Playing Pieces - Exhibition Design by Nissen Richards Studio Principals: Ar. Pippa Nissen and Ar. Jim Richards

Playing Pieces is a collaborative exhibition, sponsored by and featuring the extensive art collection of the philanthropic organization, Sparebankstiftelsen DNB. London-based cultural architects and designers Nissen Richards Studio was to create a single concept exhibition that would be the same for both locations, Munch (Oslo) and Kode (Bergen) while being uniquely suited to their graphic identity.

The proposed concept for the 167-artwork show was to work within the new Munch museum building. A textured introductory space is followed by the first Nikolai Astrup area, where the works are backed by sub-narratives about the art and its themes and processes. The reflections area displays the artist’s ‘local to global’ story through text panels with an integrated collage of press headlines. A digital interactive area creates an interval through an immersive multimedia installation, in which fragments of Astrup’s art are integrated into shifting natural environments. The firm worked with the project’s AV specialists, Yoke, a digital design company from Denmark, on the sound accompanying this immersive piece, which seeks to conjure a sense of place as Astrup himself did in his work. Each area reflects its context through angular views, textures, and open space. ‘German Expressionism’ – with a geometric emphasis, including angular walls with lighting accentuating the angular drama, and then adding Munch with a graphic feel – is differentiated by different colors. Moments for pause are also provided by benches, with tops printed using a special textured design, created by the firm’s graphics team.

The ‘Pioneering Women’ section comes next, with large-scale artworks, both paintings or sculpture, with sound points an additional part of this section. This is followed by the green-painted Kurt Schwitters and Friends section, which also includes a large-scale fun interactive in the form of a ‘make your own collage’ wall, using a photo as a backdrop with colored shapes and pin board. The ‘Warhol after Munch’ section features bright colors, while American Street Photography uses dark blue, with images arranged salon-style with an immersive multimedia installation alongside. Large-scale photographs from the exhibition are projected onto the wall and mobilized through sound and visuals to convey the art of picture-taking in American urban spaces. The final ‘New Playing Pieces’ themed area features five artworks, with the whole exhibition finishing on the first painting of a brand-new collection for the Sparebankstiftelsen DNB – exemplifying that collecting never ends and is forever beginning again.