Exhibition Design for “L'OUVRE　9: Open the Louvre's 9th Art Comic Collection”

Noiz in collaboration with the curator Fabrice Douar and Lucie Lom, designed the exhibition space for : “L'OUVRE 9: Open the Louvre's 9th Art Comic Collection” at the MoNTUE (Museum of Taipei University of Education) in Taipei, Taiwan. The site is both meaningful and familiar, as Noiz has designed the museum interior and a series of exhibitions for MoNTUE since their opening in 2012. It was, therefore, an exciting experience to be able to revamp the space one more time.

The exhibition celebrates and displays the unique cartoon art collection of the Louvre Museum, including works by prominent comic artist such as Enki Bilal and Hirohiko Araki. The main gallery 2F, 3F）is allocated for the Louvre Collection, while the basement floor gallery exhibits works by local Taiwanese cartoonists, which are also a part of the show.
In response to the youthful atmosphere of the comic culture, Noiz designed an unusually dynamic background for the exhibition. A flying ribbon structure invites the public into an interactive spatial journey, where, following each story through the sequence of cartoon displayed on the table, the visitor becomes the protagonist, involving in a succession of room reflecting the atmosphere of each artist. The main design element, “Leporello” or a continuous folded paper book extending like a long strip of ribbon comes from Fabrice’s idea, are developed into long strips of folded aluminum plate, pre-bent and assembled on-site. Leporello serves as display table for the Original Art piece carefully protected by an acrylic sheet.

The ribbon bends,vibrates, flies, sinks into the floor, and weaves through space, while unfolding different stories created by diverse cartoonists.

Large screen prints on mesh fabric are hung from the ceiling or wall, portraying the Louvre, where viewers go through a grand spatial sequence of loosely divided exhibition rooms. These floating images are blended into the exhibition space, eventually get fragmented and randomized, and merge into the Taipei street-scenery surrounding the open museum.

As the comic culture receives more attention and recognition in the contemporary art scene, exhibitions focusing on comic arts have also become popular. Yet,most designers of such exhibitions often follow commercial expo or minimalist art galleries' styles. With “L'OUVRE 9: Open the Louvre's 9th Art Comic Collection” we present a contemporary design approach to this art genre.The exhibition is planned to travel to Tokyo in 2016 follow by other Asian cities.
(All photos: courtesy of MoNTUE)