation to dinner
Discovering the hidden treasure
Layering of views
Looking back on tournaments
Showcase composition
Warriors
Knighthood around us
EMONA
Emona: Myth and Reality Temporary exhibition Ljubljana City Museum Ljubljana 2010
Slovene capital Ljubljana is lucky enough to have Emona as its Roman counterpart, and Emona in turn, is lucky to have a myth speaking about its origins – the Argonauts. The exhibition spaces carefully followed the storyline of the myth, and, in another part, of the everyday life in Emona. Their design echoed the architectural environments – the city walls, forum, triumphal arch, and, within a private house, the triclinium. The colours, all taken from Emona’s frescoes, surprised the visitors with their brilliance.
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The “myth” is a glowing ellipse that the visitors can enter 18
Stone fragment dating Emona to 14 AD
Roman toga is not so easy to put on.
“Roman forum�, created by columns, concentrated on the public aspects of life in Emona
Involved in a 2000 years old game
Pottery displayed on a background colour found in Emona’s frescoes
A reinterpretation of a private shrine
Seating on triclinium in the space devoted to the private aspects of life in Emona
The myth of the Argonauts that explains the origins of Emona (present Ljubljana) is embodied in the golden ellipse
LIPIkum
Lipikum: The Lipizzaner Museum Permanent Exhibition Lipica 2011
Lipikum is a museum of experience. The story about the Lipca Stud Farm and Lipizzaner horses is told, beside by the exhibits, also by color (e.g.: walls change from black to white, like Lipizzaners do from birth to maturity), projection (a herd of Lipizzaners running towards the visitors at the beginning of the exhibition is contrasted by peaceful horses resting in the Karst nature at its end), sound (pounding of running horses, peaceful sounds of nature, comissioned theme music), interactives (from simple children interactives to multi screen interactive table), and even by architectural elements (wall of names, circle of life), etc. The visitors discover the story layer after layer and can also become a part of it themselves.
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Each theme of exhibition storyline found its expression in space 21
Lipizzaners running in nature - dynamic entrance experience (multimedia)
Beautiful names of six horses, the ancestors of all Lipizzaners, are given the utmost importance on this sculpted architectural partition
Few valuable exibits...
of spaces Circle Layering of life in Lipica studand farmthemes
... required carefully composed showcase interiors
Strategically placed mirrors enriched the space with unexpected views
Graphics supporting the storyline of the exhibition
Circle of life in Lipica stud farm
For some once in a lifetime experience
Lipizzaner at rest in nature – peaceful final experience (multimedia)
reflections of distant worlds
Reflections of Distant Worlds Permanent Exhibition Slovene Etnographic Museum Ljubljana 2006
Contextualisation was the key when designing the exhibition of these precious and rare collections for Slovenia. Large wall-to-ceiling photos of the respective cultures’ environments, colour and pattern were used to introduce the visitor to the worlds that created the exhibited objects on both the conscious and subconscious levels. The exhibits are shown in context and/or use wherever possible.
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Large wall photographs put foreign objects into context 25
Bespoke support holds this rare exhibit
The richest Chinese collection enabled the creation of an ÂťinteriorÂŤ Prime exhibit and the subtlest layer
Layering of views: details and the whole
Lighting accentuates the dramatic features
Layers of visual hierarchy Wall panoramas and a band of small photos contextualize foreign objects
Showing object in use
Colour coding of respective cultures and consistent use of graphics provide clarity and legibility throughout
Dramatic colour change between two exhibited cultures
Children’s interactive
The subtlest layer
Layers - exhibit: furniture, context: people, background: wall pattern
christianity in slovenia
Christianity in Slovenia Permanent Exhibition Sticna Monastery Sticna 2001
Age-old and recent artefacts resonate in harmony with this historic building that smells honey-like of old timber ceilings and echoes of its meditative contents within thick stone walls. Room by room, period by period, the history of Christianity in Slovenia is told. The design takes the lead and is inspired by the colours of the wall frescoes, the artefacts, the views, the gestures of the statues, the architecture of the spaces. Intentional modern interventions stay clear of the historic building out of respect.
