Dispositivo de sala. Brieven uit Spanje

Photography Tim Meijer

Exhibition device, Carme Nogueira

I designed the exhibition device based on the standard size of a wooden panel cut into two pieces: one part would be a table/vertical panel and the other part would be a bench and a support for the vertical panel at the same time. The idea was that the pieces could be ambivalent, that their use could be modified as necessary.

During the month and a half that the NEXT space was occupied by the project, these tables/panels were filled with the material that was being collected. The proportions of the panel matched those of a page from the publication ‘Carta de España’ (Letter from Spain), the starting point for the project. This original publication from the early 1970s was created with the aim of connecting Spanish emigrants with their country of origin and had a certain propaganda function during the Franco regime. Today it is still published, albeit with a different function.

Initially, the device was used horizontally (tables and chairs) to collect the material that was received. As this material was organised, the tables were converted into panels that were placed vertically as displays. The benches then served as supports for the panels.