Christie’s London
Curators – Alina Brezhneva, Bianca Chu, Milo Dickinson, and Tancredi Massimo di Roccasecca
Exhibition design Ingrid Hu
Graphics and Digital design Christie’s Creative Studio
Structural Engineer TALL Consulting Engineers
Fabricator and installer Qwerk
Graphics contractor L&S Reprographics
June 2015
Past Perfect / Future Present was an exhibition at Christie’s King Street, London, that juxtaposed art across all ages and from different parts of the globe, together with cutting-edge and new media works by four emerging artists: Armand Boua, James Balmforth, Olga Chernysheva and Harry Sanderson. Curated by four young curators, the brief for the exhibition design was to change the perception of Christie’s and to transform the listed building temporarily to attract a younger audience. A bold proposal was put forward to use scaffolding to display Old Master art works. The structure was designed to allow visitors to see various owners’ markings at the back of paintings, whilst providing a new setting to appreciate the artworks on display. Arranged across 6 themed galleries, the exhibition included a masterpiece of Baroque portraiture by Rubens, Lawrence of Arabia’s own dagger, components of a working Spitfire airplane, as well as pieces by modern masters including Henry Moore, LS Lowry and Sigmar Polke.