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Designing a “Green” Exhibition

1.5° CELSIUS

1.5° CELSIUS was the fifth annual art and science exhibition hosted by Michigan State University’s CoLab (née Science Gallery Detroit.) The exhibition was curated to present to the public contemporary scientific artworks investigating the crisis that is climate change, and the impact of the Earth’s climate rising above 1.5° Celsius. Our lives are deeply interwoven with the environment, and this exhibition strived to alert the visitor to just how dire the consequences of human inaction on this subject can be. Flutter & Wow was tasked with designing a “green” exhibition for 1.5° – the client and exhibition subject matter indicated that Flutter & Wow lean towards a design direction in which all materials could be recycled or reused at the end of the exhibition’s run.

Flutter & Wow met this challenge by incorporating plywood walls and recycled cardboard labels into the exhibition design. Pedestals and walls were pushed to the limits in both material and style – these aspects of the exhibition were designed to appear on edge, leaning into the guest, about to topple over. This created a sense of urgency that matched the theme.

15 exhibiting artists from around the world lent their unique artistic and scientific chops to 1.5° CELSIUS. One exhibitor supplied a black pigment created out of recycled carbon waste; Flutter & Wow incorporated this pigment into paint, which we used in various ways throughout the exhibition in lieu of purchasing black paint. Another artwork incorporated pieces from other exhibits – an urchin quill and a piece of recycled plastic fiber, for instance – blown up under a microscope. This approach to the exhibit curation and design helped create visual breadcrumbs leading to other exhibits in the exhibition, but it also expressed the many ways in which designing a “green” exhibition could take shape; reusing parts of all the artworks to create something wholly new.

For another example of an exhibition showcasing art and science that Flutter & Wow has curated, click here.

Visitors using a microscope look at the result of objects blown up under the microscope on two video displays hanging overhead.
Black block with white vinyl lettering stacked as if they will topple over appear next to a black jacket dyed with carbon pigment. On the left is a white wall with black speakers lined up in an arch, and a plywood table stacked with interactive books and plants.
Delicate objects such as leaves and grain stalks twirl in circles atop asymmetrical pedestals painted white.
Visitors walking through the exhibition.
A giant white weather balloon floats above several breathing apparatuses.
A child plays with a mobile device hanging from the ceiling from a wire.
Two vertical black stripes against a white wall with a heart-shaped logo in the center. The logo is yellow and has a bee on it. Below, a tv monitor and iPads suspend on the wall above two clinical stations.
Urchin ceramics atop a white shelf display.
A white woman reads the prompt on a white board display. Handwritten responses are underneath the prompt.
Old radios laying in dirt against a black background. Mushrooms grow out of the radios.