"I am a travel addict. And one thing I learned was that language is the doorway to people, culture, and the world."
“Voices”, an international exhibition about world's languages and communication, was the first World-Expo-scale commission for Mona Kim Projects, and one of the most passion-inspired projects.
It was an award-winning exhibition of 3,127 sq.m. that documented some of the most amazing and distinctive examples of world’s languages, human communication, and cultural expression, in a non-traditional experimental format. It was one of the main exhibitions of Forum Barcelona—an international event of world exposition scale dedicated to the theme of culture diversity.
The challenge: We live in a world with 191 countries, 5,000 languages and +6 billion inhabitants. Yet 95% of all languages may disappear in this century.
How do we create a powerful message and experience to reach the public’s heart, and lend a sense of urgency to this stark reality?
After the concept-making phase in collaboration with Ralph Appelbaum Associates’ team, MKP established itself in Barcelona to work directly with Forum to provide overall Creative Direction, and to transform this large-scale project from ideas on paper, to a big leap into reality. This involved forming the best international teams in collaboration with the clients, directing the documentation and the production of images and content, facilitating approvals from scientific committee of linguists & politicians, and spearheading all creative and strategic aspects of the exhibition.
Foremost, it was a chance to co-curate and define the exhibition's overall communications and visual approach that would convey the project's thematic concerns with intuitive clarity and boldness. The resulting set of spaces combined 500 minutes of footage, +300 images, words, light, and sound to create a never-been-done-before exhibition format which was completely media and image-driven. Language was experienced in an immersive, mesmerizing state of motion.
Results: • 1.5 million visitors in 5 months • International design awards (D&AD, ID magazine, SEGD, Chicago Athenaeum, Applied Arts, Barcelona Laus Trophy) • International media coverage
MULTIPROJECTION CORE: :
A SYNCHRONIZED 28-SCREEN SEMI-SPHERIC SURROUND MEDIA THEATER.
A 12-METER TALL ICONIC ELEMENT OF THE EXHIBIT.
WORLD LANGUAGE INDEX:
A SYNCHRONIZED 24-SCREEN AUDIOVISUAL INSTALLATION. :
A CATALOG OF SPOKEN LANGUAGES AND STATISTICS WITH BOLD SUPERGRAPHICS.
WORLD LANGUAGE INDEX:
A SYNCHRONIZED 24-SCREEN AUDIOVISUAL INSTALLATION. :
A CATALOG OF SPOKEN LANGUAGES AND STATISTICS WITH BOLD SUPERGRAPHICS.
WORLD LANGUAGE INDEX:
A SYNCHRONIZED 24-SCREEN AUDIOVISUAL INSTALLATION. :
A CATALOG OF SPOKEN LANGUAGES AND STATISTICS WITH BOLD SUPERGRAPHICS.
MULTIPROJECTION CORE: :
A SYNCHRONIZED 28-SCREEN SEMI-SPHERIC SURROUND MEDIA THEATER.
A 12-METER TALL ICONIC ELEMENT OF THE EXHIBIT.
MULTIPROJECTION CORE: :
A SYNCHRONIZED 28-SCREEN SEMI-SPHERIC SURROUND MEDIA THEATER.
A 12-METER TALL ICONIC ELEMENT OF THE EXHIBIT.
GENERAL ENVIRONMENT.
MAIN AUDIO-VISUAL
OF MULTIPROJECTION CORE.
EXHIBIT BRANDING:
CONCEPT DRAWN FROM THE UNIVERSAL 3 MONKEYS' FABLE AS A WAY OF MAKING A CALL TO ACTION.
THE IDENTITY IMAGES SHOWS THE THREE MONKEYS' POSE AS A SYMBOL OF INDIFFERENCE JUXTAPOSED AGAINST A CALL TO ACTION, "LISTEN, SEE, SPEAK”.
AGAINST THE PREDOMINANTLY DOCUMENTARY-TYPE IMAGES OF THE EXHIBIT, DRAWN FROM THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL BREADTH OF HUMANITY,
THESE COMMISSIONED PORTRAITS OF STREET-CAST FACES WERE PURPOSELY SHOT IN A STARK AND DISQUIETING FASHION PHOTOGRAPHY STYLE.
