Double Infinity is a collaborative exhibition by HHD_FUN in collaboration with Holland Van Abbe Museum and Arthub, commissioned by Holland Art Center. It’s opening coincides with the opening of the Shanghai World Expo and is aimed at connecting these two countries, China and Holland, and two cities – Shanghai and Eindhoven. The aim is to conduct an impressive virtual dialogue by sharing the respective daily conditions and spatial features. More images and exhibition description after the break.
Double Infinity creates a dynamic and engaging space ripe for events and interactions to unfold. As a reflective place where art can be viewed and discussed there is great potential for this space to become both a meeting place and social hub. In addition to establishing opportunities for individuals to interact, Double Infinity represents the meeting of two nations and cultures, establishing a dialogue through the medium of contemporary art.
There are two main parts which comprise the exhibition. The first is the collections of the Van Abbe Museum, the second consists of individual creations by specially invited Asian artists. The name of the exhibition, Double Infinity, means to circulate and transcend oneself time after time. HHD_FUN was invited to design the exhibition space, which manifests as a spatial artwork reflecting the designers’ interpretation of the Double Infinity concept.
The design inspiration comes from the theme of the exhibition. The concept tries to introduce infinite circulation into the spatial design of the exhibition. After the consideration of many infinitive-circulation mathematical-models and the interaction between the site and display items, it was decided that the circulation would be a ∞ shape. Although it is quite a coincidence that this is also the mathematical symbol for infinity, the design was not conceived as a metaphor based on meaning of the simple symbol. The concept of the initial design consisted of three-dimensional infinitive circulations, afterward because of time and financial constraints; the circulation was changed to a two-dimensional concept. The former cross points of the three-dimensional design turned into the crisscross of the two-dimensional concept. This provides the visitors with a junction point, from where they can choose content to explore. This configuration also provides multiple visiting routes.
Owing to an important focus on cultural communication between these two countries, it is anticipated that this exhibition will go on tour. As such, all the structures are made of the dismountable steel frame and tension fabric. The complicated three-dimensional structures actually consist of topologically equivalent triangles. The reason for using the triangle here is stability: once the length is set, the shape and size can not be changed. Unfortunately, the two-dimensional geometric construction restricts the scope for spatial topological transformation. In order to increase the stability of the spatial structure, additional structure was added to the corners of the triangles, so that small triangles are formed on every corner, successfully increasing stability. By means of topologically-equivalent transformation and combination, the final design responds to site requirements. The last step in the process is to bind up the steel frames tightly with the tension fabric.
The corner structures are based on consecutive circular arcs of varying radii. This makes it much easier to manufacture them. Using this approach, it is possible to produce the complicated spatial curves using low-tech construction methods.
The triangular structures and their equivalent topological transformations, in combination with the tension fabric, form a design and construction principle which could be used under different conditions to respond to particular site requirements.
