Held at the Portuguese city’s Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology, Aquaria – Or the Illusion of a Boxed Sea is an 11-installation exhibition that acts as an ‘exploded aquarium’.

Key features 

11 spatial and audiovisual installations, archive materials and selected voices populate the show, which presents ways of rethinking our connection with the marine world by examining how the fish tank has spurred an ‘interiorization of the ocean kingdom’. Designed by 2050+, the exhibition utilizes materials typically used in technical aquaria spaces and for the transportation of sea animals – a purposeful contrast of notions of care and violence. ‘Art, design and architecture serve as tools for speculation,’ explains curator Angela Rui, who aims to encourage visitors to consider their own separation from nature. Graphic design by Studio Òbelo works in parallel to the space to highlight the ‘ambiguities of perception’, just as the glass walls of aquaria impose a ‘two-way mediation of connection and separation’.

Frame’s take

Because the designers harnessed the space to reflect the subject matter itself, both symbolically and literally, the content in the exhibition is likely to resonate with visitors on a much deeper level. The use of aquatic materials, sparse but considered, work seamlessly with the design: their subtle implementation in the minimalistic interior adds a great textural touch with meaning. This project is a great reminder that exhibition spaces don’t have to be extravagantly designed to leave a powerful impact on viewers.