La Bess?
“La Bess?” “Comment ça va?” et autres polies formes was an exhibition held at Le Cube gallery in Rabat, Morocco featuring the artwork of Myriam El Haik alongside furniture and games created by myself and Myriam El Haik.
My role: game design, furniture design, exhibition design, graphic design
Myriam El Haik: creative direction, game design, furniture design, exhibition design
Andreas Kruger and Abdessamad El Montassir: photography
Logo
Salon Marocain - photo: Andreas Kruger
SALA game - photo: Andreas Kruger
Sculpture based on SALA game tiles - photo: Andreas Kruger
Challenge
For this exhibition we needed to translate Myriam El Haik’s existing artwork and concepts into a cohesive visual identity that we could use across the furniture, games, and exhibition. The games needed to be visually engaging and easy to understand, and the furniture and sculptures easy to transport and inexpensive to make. We needed to design and fabricate almost everything ourselves or bring prototypes to be produced by local artisans in Rabat. The goal of the exhibition was also to gauge interest in the games and furniture in order to decide whether to produce them on a large scale.
Card game and instructions - photo: Andreas Kruger
Card game - photo: Andreas Kruger
Exhibition view - photo: Abdessamad El Montassir
Result
At the center of the work is the “salon marocain,” the traditional 3-sided Moroccan sitting room. A minimalist version of the sitting room was iterated to form the logo, sculptures, furniture, and a board game. We also created a card game in which players learn to clap polyrhythms based on Moroccan phrases. The exhibition was well attended, and the audience loved the participatory nature.