This exhibition explored the relationship between Salvador Dalí and Marcel Duchamp, demonstrating how their shared sense of humour and scepticism drove them to challenge conventions in art and in life. With well-known works by both artists exhibited alongside their experiments in unexpected media, the show was presented as a conversation between two major figures in the history of 20th-century art. We designed the exhibition in collaboration with OMMX architects.
The typographic character of the exhibition was influenced by Surrealist publications, in which heavy condensed type was commonly paired with a much lighter roman counterpart. Letters in the titles danced around a straight line setting like one of Duchamp’s games, and we used a condensed grotesk in place of typical italics within body text, to visually integrate the two very distinct characters of Dalí and Duchamp and add an irreverent touch. We integrated mirrors into the exhibition furniture in unexpected ways, creating new perspectives and spaces within the rooms. Colours were a shifting palette of grey tones, which inverted as the exhibition progressed, bringing the spaces into light and shadow.
This use of mirrors is a reference to many of the common themes explored in the work of both Duchamp and Dalí: visual play, perspective, double images and duplication.
Photography: Max Creasy
