Exhibitions Archive

exhibition view, The Past from Above, British Museum London

The British Museum, London

The Past from Above

The design of The Past from Above exploited the fan shape of the room and referred to the plan of the adjacent Round Reading Room. A continuous ribbon-like wall created varied spaces and provided a surface for 100 aerial photographs by Georg Gerster.

Objects from the museum’s collection were displayed in specially built cases embedded within the wall. A complex layering of graphics made links between photographs, objects and text.

  • Exhibition Design: Calum Storrie
  • Graphics: sans + baum
  • Lighting: DHA Design
  • Photograph: Richard H. Smith
exhibition view, The Glass Menagerie, Design Museum London

Design Museum

Leopold and Rudolph Blaschka :
The Glass Menagerie, 2002

This touring exhibition was commissioned by the Design Museum, London and the National Glass Centre, Sunderland. The exhibits were a collection of model glass jellyfish made for museums in the 19th Century and a number of contemporary art works related to these pieces.

The design consisted of a series of small acrylic showcases linked by curved components to provide stability. The layout was reconfigured to suit the various venues for the exhibition.

  • Exhibition Design: Calum Storrie
  • Graphics: Pony
  • Photograph: Graham Simpson
exhibition view, Apartment 1a, Kensington Palace London

Kensington Palace

Apartment 1a, 2004

This project was for the empty apartment once occupied by Princess Margaret.

The installation consisted of free-standing lightboxes giving the history of the rooms and various former occupants. The intention was to make a clear distinction between the historic interiors and the new design elements.

  • Exhibition Design: Calum Storrie
  • Graphics: sans + baum
  • Photograph: Andrew Penketh
exhibition view, Working Wardrobe, Kensington Palace London

Kensington Palace

Working Wardrobe, 2004

This exhibition of some of the Queen’s costumes incorporated a space where visitors could record and display their own relevant memories.

The showcases contained a mixture of costumes, contextual material, graphics and photographs.

  • Exhibition Design: Calum Storrie
  • Graphics: sans + baum
  • Photograph: Andrew Penketh
  • Lighting Philip Rediough
exhibition view, Self Portraits, the National Gallery, London

National Portrait Gallery, London

Self Portraits, 2006

This painting exhibition spanned a number of separate spaces in the gallery: a sequence of rooms and passages usually used for the permanent collection, a shop and entrance lobby and, the largest space, the Wolfson Gallery.

The design unified these diverse spaces by making a series of simple walls of a deep red hue that acted as markers through the exhibition. The final and largest intervention was the arcaded wall shown here.

  • Exhibition Design: Calum Storrie
  • Graphics and Lighting: The National Portrait Gallery
  • Photograph: Graham Simpson
exhibition view, Joseph Beys Drawings, Royal Academy London

The Royal Academy, London

Joseph Beuys Drawings, 1999

The need to display the complete series of these drawings meant increasing the available hanging space.

The solution lay in siting free-standing lecterns running the length of the galleries. As well as altering the usual route around the rooms the gable-ended lecterns created a counterfoil to the barrel vaults above.

  • Exhibition Design: Calum Storrie
  • Lighting: DHA Design
exhibition view, Frank Auerbach, Royal Academy London

Royal Academy, London

Frank Auerbach, 2001

This exhibition occupied half of the main galleries at the Royal Academy (with Rembrandt’s Women also designed by Calum Storrie in the other part). The emphasis here was on sympathetic lighting and wall colours that would compliment the paintings.

  • Exhibition Design: Calum Storrie
  • Graphics: Tim Harvey
  • Lighting: DHA Design
  • Photograph: Graham Simpson
exhibition view, The Return of the Buddha, Royal Academy London

Royal Academy, London

The Return of the Buddha, 2003

Calum Storrie has designed numerous exhibitions for the Sackler Galleries, mostly consisting of paintings and works on paper. This was the first sculpture exhibition in the space.

The design exploited the axial nature of the rooms while making a dramatic environment where it was possible to view the works in the round.

  • Exhibition Design: Calum Storrie
  • Graphics: Tim Harvey
  • Lighting: DHA Design
  • Photograph: Graham Simpson
exhibition view, The Unknown Monet, Royal Academy London

Royal Academy, London

The Unknown Monet, 2007

This design had to take into account a very full picture hang and a mix of paintings and works on paper.

  • Exhibition Design: Calum Storrie
  • Graphics: Tim Harvey
  • Lighting: DHA Design
Women's Library, Sinners, Scroungers, Saints exhibition

Women's Library, London

Office Politics, 2004

The first of a series of four exhibitions undertaken for the Women’s Library with the graphic designers sans + baum. In each case the design problem was to mediate between the exhibits and the space, giving visitors a ‘way in’ to the exhibition.

In this case the solution consisted of colour coded doorways to orientate visitors, differentiate themed sections and contain the graphic content.

  • Exhibition Design: Calum Storrie
  • Graphics: sans + baum
  • Photograph: Andrew Penketh
exhibition view, Beauty Queens, Women's Library London

Women's Library, London

Beauty Queens, 2005

The solution to the problem of the space in this exhibition lay in wrapping the central room in a colourful striped wall. This device served as a means of orientation and as a way to organise the exhibition’s themes.

  • Exhibition Design: Calum Storrie
  • Graphics: sans + baum
  • Photograph: Andrew Penketh
Women's Library, Sinners Scroungers Saints exhibitionWomen's Library, Sinners Scroungers Saints exhibition

Women’s Library

Sinners, Scroungers, Saints?

2007

This exhibition explored the way that society has treated single mothers over the last century.

The lightboxes were used to show dry statistics in a way that would engage the viewers who were also invited to share their personal experiences on the adjacent wall.

  • Exhibition design: Calum Storrie 2007
  • Graphic design: Lucienne Roberts +
  • Photograph: David Shaw

Related:

Cover of leaflet for unsupported mothers

external link arrow Sinners, Scroungers, Saints? on the Women's Library website