I think of exhibition space as a narrative medium. It allows complex processes, relationships, and invisible structures to become something you can move through and experience, rather than simply observe.
For SABOTAGE, the exhibition design follows the logic of Death by GPS, a project that examines how automation technologies are reshaping labour and exposing the contradictions of digital capitalism.
The exhibition unfolds as a spatial narrative. Visitors first encounter a sleek, corporate-style entrance that echoes the aesthetics of a corporate environment, an entry point into the world of outsourced digital work. As the exhibition progresses, the space gradually fragments, reflecting the dispersed and often invisible spaces of digital labour, from internet cafés to freelancers’ bedrooms.
I used aluminium and glass structures to create sterile, office-like cubicles, while grids and mesh elements reference the demarcation of the informal environments where many freelancers actually live and work, particularly within the South African context where the project was developed.
The choice of colour functioned as a curatorial tool throughout the exhibition, framing images and texts in clusters to guide the audience and interrupt the neutrality of the corporate setting. Together with the graphic design, these elements contrast the polished surface of digital platforms with the material and social conditions that sustain them.
The exhibition design was developed in collaboration with
@_andreaisola
The show is curated by Manuel Sigrist in collaboration with
@sarah__bourget
Graphic design by
@unstated.co
Meshes supplied by
@jakobropesystems
Structures supplied by Item
Frames by
@geiser_rahmen_ag
Images [2, 3, 4, 5, 7] : © Khashayar Javanmardi/Photo Elysée/Plateforme 10