Interactive Annual 13:
MoMA: Eye on Europe
“The design of this site is respectful of the works it represents. I’ll
go so far as tosay that it also manages to become a part of the exhibition.”
—Vas Sloutchevsky
“It’s engaging, well-organized, beautiful, functional and easy to figure
out and explore.” —Liz Castro
A dual Web site and kiosk project for a Museum
of Modern Art exhibition, Eye on Europe draws its inspiration from the layout of
1960s era broadsheet newspapers. Each work appears as a headline and article, giving
users an almost tactile way to navigate through the featured books, prints and multiples.
- 150 featured artworks
- 200 artist and publisher biographies
- Flash 8 with XML content feeds
“Even before we won the
project, while we were preparing our proposal for the RFP, we came across a particular
piece in the exhibition that stood out to us: Dimanche by Yves Klein, a mock newspaper
of the popular French weekly Dimanche.
“It gave us the idea to make our proposal a mock newspaper of that mock newspaper.
Our proposal took the form of a tabloid newspaper, with layouts and typefaces that
matched those used in Dimanche, and proposal sections (timelines, bios, client references,
case studies) designed in newspaper style. Ironically, the Yves Klein piece was
also a favorite of Wendy Weitmann, one of the show’s curators. We suspect it
played a small part in us winning the project.
“Once the design process began, it made sense to explore how the same newspaper
concept could be extended into an interface for the site. We explored the idea of
treating each exhibition section as its own unique newspaper, each with its own
particular layout, masthead and headlines. Of course we provided alternate design
directions, but the newspaper felt innately right from our initial proposal and
on through the design process. It ultimately became the chosen conceptual direction
with which we moved forward.
“Particularly intriguing about the interface is that it relies on text, rather
than images; the typographically-treated titles take visual precedence in the navigation.
It’s a subversion of the conventional thumbnail interfaces of most art exhibition
sites, where images and artist names dominate. Here, the emphasis is on the titles
of the artworks, and on how unusual and banal they can often be, such as How the
Dictatorship of the Parties Can Be Overcome, Fright, Artist’s Shit, as well
as numerous ‘untitled’ works. Having the user confronted in each section
with a strange yet engaging set of titles offered a novel way for visitors to navigate
the show that, in our opinion, resonated with subversive and ironic tone of much
of the artwork.” —Anh Tuan Pham
Allegra Burnette, MoMA/Anh Tuan Pham, creative directors
Anh Tuan Pham/Sacha Sedriks, interface designers
Lee Misenheimer, Flash programmer
Shannon Darrough, MoMA, producer
For Office Use Only, project design and development
MoMA, client