Look Inside, National Library of Australia

The brief for this project was to create a vibrant, temporary outdoor installation on the library podium to demonstrate to the community, local and national, that the National Library is open for everyone and to entice people back into the building.

The design needed to take elements of the library’s collection outside the building and showcase some of the treasures that visitors can explore within, inspiring curiosity about the collection. The forms needed to be bright, colourful and attention grabbing and have social media appeal.

We proposed to build large scale letter forms of the library’s initials to house library artifacts or facsimiles for the visitor to discover. Each letter contains a unique optical illusion that augments the visitors experience of a collection item and creates surprise interactions with the material. At the centre of each of these illusions is a collection item or facsimile of a collection item. It is this discoverable magical moment that will inspire curiosity in the viewer and encourage further exploration of the installation and library. The letterforms are wrapped in UV resistant outdoor grade printed film. The wrap is intended to create an abstract vibrant colourful and attention-grabbing exterior to the letterforms that entices viewers to the installation.

Since the first installation of the project in July 2021 there have been two other iterations of the project including new graphic wraps for the letter forms, featured objects and optical illusions.

Project Partner National Library of Australia.