The design exhibition Pure Gold – Upcycled! Upgraded! initiated by the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen is an international touring exhibition presenting 76 pieces by 53 designers from 7 regions in the world at 20 venues over the period of 10 years.

At every venue of the tour, the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen invites local designers to show their works together with Pure Gold. The workshops that take place at the international touring exhibition venues with local designers are guided by Axel Kufus and the design studio Lapatsch|Unger. A direct result of these workshops are Upcycables: simple and non-verbal video instructions in a stop-motion format that invite the spectator to imitate and gain a new perspective on waste materials.

I was asked to develop a form of presentation for the clips that are called Upcycables.

Accessibility

Accessibility was a prime concern during UX design – especially since the exhibition also takes place in developing countries. It quickly emerged that the preferred form of interaction will be a large touch display accompanied by a display on the wall for viewing the Upcycables. This way, a large group of people can simultaneously interact and view the clips without getting in one another's way.
A solution that was already in place before was based on gesture interaction – which posed an issue as some gestures are interpreted differently across the world.

The globe is controlled by touch interaction. By tapping on one of the trash bins which represent the exhibition stops the user can then choose a video to play.

To make it even easier to interact with, the installation features an onboarding mode to help people with getting used to the controls.

The exhibition is transported in wooden crates. Everything concerning the video installation fits in one of these crates and the stand for the touch interface is built upon it.

Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the exhibition program came to a temporary halt and will most likely resume in 2022.

Managing Data

Upcycables are filmed on location and produced mainly in Germany. Therefore it's a requirement that all data can be managed in the cloud and that the installation updates itself automatically to always show the latest content. This is achieved by using a mobile LTE router and a Directus backend.

Blue Marble

The visuals inspired by The Blue Marble emphasize the touring nature of the exhibition program and the different approaches to upcycling in individual areas. The sun's position is accurately depicting real-life conditions and shows the globe in all its glory with city lights and ocean highlights.