Award of Merit:

Exhibition Studios for Underground

Exhibition Studios are imaginative leaders in creation, design and construction. Passionate about ideas, our team combines creative and technical skills to create innovative concepts which bring places, collections, ideas and stories to life. ES is in a unique position to offer a turnkey solution, incorporating concept and design development, physical build, digital development, testing and installation. We have a reputation for providing individual and creative solutions which are thought provoking and appealing, always bringing originality and a sense of curiosity. We are advocates of design being used as a tool to share complex ideas in ways which can be easily understood by everyday visitors. We utilise design to solve problems and promote the importance of design in creating the best possible outcomes for our clients. We are passionate about creating responses and transforming spaces to provide a unique experience which engages visitors in a compelling and memorable way. Having worked extensively with and for the community, our goal is to bring people together through design and experience. We have worked collaboratively with; science, research and education, local and aboriginal artists, bringing experiences to rural communities, working with school students or working with disability, our processes are all centred around people and the community. Many of our projects include community consultation and stakeholder engagement as a key factor in creating human centred outcomes. 

ES has brought together a diverse group of professionals, combining technical expertise with a strong understanding of aesthetics, design and an appreciation of engagement in a public environment, sharing a common goal: to be creative in the design and implementation of engaging exhibition experiences. The Exhibition Studios team combines exhibition design, graphic design, multimedia, interpretation, industrial design, engineering, exhibit fabrication, project planning, fabrication, installation, documentation and management. We also have experience working alongside artists, retail, small business, science and research, technology, engineering, electrical and building trades, lighting specialists and digital developers. For the MOD Underground exhibit, ES worked in collaboration with the MOD team and stakeholders, artists Peter Walker and Agnieszka Woznicka, and researcher Tom Raimondo to develop concepts, refine the design and develop the physical elements to provide highly aesthetic and technically robust solutions. Following a creative working session, ES refined the concept, combining the scientific research with the artists vision into an immersive and interactive exhibition space, before proceeding into the detail design, specification and then fabrication and installation stages.

About the Project

Part of the MOD. ‘Invisibility’ exhibition, ES undertook the creation of the ‘Underground’ exhibit, an immersive experience which allows visitors to explore the invisible relationships between geological forms and processes, how we make these visible through sensing and measurement, and what we can learn about earth processes that are not visible at the human scale. It highlights research around hidden processes, deep time, geology, the ocean floor, earth crusts, antarctica and glacial melting in a manner which is understandable and easily absorbed by everyday visitors. 

The project is centred around the geology of the area around the Nullarbor and Great Australian Bight, and the unseen relationship between this area and what it can teach us about somewhere else very difficult to see – underneath glaciers in Antartica. The Underground exhibition is an interactive experience combining both digital and physical elements giving visitors the opportunity to gain an understanding about earth processes that cannot be seen at the human scale. The integration of augmented platforms like Eye Jack allowed ES to bring art to life to further the visitor experience. 

ES considered universal access in the design ensuring the experience was available to a diverse range of people and age groups. Sightlines and accessibility are reflected in the design to create an inclusive experience for visitors to interact with the space in multiple ways through site, touch and sound. ES worked closely with the MOD team, artists and researchers to create an informative experience making the complexities of science accessible to the public in a clever and artistic way. Giving visitors the experience of being immersed into the earth’s crust through large screens or exploring micro/macro relationships of natural systems through the use of peepholes allows visitors to gain an understanding of the research of the University of South Australia.

Category: Interact

Designers and Project Team:
Karl Meyer – Managing Director
Matt Reilly – Senior Technical Designer
Mahala Hall – Graphic Designer

Collaboration:
MOD. Team
Peter Walker – Artist
Agnieszka Woznicka – Artist
Surahn Sidhu – Sound Designer