This is seen in highlights, and in fabric textures within showcases. Although the whole exhibition acts as an architectural series of interventions, there is a subtle shifting colour palette with that too, based on a subdued Qing colour palette. Large-scale environmental graphics talk about people, places, and craft. The designs also include light, tonal shifts and sometimes graphic mark-making, as well as the creation of shadow photography of the key, highlighted individuals in the story, which was the result of a special collaboration between the British Museum, Nissen Richards Studio and students from the London College of Fashion. Objects are then embedded within the exhibition’s architecture to become intrinsic parts of the room they’re in, surrounded by the evocative, shifting atmospheres which create a sense of place and evoke the settings for the people who lived or worked there. The exhibition’s six key sections mostly feature a subtle geographical locator – or associated landscape – and are developed with a focus on a set group of people. The use of shadows, layers and textures adds subtle suggestion throughout.’ The overall palette is neutral, featuring translucent screens made of a paper-like material called Tyvek, which interplay with shadow and light. Drama was added through design moves, such as large-scale images, screens and banners, which shape the visitor journey. ‘ We wanted to ensure the visitor experience was object-led’ Pippa Nissen, Director of Nissen Richards Studio, commented, ‘so that the wonderful detail and colour of the objects wasn’t overwhelmed by our designs and the overall feel would be stripped-back, clean and architectural. Nissen Richards Studio therefore designed the exhibition so the visitor would go on a journey through 19th-century China via a theatrical architecture, with the exhibition’s look and style created through the setting of a white and shifting shadowy world, using interesting and unusual fabrics and textured materials. An early-stage design decision was that the exhibition’s structures, colours and interpretation should sit seamlessly alongside and not compete with these spectacular objects. The exhibition features over 300 objects, many of which were very large in size, including a number of colourful and beautifully-crafted costumes. Visitors will be able to see and feel the textures of life in 19th-century China through art, fashion, newspapers, furniture – even soup ingredients! Many people not only survived but thrived as new art forms, such as photography and lithographic printing, flourished while at the same time technology and transport – the telegraph, electricity, railways – transformed society. The second book is a who’s who of China in the late Qing period – Creators of Modern China 100 lives from Empire to Republic 1796-1912 – with 100 essays written in collaboration with about 100 scholars from 14 countries. The exhibition is also accompanied by two books, both edited by Jessica Harrison-Hall and Julia Lovell: first, China’s Hidden Century, which sets out a fresh understanding of this important era through the themes of the exhibition. Altogether, more than 400 people from 20 countries have worked on the show and research project. The exhibition is a global first and was underpinned by a four-year research project, supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and led by the British Museum and University of London. The new exhibition is located on the Museum’s ground floor in the Sainsbury Exhibitions Gallery, purpose-built for temporary exhibitions, and will be open until 8 October 2023. In the shadow of these events lie the stories of remarkable individuals – at court, in the military, in booming cosmopolitan cities and on the global stage – through which the period is brought to life. The exhibition reveals a period of turmoil, but also of great innovation and creativity, driven by political, cultural and technological change. ‘ China’s hidden century’ focuses on the tumultuous period between 17, which led to the end of over 2,000 years of Qing dynastic rule and paved the way for the modern Chinese republic. The resilience and innovation of 19th-century China is the subject of a major new exhibition at the British Museum, designed by the exhibition and graphic design team at Nissen Richards Studio. Image by Gareth Gardner, courtesy of Royal Ontario Museum
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