THIS BRANDING CONCEPT SERVED AS THE THREAD THROUGHOUT ALL THE EXHIBIT ELEMENTS, AND WAS THE CREATIVE AND CONCEPTUAL CORE OF THE CATALOG.
( COMMISSIONED PHOTOGRAPHER: NIGEL BENNETT )
ILLUMINATED INFORMATION: :
20 GRAPHICS INSTALLATIONS TO SEE, READ, INTERACT, AND CONFRONT THE CORE QUESTIONS: "WHAT IS LANGUAGE?"
ILLUMINATED INFORMATION: :
20 GRAPHICS INSTALLATIONS TO SEE, READ, INTERACT, AND CONFRONT THE CORE QUESTION: "WHAT IS LANGUAGE?"
ILLUMINATED INFORMATION: :
20 GRAPHICS INSTALLATIONS TO SEE, READ, INTERACT, AND CONFRONT THE CORE QUESTION: "WHAT IS LANGUAGE?"
ILLUMINATED INFORMATION: :
20 GRAPHICS INSTALLATIONS TO SEE, READ, INTERACT, AND CONFRONT THE CORE QUESTION: "WHAT IS LANGUAGE?"
ILLUMINATED INFORMATION: :
20 GRAPHICS INSTALLATIONS TO SEE, READ, INTERACT, AND CONFRONT THE CORE QUESTION: "WHAT IS LANGUAGE?"
“VOICES”:
A 300-PAGE EXPERIMENTAL-FORMAT BOOK FOR THE EXHIBITION.
BOOK AS AN EXHIBITION BEYOND THE PHYSICAL EXHIBITION.
A CURATION OF +300 PHOTOREPORTAGE IMAGES DOCUMENTING A BREADTH OF HUMAN COMMUNICATION & CULTURAL EXPRESSIONS AROUND THE WORLD
+
ARTICLES FROM SCHOLARS
+
A CATALOG OF WORLD’S WRITING SYSTEMS TO GRAFFITIS TO AN SMS DICTIONARY…
BOOK AS AN EXHIBITION BEYOND THE PHYSICAL EXHIBITION.
A CURATION OF +300 PHOTOREPORTAGE IMAGES DOCUMENTING A BREADTH OF HUMAN COMMUNICATION & CULTURAL EXPRESSIONS AROUND THE WORLD
+
ARTICLES FROM SCHOLARS
+
A CATALOG OF WORLD’S WRITING SYSTEMS TO GRAFFITIS TO AN SMS DICTIONARY…
BOOK AS AN EXHIBITION BEYOND THE PHYSICAL EXHIBITION.
A CURATION OF +300 PHOTOREPORTAGE IMAGES DOCUMENTING A BREADTH OF HUMAN COMMUNICATION & CULTURAL EXPRESSIONS AROUND THE WORLD
+
ARTICLES FROM SCHOLARS
+
A CATALOG OF WORLD’S WRITING SYSTEMS TO GRAFFITIS TO AN SMS DICTIONARY…
BOOK AS AN EXHIBITION BEYOND THE PHYSICAL EXHIBITION.
A CURATION OF +300 PHOTOREPORTAGE IMAGES DOCUMENTING A BREADTH OF HUMAN COMMUNICATION & CULTURAL EXPRESSIONS AROUND THE WORLD
+
ARTICLES FROM SCHOLARS
+
A CATALOG OF WORLD’S WRITING SYSTEMS TO GRAFFITIS TO AN SMS DICTIONARY…
BOOK AS AN EXHIBITION BEYOND THE PHYSICAL EXHIBITION.
A CURATION OF +300 PHOTOREPORTAGE IMAGES DOCUMENTING A BREADTH OF HUMAN COMMUNICATION & CULTURAL EXPRESSIONS AROUND THE WORLD
+
ARTICLES FROM SCHOLARS
+
A CATALOG OF WORLD’S WRITING SYSTEMS TO GRAFFITIS TO AN SMS DICTIONARY…