In the summer semester of 2021, 21 students of the FH Joanneum Exhibition Design Master programme dealt with the question of how an international travelling exhibition, with changing contents, could work in English as well as in the respective national languages. The first ideas developed under these premises were presented to the 11 SMOTIES project partners and two projects were selected to further work on: the three-dimensional implementation of the SMOTIES logo with its coloured “potatoes” and a dismountable exhibition system that is suitable for transport by bicycle trailer. When choosing these two projects, the partners liked the possibility that the entire exhibition can be completely dismantled and built up again in different dimensions and shapes as well as the fact that it can be transported by bike. They were fond of the possibilities offered to the local population in the remote places to contribute to the production of the exhibition and the potential extensive content-related interaction.
In the second half of the semester, the four competition winners Matthias Pöschl, Vera Grosch, Katharina Zvetolec and Camilla Siegel combined the two ideas and, with the help of prototypes, continued with the detailed planning, including a cost estimation and an exact calculation of the weight.
To realize the main idea of a system that could be completely dismantled and put together in different forms a material was chosen that is easily obtained anywhere and not very expensive: perforated angle plates for load racks in fixed lengths of 500, 1000 and 2000 mm. The feet in the form of the SMOTIES “potatoes” are poured in concrete and painted in the SMOTIES colours.
The aluminium transport box is designed to be delivered by truck, train, or bicycle. The horizontal, vertical, and inclined information boards (exclusively in the format of 50 x 100 cm) can be left unchanged, pasted over or newly manufactured and kept. The system is also suitable for light showcases in acrylics, projections, headphones, monitors as well as interactions and games. The modules can not only be set up indoor, but also in public spaces and squares or even on a green meadow. Coloured, inflatable beanbags are provided as seating accommodation, and cords are stretched to delimit individual areas of the exhibition, and can also be used to attach workshop results, notes, photos, etc. or even a round of badminton.
The project was supervised by Erika Thümmel and Anke Strittmatter.
