SuiSuisse StudioPaul Gray / Design & art direction
All work_

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High Street

Exhibition / Identity / Film

High Street exhibition at The Lighthouse, with its barcode-inspired structure and projection surface.
High Street / The Lighthouse / Glasgow.

The project_

A barcode you could walk around. A shopping bag you could watch.

The brief_

An exhibition at The Lighthouse in Glasgow, looking at the decline of Scotland’s High Streets. We reviewed fifteen High Streets. A lot of reading, research and conversations with the people who used them.

The observation_

I worked with two architects, one of whom brought a great deal to the research. The barcode gave us the central structure. Its profile followed the curved roof of the exhibition space, and the gaps between its uprights became shelves. A familiar sign of shopping, made into the architecture of the exhibition.

The application_

We filmed interviews with politicians, shopkeepers and shoppers, and photographed portraits. The film was projected onto a wall of paper bags. The traditional way to carry your shopping home, used to tell the story of how that experience was changing. Branding, wall information, iconography and supporting collateral brought the exhibition together.

Curved barcode structure with shelving and photographs inside the High Street exhibition.
The barcode / Architecture, shelving and interpretation.
Five interview portraits from the High Street exhibition.
Shopkeepers, shoppers and public voices / A story told by its participants.
Entrance to the High Street exhibition, showing its title through the gallery glazing.
High Street / Identity at the entrance to the exhibition.

Credits / Recognition

Exhibition design / Identity / Supporting collateral — Paul Gray, Suisse, working with two architects. Research, film and interviews produced collaboratively.

Scottish Design Awards: Exhibition winner.