DEFENCE

Thematic Exhibition on Defense Mechanismus

Client: Vögele Kultur Zentrum
Location: Pfäffikon, Switzerland
Date: 2011-2012

Sometimes, a thin veil provides better defense than the thickest of armor. The scenographic concept of this exhibition ties back to the idea of the selective membrane, simultaneously offering permeability and protection. Semitransparent fabric panels and carpeted islands divide the dynamic exhibition space into seven themed areas, each encompassing a different defense mechanism, ranging from bunkers and camouflage to cooperation.

Defense strategies are diverse, often intuitive, and sometimes surprising. The exhibited objects emphasize the parallel use of defense mechanisms in distinctive fields. Strategies are co-opted from biological to military uses, military to psychology, psychology to economy, and so forth. The exhibition culminates in the “future room,” an abstractly and futuristically staged space where threats of the future are portrayed. Anchoring the center of the room is a gleaming white disc acting as an open forum where visitors can participate and record their thoughts.

The exhibition is conceived of as a cultural, sensory experience. The fabric bands act as a filter and overlap one another in the space. The targeted modulation of artificial and daylight zones enhance this scenographic effect. The visitor is submerged in a poison green world where sight, sound and sense of smell are activated. From large-scale projections to a scent station that synthetically simulates the odor of a skunk, the combination of new and conventional media creates an exhibition bound to surprise and excite the senses.

Project Partners:
– W.I.R.E. Think Tank, Zurich
– Brogleworks, Zurich
– Nüssli, Hüttwilen
– mati Lichtgestaltung, Adliswil

Photographs:
© Jan Bitter