The Plain of Heaven

The international exhibition "The Plain of Heaven" was inspired by the redevelopment of the High Line, an unused rail structure that runs along West Manhattan. The group that organized this exhibition, Creative Time, describe "The Plain of Heaven" as "taking off from this elegiac and exciting moment of transformation to consider how we imagine, and long for, inaccessible spaces; the relationships between transfiguration, destruction and rebirth; the opposition between nature and the urban environment; and more generally, the way in which we re-mystify the world we already know."

The design studio, Projects Projects, embodies the show entirely with this custom-designed, serif, stencil typeface. Since the exhibition was housed at a vacant meatpacking warehouse that was soon to be demolished, the designers chose to spray the type directly on the walls of exterior and interior, playing off that idea of destruction and rebirth, as the decrepit warehouse is transformed to be a sort of canvas. Not only that, but the green color chosen really exemplifies the show's theme of nature and urban development. The type designs definitely mirror the "mystifying" subject of the show.

This is a great example of how to incorporate the space and type so fluidly in designing for an exhibition. It shows just how much a designer needs to be familiar with the subject in order to create designs that mimic an exhibitions ideas.