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In prayer – just like some centuries ago in these very spaces 29
Precious exhibits accentuated by lighting
Modern reinterpretation of medieval scriptorium
Positioning of exhibits addresses the vistors
Layering
Reinterpreting the statue’s gesture
Colour taking key from the main exhibit
New composition from the remains of a burnt altar
Composed view upon entering a new space
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exhibition DESIGN
1. Metrel permanent exhibition, Horjul, 2005 2. Slovene Hunting Museum permanent exhibition, concept design, Bistra, 2007 3. Slovene Fishing Museum permanent exhibition, concept design, Bistra, 2003 4. Twiggy from Bistra temporary exhibition, design stage, Bistra castle, 2012 5. The Lineage of Arpad and Stefa temporary exhibition, Bistra Castle, 2010 6. Maja Gspan Retrospective temporary exhibition, Jakopic, MGML, Ljubljana, 2009
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exhibition DESIGN
7. Rake’s Progress London Institute students’ exhibition, London 1999 8. Slovene National Museum invited competition entry for new permanent exhibition, Ljubljana, 2002 9. In Pursuit of a Theatre permanent exhibition, SGM Ljubljana, 2013 10. The Book of Kells permanent exhibition, Dublin, 1998* 11. Slovene Stand for EU Foreign Ministry invited competition entry, Ljubljana, 2001 12. St.Patrick’s permanent exhibition, Dublin, 1999* 13. Chester Beatty permanent exhibition, Dublin, 2000*
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* Sanja Jurca Avci was project architect for Event Communications, London
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exhibition DESIGN
14. Gateway to Istanbul concept, 2013 15. Emona 2000 permanent exhibition, concept design stage, NMS Ljubljana, 2013 16. AVCI ARCHITECTS temporary exhibition, concept design stage, London, 2013 17. Water in Ottoman Culture permanent exhibition, concept design stage, Istanbul, 2013 18. Long Live Evolution! temporary exhibition, PMS Ljubljana, 2013
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THEATRE DESIGN
Our experience with theatre design enables us to look at exhibition design through the lens of theatre where the story line is clear and its dramaturgy established. Direction and acting usually take the lead, while the set, costumes, music and lighting complement them. Exhibitions are quite similar: static and dynamic elements assume their respective roles in the telling of a story that the visitors experience through directed movement through space.
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Clarity, hierarchy, and careful distribution of the roles of respective design elements in space, be it in a theatre production or in an exhibition, require similar important decisions. The guiding principle for these is in both fields the intended experience of the whole. When successful, this enables the spectator/visitor to leave the event with a sense of a story well told.
Theatre set provides the space and the atmosphere for the play 35
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THEATRE DESIGN
1. Ursula by Barker, SNG Drama, Ljubljana, 2000 (previous page) 2. Scenes from an Execution by Barker, SNG Drama, Ljubljana, 2011 3. Hamlet by Shakespeare, MGL, Ljubljana, 2006 4. Jazzoo jazz concert, SAZU courtyard, Ljubljana, 2008 5. The Goat or Who is Sylvia by Albee, MGL, Ljubljana, 2005 6. The Changeling by Myddleton, SNG Drama, Ljubljana, 2009 7. Three Sisters by Chekov, MGL, Ljubljana, 2006
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Awards
AWARDS
1987/ Zlata Ptica National Award for Young Artists 2002/ Christianity in Slovenia Valvasor Award (National Museum of the Year Award) 2007/ Reflections of Distant Worlds Valvasor Award (National Museum of the Year Award)
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2011/ Pozoriste Zvezdariste Best Theatre Design Award, Belgrade International Festival 2013/ The Knight, the Lady and the Dragon Valvasor Award (National Museum of the Year Award) 2013/ The Knight, the Lady and the Dragon Quarterly award for excellence by Slovene Designers’ Association 2013/ The Knight, the Lady and the Dragon Nomination for PleÄ?nik medal (National Architectural Award)
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Clients
CLIENTS: Exhibitions
Event Communications Annenberg Foundation Lipica Stud Farm Saatchi&Saatchi Slovenia Maja Gspan Slovene National Museum Slovene Ethnographic Museum Slovene Technical Museum Slovene Fishing Museum Ljubljana City Museum Metrel Factory Kranjska Investment Company Slovene National Museum Slovene Theatre Museum Slovene Natural History Museum Adell
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CLIENTS: THEATRE DESIGN
Royal Shakespeare Company Lumiere&Son Company The Traverse Theatre Furore Slovene National Theatre Ljubljana City Theatre Nova Gorica Theatre SNG Maribor Theatre SLG Celje Theatre PG Kranj Theatre Theatre Mladinsko Glej Theatre Cankar Cultural and Congress Centre Ljubljana Festival Jazoo
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London Unit 1, 44 Gloucester Avenue, London NW1 +44 (0)20 7739 35 00 T +44 (0)20 7739 35 01 F Istanbul 9/4 Turnacıbaşı Sokak, Beyoğlu, 34433 +90 (0)212 292 79 09 T +90 (0)212 292 79 08 F www.avciarchitects.com
AVCI+ EXHIBITIONS