Description:

Drawing Room accompanies the exhibition — of the same name — held throughout the Ō Papa Mair and North Galleries of Toi Moroki Centre of Contemporary Art in Christchurch. This exhibition explores speculative architectural drawing practices: drawing in space, rather than drawings of spaces. Three components — a mechanical drawing apparatus, an immersive virtual reality environment, and a short film — are interconnected in their conception and site.

Drawing Room, the publication, utilises the exhibition floor sheet in the form of a wraparound dust-jacket, enclosing a pair of booklets. Each booklet contains an edited selection of essays, reviews, and documentary images focussing on the three themes of the exhibition: drawing and scale; drawing and simulation; drawing and light. Text contributions by the editors and reviewers are interspersed among documentation of the VR component of the exhibition and photographs of the installation — both in situ and throughout its construction.

Throughout the publication is a mix of linework and typography that draws a specific connection to the mechanical drawing apparatus in the exhibition. The machine — which was designed to cast moving shadows and reflections throughout the gallery space — is mirrored by the contrast of solid and striped halftone typography, illustration and spot UV printing. This contrast creates a lingering awareness of the movement of light as you unravel and move through the pages of the book.

The connection between commercial practice drawing of space and artistic practice of drawing in space also played a key role in the shaping of the publication's visual identity. The vibrant blue spot colour printing and cover stock draw a connection to the hues in the colourful VR world presented in the exhibition while also referencing the existing branded material of the architects' commercial practice and creating a bold visual appeal.