Raymond

Art is born of its time and place, something contemporary artistic communities will always seek to recapture to inspire their work.

Proto-surrealist writer Raymond Roussel lived, worked and died at Grand Hotel et Des Palmes, Palermo. . So, artist and curator, Luca Trevisani staged a high-concept exhibition at the hotel to pay homage to Roussel in the environment where his work originated. The event saw 29 internationally renowned artists create and exhibit art inspired by Roussel at the hotel, generating a fantastic body of work. 

Our task was first to create an identity that would communicate the visual world of the show. Then, to create programmes, guides and exhibition design that would interpret the event's historic connections with custom fonts and design. Finally, to house the body of works created with an exhibition website that would connect with the spirit of the surreal event. 

Users of the site could navigate the works using high-speed transitions, transporting them between past and present. A printed guide further played on the idea of past and present colliding by including historic events within the contemporary exhibition calendar.

The result was a truly ambitious project, in which design was used to frame the concept underlying the work.