E X H I B I T I O N D E S I G N
INAETHER STUDIO are a multidisciplinary design practice, with passion for architecture, art and landscape, and how the three disciplines come together within the design. The projects often blur the line across these three disciplines, with one area of specialism coming through exhibition and installation design.
As part of the design portfolio, we have worked on an array of exhibition projects for a range of clients, from individual galleries through to multi-location touring shows. Appointed as lead designer, principle designer and as a practicing artist on varying projects, our involvement has included, design consultation, brief development, concept sketches, spatial design, visualisations, presentation and pitch funding packages, through to layout and detail drawings for construction and installation plans for handover.
Our experience within this has taken us and our work to locations across the south west, some of which can be seen in the gallery below.
p h o t o f r o m r u r a l i n s t a l l a t i o n
THOMAS HARDY |
LANDSCAPES THAT INSPIRED THE WRITER
W E S S E X M U S E U M S
2 0 2 1 - 2 0 2 2
In 2021, we worked on a project alongside Wessex Museums in collaboration with the Arts University Bournemouth as part of the exhibition on the life of Thomas Hardy; the landscapes that inspired the writer. For this project, we were appointed lead designer and artist for one of multiple exhibits within the show, where the brief was to create a series of four audio-visual installations, exploring the landscapes that inspired Hardy, on the landscape themes - rural, urban, coastal and ancient. Each landscape theme would be situated at one of four gallery locations across the south west, with each of the four connected through a consistent visual language and narrative.
The team required the installation to be transportable, reusable to ensure the future lifetime of the materials within the project, as well as being freestanding and adhering to the health and safety requirements that each gallery presented. We designed a series of bespoke collapsible installation cases that would house the artwork at each site, using a combination of reclaimed and new materials, with timber connections that could be bolted together then unscrewed for transportation and adaptive future use.
Each box was created to be larger than a person, to fully immerse the viewer within the themed landscape, taking them back to the world/time that inspired Hardy. For each of the four sites, we created a unique installation using a combination of soundscape and video art, projected over two original paintings to capture the atmosphere and essence of each landscape whilst absorbed within the space.
The two paintings were layered over one another; the front held an abstract dreamlike ephemeral landscape hand painted then printed onto stretched silk, part overlayed onto an mixed media painting behind it. The dreamlike painting being semi-transparent, represented the portal into the past, allowing the viewer a glimpse through time into the landscapes that inspired Hardy, whilst the larger oil painting offered the viewer glimpses of how that landscape looked and felt during his time. The installation took the viewer on a journey into the past capturing a moment in time, between dream and reality.
b e l o w | s k e t c h e s o f c o n c e p t
b e l o w | p a i n t i n g s f r o m t h e i n s t a l l a t i o n
a n c i e n t | m i x e d m e d i a p a i n t i n g 2 0 2 2
c o a s t | m i x e d m e d i a p a i n t i n g 2 0 2 2
r u r a l | m i x e d m e d i a p a i n t i n g 2 0 2 2
u r b a n | m i x e d m e d i a p a i n t i n g 2 0 2 2
E M E R G I N G W O R L D S
b e l o w | l a y e r e d d y p t c h s f r o m t h e
i n s t a l l a t i o n
A U D I O V I S U A L O V E R L A Y S A N D
F I N A L C O M P O S I T I O N
a b o v e | c o n c e p t v i d e o o f p r o p o s e d
d e s i g n
b e l o w | p h o t o g r a p h y f r o m f i n a l
i n s t a l l a t i o n s
Following the success of the initial exhibition, the work toured to other galleries in the southwest before returning to Dorset in late 2022.
A l l w o r k h a s b e e n h a n d c r e a t e d b y
I N A E T H E R S T U D I O
F U T U R E B I O N E T W O R K S |
A R C H I T E C T U R E A N D
L A N D S C A P E F O R
P O S T - U R B A N D E S I G N
In 2021, we co-curated an architecture and landscape exhibition alongside Adam Radwanski and Channa Vithana from the Arts University Bournemouth, where we explored the conceptual vision of how Poole could look if we approached architecture and landscape differently, placing Nature at the heart of each project.
Looking at historical and contemporary precedents within art, architecture and philosophy, the exhibition is curated of extracts from our (Kira Bennett) and Adam Radwanksi’s, MArch Thesis projects where we both through different approaches, explored how redefining landscape at the heart of architectural design and embedded coexistence with nature and wildlife could positively influence the experience and wellbeing of spaces we inhabit.
2 0 2 1
L I G H T H O U S E , P O O L E
a b o v e l e f t | c o a l e s c e n c e, M A r c h T h e s i s
b y K i r a B e n n e t t
a b o v e r i g h t | A c o a l e s c e n c e o f g h o s t s,
R I B A S i l v e r M e d a l S u b m i s s i o n b y A d a m R a d w a n s k i , R o b P r a t t a n d K i r a B e n n e t t
T H E L I G H T W I T H I N |
F I R S T G L I M P S E
C O N C E P T
2 0 2 3
A concept design and marketing package created for artist, The Light Within, exploring a conceptual digital exhibition space, with audio-visual overlay to showcase the idea for a series of atmospheric installations, allowing the viewer to fall into and enter the landscapes of the paintings through the designed space. Through controlled lighting and journeys through the exhibition, each layer of the space takes you deeper into the world of the paintings, with soundscapes and video art overlayed and projected throughout the room in a progression that builds through a timed sequence. This project is ongoing with a projected launch in 2027.
For this project we created a digital exhibition space, which during presentations we could walk the clients through step by step to demonstrate the visual impact and intention behind the exhibition and installation design, helping to showcase the vision for the space in an accessible format, bringing the ideas to life in a more rich immersive way.
A l l w o r k h a s b e e n h a n d c r e a t e d b y
I N A E T H E R S T U D I O a n d T h e L i g h t W i t h i n