180 Studios

UVA: Synchronicity

Brand Identity
Environment
Exhibition Design
Type Design

London-based collective United Visual Artists (UVA) has helped define a generation of media artists working with light, space, sound, and code for the last twenty years. Under the guidance of British artist Matt Clark, UVA’s multimedia practice investigates the nature of perception and cognition, reflecting the ways we attempt to understand and make sense of the world, and our place within it. Drawing on their background in live performance, UVA create “choreographed environments” that transfigure architectural space.

Presented by 180 Studios, UVA have now unveiled their largest ever exhibition. Marking the artist’s 20th anniversary, UVA: Synchronicity occupies the subterranean spaces of 180, featuring eight new, large-scale immersive works. HS was commissioned to design the identity, exhibition graphics and accompanying catalogue.

At the heart of the Synchronicity identity is a bespoke, dimensional wordmark. Constructed from two interwoven parts, the letterforms themselves take inspiration from the origins of Kinetic art, specifically the work of Naum Gabo and Antoine Pevsner. Kinetic art continues to be an enduring influence in UVA’s working practice.

The typographic language is extended into the physical space across exhibition graphics and wayfinding. Written texts about each of the works are encased in a series of bespoke lightboxes, that present the words in an illuminated state – giving the appearance that the text is floating in the darkness, whilst also serving as a visual guide to lead visitors through the exhibition space.

Credits

UVA: Matt Clark, Willem Kempers, Will Laslett, Maximo Recio, Lee Sampson, Jon Skerritt
Studio / Project Manager: Poppy Heron

Technicians: Blaise Anthony, David Li, Joseph Lyons, Freya McArthur, Yannis Petridis
Curation: 180 Studios in collaboration with Julia Kaganskiy
Graphic Design and Identity: Hingston Studio
Production: 180 Studios
Exhibition Photography: Jack Hems and Mark Cocksedge

Three silhouetted people stand before a vast glowing wall of dense white pixel-like lights in a dark industrial exhibition space.

Dark exhibition wall with large outlined “SYNCHRONICITY” typography and text panels reading “180 Studios Presents UVA: Synchronicity”.

Dim exhibition wall with a tall black information panel titled “Present Shock II”, glowing white text and a neon-style “01” at the base.

Black wall sign with glowing white abstract linework forming the numerals 01 against a dark, minimalist background.

Dark gallery space with large neon red, blue, pink, green and yellow light panels on the walls, and a person standing to the right looking on.

Two thin white left-pointing arrows on a dark painted brick wall, with blurred orange light streaks at the left edge.

A person stands before a dark wall installation of glowing white geometric lines forming intersecting triangles and rectangles in a minimal exhibition space.

A person stands in a dark exhibition space facing repeated bright white graphic figures projected across the wall in diagonal rows.

The typographic language is extended into the physical space across exhibition graphics and wayfinding. Written texts about each of the works are encased in a series of bespoke lightboxes, that present the words in an illuminated state – giving the appearance that the text is floating in the darkness, whilst also serving as a visual guide to lead visitors through the exhibition space.

Dark exhibition display titled “Etymologies” with dense white explanatory text, a glowing “06” at the base, and a backlit figure facing it.

Dark installation space with green horizontal light bars and a seated figure beside a central column, framed by vertical rods and exposed ceiling ducts

Dark exhibition space with a glowing text panel titled “Musica Universalis” beside a red-lit room of pipes and spherical lights.

Black exhibition frontage with large white geometric lettering reading ‘Synchro Nicity’ and smaller text for ‘UVA: Synchronicity’ and ‘180 Studios Presents’.