AMO’s First China Exhibition Design Revealed in Beijing

True Me. Image © Bien Jie, Courtesy of OMA

OMA‘s research and design practice AMO has opened True Me, the studio’s first exhibition design in China. Built in the 798 Art Factory in Beijing, True Me explores modern selfie-culture and modes of self-representation through art and media. Organized by App developer Meitu and the Beijing Contemporary Arts Foundation, the exhibition features artworks by Hou Ying, Lu Yang, Maleonn, Xie Haiwei, Ye Funa, Chen Tianzhuo, teamLab, and Theodore Bradley. Celebrating the launch of Meitu’s new logo, the exhibition extends AMO’s interest in studying visual culture.

True Me grounds AMO’s research into a staged space by literally reflecting the nature of the Meitu app. Over one billion users use Meitu to retouch selfie images and produce reimagined expressions of themselves. Continuing the vein of AMO’s work beyond fashion show sets and retail interiors, the exhibition concept plays on the app’s contradiction between the raw, inner self and post-produced image that’s created. Spaces are aligned along a central corridor connected to a series of spaces. These rooms are clad in head-to-toe curved mirrors along the corridor to reflect the notion of the outer self. Inside, six soft zones clothed in flannel, felt and grass display the idea of the inner self. Together, the corridor and rooms take visitors on a journey through visual artworks and performance spaces.

As part of OMA’s growing interest in the vibrant progressive cultural scenes of Asia, the exhibition design was led by OMA Partner and Asia Director Chris van Duijn. The project forms part of a sequence of cultural projects designed at OMA’s Hong Kong office, including the Genesis Gangnam store in Seoul and the cultural spaces at the recently opened Columbia Circle in Shanghai. Currently, OMA is working on the extension of a leading art institute in Beijing to be complete at the end of this year.

True Me will be open to visitors at the 798 Art Factory until August 14, 2018