What Do You Make of This?

What were you thinking? Who belongs here? What do you make of this?

Through exhibition design, interpretation, wayfinding, and branding systems, Kristine Matthews’ work expresses ideas in environments. This exhibition at the University of Washington’s Jacob Lawrence Gallery celebrated three threads that tie together her work: material exploration and sustainability, audience participation, and inclusive design. Each room of the gallery posed a different question for the audience to consider as they perused projects spanning over 25 years.

To minimize the environmental impact of the exhibition while still creating spaces with impact, various structures were re-purposed from previous projects. The Re-Made framework was originally created as a prototype for the Give Me a Sign exhibition at Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian in New York. The circular “What Were You Thinking?” structure in the second gallery was originally created for our Vacant Seattle installation at the 2021 Design Festival. The sawhorse tables in the main gallery come from the materials library/workroom at Studio Matthews.

Cardboard, in various weights and colors, features throughout, allowing for easy recycling. The design, utilizing both the positive and negative of arrow and punctuation shapes, allows every scrap of the black cardboard sheets to be used.

SEGD Jury Comments:
“I enjoyed that this project highlights the process and materials that go into developing a compelling exhibition. By up-cycling and deconstructing past exhibitions you further the lifecycle of the material but also created a way to expose how our industry could think more long term and sustainable about our building practices.”

“Sustainability and environmental responsibility have recently risen to prominence as the world continues to grapple with climate and climate change. This applicant was able to salvage materials from other exhibitions to create a powerful design on an extremely limited budget.”