Exhibition design for Helsinki Art Museum, 2019

The design for Paweł Althamer's first solo show in the Nordic countries included two parts: a retrospective exhibition and a new collaborative artwork.

Althamer's sculptures and video works occupied the south hall, where the display was designed to foster personal encounters between circulating museum-goers and the "visiting" life-size, near human, figures. The architecture seeked resonance with Althamer's deeply engaged approach to making art collaboratively with people of various backgrounds. The exhibited sculptures were in many cases totemic outcomes of such social processes. The rich materiality of the artworks was supported by an earthy color scheme, as well as display furniture that avoided any distancing connotations of regular gallery podiums.

The new project created for this exhibition, titled New Work, took over the entire north hall. Althamer wanted visitors to experience a dreamlike white space free of everyday digital congestion, offering an insulated universe for personal introspection or transitory interaction with others sharing the space. In collaboration with the artist, Wanderlust developed the initial idea into an elevated spatial and sensory experience with bespoke lighting, soft movable furnishings and surface materials.

Client: HAM Helsinki Art Museum
Collaboration: New Work designed with Paweł Althamer

Photo credit: HAM & Maija Toivanen

Photo credit: HAM & Hanna Kukorelli

Photo credit: HAM & Maija Toivanen

Photo credit: HAM & Hanna Kukorelli

Photo credit: HAM & Maija Toivanen

Photo credit: HAM & Maija Toivanen

Photo credit: HAM & Hanna Kukorelli

Photo credit: HAM & Maija Toivanen