ZOO in use: Prague Quadrennial

A super bold identity based on an even bolder typeface

A group of five white trucks is parked in the monumental Výstaviště Praha Holešovice – Central Hall of the Industrial Palace in Prague. Usually this is the kind of vehicle that transports works of art to an exhibition. Here, as a part of the Prague Quadrennial, the trucks themselves are the exhibition space.

Inside, loading space is repurposed as display cabinet and cinema; on the outside, designers Matěj Činčera and Jan Kloss left no possibility unused to brand the vehicles with vibrant red typography. From the installation art itself and the type on the roof to number plates and the obligatory Wondertree air freshener: the high contrast Zoo (designed by Quentin Coulombier and available from Blaze Type) is used throughout. Its offbeat shapes are counterbalanced by straightforward typography with programme information, using Akzidenz-Grotesk.

The Performance Space Exhibition showcases a wide range of possibilities for theatre architecture. From found and transformed spaces to major national projects to temporal outdoor structures, especially those in remote or complicated areas where the creators of the space might not be architects.

Contemporary performances take place in many spaces outside of traditional theatres, and these can be just as exciting and valid as those in traditional multifunctional performing arts structures made exclusively by architectural firms. The buildings and spaces that come alive for a performance are complex organisms fusing together ancient traditions with new important views.

No matter how beautiful or complex a piece of stunning architecture might be, without a connection to the community and the dialogue between the creator and artists using the space, the result might be a lifeless shell of a building.

Client: Prague Quadrennial
Concept & design: Matěj Činčera, Jan Kloss
Extended technical support & photography: Marek Volf