The Box

John Akomfrah & Planet Ocean

In 2023, Plymouth’s museum and art gallery, The Box, hosted the UK debut of acclaimed artist John Akomfrah’s film installation, Arcadia, as well as the opening of Planet Ocean, an exhibition exploring the relationship between humanity and the oceans. Featuring visuals of landscapes from across the globe, Akomfrah’s Arcadia reflects on ‘The Columbian Exchange’ – the widespread transfer of plants, animals, precious metals, commodities, populations, technology, diseases and ideas between the Americas, Afro-Eurasia and Europe from the 1400s onwards. With similar themes of global transfer – regarding plankton, pollution and people – Planet Ocean explores objects and stories from microscopic marine life to pressing environmental challenges including microplastics (a term actually coined in Plymouth).

Intercity were invited to work on the overall identity for both exhibitions – creating a concept that would visually link the two, while ensuring each show retained its own individuality.

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"The collaboration with Intercity was both innovative and impactful! The generative visualisations added a compelling layer of storytelling to John Akomfrah’s Arcadia and Planet Ocean. Highlighting the connection between the two shows while delivering a visually arresting experience, particularly with the introductory projection wall, was an impressive achievement. The focus on rising sea temperatures is especially timely and significant."

Steve Conway – Collections Manager, The Box

Our solution focused on two generative visualisations, referencing the overarching narrative of migration that is present in both exhibitions. The visualisations were fully controllable and served as the focus for the advertising campaigns and exhibition graphics for each show. For the Planet Ocean exhibition, the generative visualisation was linked to historical sea temperature data and projected onto the gallery title wall. The change in Plymouth's sea temperature over the past 100 years controls the volume of the visualisation.