The Ark: Tu Wei-Cheng Solo Exhibition Catalog

The Ark: Tu Wei-Cheng Solo Exhibition Catalog

Client: Tina Keng Gallery · Editor: Yu-Shan Hsie

Design Team: Idealform co.
Cover and Binding Design: Chi-Lun Wen
Layout Design: Meng-Chieh Li, Chi-Lun Wen, Tsai-Lin Chang, Yu-An Tsai, Ting-Lun Lo
Photo: Combine Studio

Recognition/Award
Featured in the 2023 Asia Pacific Design Annual No.19

“Through creation, I have expanded myself into a mechanism of production and marketing, and ‘self-establishment’ has become the core of my creation. This core allows me to think about and respond to ‘contemporary art’ in concrete terms. The Ark is another goal based on this core of 'self-organization’, and it is likely to be the final form of presentation for all my ‘outdoor sites’ or other project-based creations. I use it to reflect on and present the interrelationships between private and public collections, the origins of museums, history, natural environments, myths, legends, fables, and prophecies, as well as the collective subconscious and spiritual needs of human beings.”
—Wei-Cheng Tu

The Ark Exhibition catalog is based on European museum books, responding to artist Wei-Cheng Tu's concern about ‘self-institutionalization’ in his creation. The design simulates and mounts a book in the style of an ancient civilization through its binding. Shaped like a classic, it is a large hardcover book, with intentionally aged antique brass hardware fasteners. This design enhances the book's opening and closing motions with a hand gesture of ‘opening’, compared to the typical “flipping through the pages”. These gestures respond to the concept that ‘The Ark’ is a carrier of many species saved from disasters, akin to the civilizations and strange species collected in this book.