Location: Benaki Museum Athens, groundfloor gallery

Surface area: 1.200 sqm

Exhibition design of three shows: ‘Ethics/Aesthetics’, ‘Slow Down Rooms’ and ‘Athens Here and Now,’ for the display of 32 objects, panels, video projections and installations.

Design challenges:

1. A low budget (30.000 Euros) and a quick assembling of the exhibition (5 working days). These were met by the decision to aim at a rough and rusty aesthetic quality, which reflects the ideology of the exhibitions, as well as by the decision to work with standardized parts and pieces.

2. The three different exhibitions included architecture, art and design works presented with videos, installations, objects and print-out panels. This diversity presented the challenge of finding a way in which a single concept could unfold, and a unified experience be achieved, yet with a controlled degree of diversity between the three shows. Therefore, main decision became to base the design on one strong element, the UNIT. The unit would unify all the exhibits; yet its variations would allow a different experience in each exhibition, and also let the different types of exhibits be highlighted.  

Design principles:

1. Organizing the Benaki Museum groundfloor gallery into three spaces, one for each exhibition. Creating a linear movement passing through the three shows so as to allow visitors read the continuous thematic narrative and concept of the first (Ethics/Aesthetics), seeing related experimental student work in the second (Athens Here and Now), and finally relax in the art environment of the third (Slow Down Rooms). The space before the exit was designed for an performance action events taking place during the opening hours.  

2. Presenting each exhibit in an autonomous unit with dimensions 2,5m (W) x 2,5m (D) X 2,5m (H). The unit’s fourth vertical wall leans on floor, creating the entrance to each exhibit and taking on it the information about it.

Each unit, while of standard dimensions, presents variations so to allow the display of diverse types of exhibits: units without ceiling allow the display of objects, others with a ceiling form enclosed cubicles and allow video projections, and others without side walls allow installations being highlighted.

More variations are presented in the units of the third exhibition (Slow Down Rooms). Artists have been asked to change if they want the height and elements in it, but not its footprint, for their commissioned in-situ installations.    

Architect: Lina Stergiou
Collaborating architect: Aris Zambikos
Project team architect: Evelina Rempi
Chrysi Gousiou, Antonis Chazapis
Photos: Dimitris Giannoulakis