What is the SMOTIES project about?
SMOTIES is a project by the Human Cities network. It focuses on ten small and remote places that face challenges like people moving away from rural areas. These places are also important for preserving culture. The SMOTIES network works to help protect and improve these places.
Concept Idea
The exhibition is designed as a tour through different stations, each representing typical elements of a village.
Upon entering through the main door of the HDA, visitors first encounter the introductory stations on the main street. Passing the gas station, the tour begins at the back of the village and leads to the cinema, where a documentary film is shown. Visitors then stroll through the space, passing house facades and walking through alleys, where various country projects are presented. Here, you will also notice greened balconies and lanterns.
Finally, visitors reach the workshop, where the toolbox, the outcome of the project, is showcased.
The highlight of the exhibition is the village square, which highlights the connection to the Austrian project in Oberzeiring. The library is also located here, featuring various publications about the project.
In this exhibition, I participated in two teams: the Light and Media Team and the Graphic Team.
In the Light and Media Team, our tasks included choosing the lighting and planning the wiring according to the building’s electrical plan. This was particularly challenging because the existing electrical connections were on the walls, while our lighting was positioned in the middle of the space.
We also had to select suitable lamps, which was tricky because the space had plenty of daylight and was already well-lit. Our decorative lighting had to enhance the atmosphere without creating a glare on the white surfaces where text was displayed, ensuring the text remained readable. Additionally, we chose the appropriate video projector to display content on a white wall from above.
Another part of our work involved selecting tablets for presenting short videos, choosing headsets, and planning how to conceal the wires effectively to maintain a clean and organized appearance.
In the Graphic Team, we all contributed to deciding on layouts for texts and other graphic elements in the space. However, my main task was to design three covers for the three publications we were presenting in the exhibition.
The challenge was to create designs that were connected to the content of each publication while also aligning with the overall graphic identity of the exhibition. Additionally, the contents of the three publications were quite different, but the covers needed to feel cohesive, almost like a book series.
This was also my first experience designing book covers, which made the task even more exciting and rewarding.
Imprint
Institute of Design & Communication
FH Joanneum, University of Applied Sciences, Graz
Institute of Design & Communication
FH Joanneum, University of Applied Sciences, Graz
Exhibition Design
The students of the Master of Exhibition Design:
Sara Abou El-Fadl, Michelle Benthin, Katharina Betz, Foroozan Bitarafhaghighi, Anna Brodmann, Josephine Brunner, Matthias Dietrich, Anne Eichelbrönner, Mia Funk, Magdalena Höchtl, Yola Moschitz, Maria Puzzo, Annabel Schipper, Taranom Sedghi, Nadja Troscheit
The students of the Master of Exhibition Design:
Sara Abou El-Fadl, Michelle Benthin, Katharina Betz, Foroozan Bitarafhaghighi, Anna Brodmann, Josephine Brunner, Matthias Dietrich, Anne Eichelbrönner, Mia Funk, Magdalena Höchtl, Yola Moschitz, Maria Puzzo, Annabel Schipper, Taranom Sedghi, Nadja Troscheit
Supervision
Sigrid Bürstmayr, Lucia Jarošová, Christoph Neuhold, Anke Strittmatter
Sigrid Bürstmayr, Lucia Jarošová, Christoph Neuhold, Anke Strittmatter
Supervision of the Modular System
Anke Strittmatter, Erika Thümmel
Anke Strittmatter, Erika Thümmel
Modular System Developed By
Vera Grosch, Matthias Poschl, Camilla Siegel, Katharina Zvetolec
Vera Grosch, Matthias Poschl, Camilla Siegel, Katharina Zvetolec
The content of the exhibition was developed by all SMOTIES project partners.
