The Shenzhen International Fisheries & Seafood Expo 2023 was held in Shenzhen Exhibition Center, with PILLS as the chief curator and designer of the exhibition. The exhibition aimed to challenge traditional trade fair design and present a panoramic view of Shenzhen fisheries with museum standards. The exhibition consists off our chapters: “Farming at Sea in Great Tide”, “Ecological Sustainability”, “Go to the Deep Blue”, and “Shenzhen in the Future”. Through dozens of representative physical exhibits and video works, together with multimedia interactive installations, the exhibition will lead people to explore how Shenzhen has transformed from a small fishing village to a modern fishing capital, creating a new immersive fishery cultural experience. At the same time, with the platform of the first Shenzhen International Fisheries & Seafood Expo, the exhibition aims to further stimulate fishery-related practitioners and other members of the public to pay attention to marine ecology and the “Big Food Concept”, and to jointly look forward to a sustainable deep blue future.
The exhibition design extracts the visual characteristics of " Hundreds of Bustling Barges Float", outlining the magnificent momentum of boats moving incessantly and staggeringly on the plan. The walls are designed with the reference of seaside reef, shaped into a jagged form through the shuttle-shaped walls and sloping booths. The wall edges are clear and sharp, as if to recreate the dynamics of the waves hitting, with the power of the ocean contained. The walls and booths are lined up in planes to form a natural spatial enclosure, separating four thematic exhibition areas. The walls of each exhibition area support larger pieces of lintel stones on the top, which are connected or inserted to each other, forming a majestic, solemn and elegant "megalith" as a whole.
We chose the blue and green (Teal) as the main color, symbolizing the boundless ocean. Combined with the diffusion film on the ceiling, to create a mysterious and tranquil space mood with fluidity. Visitors can get a bird's eye view of the exterior of the area and then immerse themselves in the interior of the exhibition hall by walking down from both sides of the second floor platform (main entrance). The graphic design of the ground is derived from the illustration of the distribution of ocean currents, and the arrows indicating the movement of seawater converge into the circulation path of the exhibition, leading people to start a journey of oceanic wandering.