The exhibition ‘Ark: A Structure of Care’, part of the programme of the 8th Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art, was realised at MOMus Museum of Contemporary Art featuring works from its permanent collection and that of National Museum of Contemporary Art (EMΣΤ), Athens. The exhibition’s theme, the familiar narrative of the Ark, was reapproached and presented afresh — transferring its archetypal idea to an alternative, contemporary context, while drawing a parallel between its own preservative role (life) and that of the museum’s (culture). In an attempt to reinterpret the Ark’s iconography as a space the focus was largely shifted on the practical, functional aspects of its monumental mission, with the overall design approach referencing on the one hand its stripped-down skeletal structure, and on the other the architectural and graphic systems used in contemporary cargo ships or construction sites.
Contrary to the linearity of its starting point, the exhibition doesn’t entail a predetermined course but has multiple entry points which allow for multiple ways of walking through it. The above parallel between the Ark and the museum was visualised in the space by turning it into somewhat of a ship in the stage of construction, introducing relationships such as content-shell, safety-danger etc. The architectural language’s key element is a structural system reminiscent of scaffolding, consisting of vertical and horizontal wooden beams in varying density, providing a visual rhythm that interacts with that of the artworks. This system largely spread out on top of the museum’s walls, following the existing architecture and merging with the artworks, while at the same time forming more complex constructions at certain points of the exhibition such as the entrances.
The exhibition identity’s graphic language, used frequently throughout the space, is largely based on elements from the leading system of signals and warnings, as determined in accordance to stipulations from the International Organization for Standardisation (ISO) and separate national organisations such as the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Ιn pursuit of a correspondingly high-contrast colour palette, the chosen primary colour is the vivid Safety Orange (as standardised in ANSI Z535.1) complemented by black and white, which in combination with heavy typography used in extremely contrasting sizes, and an amplified sense of materiality (as shown through the choice of hanging banners), adds up to a narrative-driven ambiguous total that balances a hard, industrial aesthetic with a sense of warmness and safety.
