Iranian Art Exhibition Design & Lighting | London

The CAMA (Contemporary And Modern Art) Gallery uniquely represents Iranian artists. CAMA decided to announce their arrival on the London art scene with an opening ceremony at the Café Royal Hotel's Pompadour ballroom in London, Piccadilly.

SMA design was contacted initially to provide lighting design for the opening but this quickly changed into providing much more including exhibition design layout & installation management.

Obviously, arrangements had to be organised including explaining to the Café Royal what was required of them as they had never hosted an art exhibition previously.

After our first meeting with Café Royal it was clear due to the ballroom's ornate interior it wasn't possible to attach any fixings or lighting to the ceiling or walls. So it was decided to display the 29 Iranian contemporary paintings on high-quality art easels. However normal size art easels only have a maximum size & weight loading. Therefore on the larger Iranian paintings, two easels were used. However one of the Iranian paintings was so large a huge conservation easel was purchased to accommodate its proportions.  The one bronze sculpture & 6 artist books were displayed in glass showcases that utilised battery-powered LED lighting. This was the only way to add life to the Iranian objects on display as it wasn't possible to supply mains power across the ballroom floor.

For the lighting of the paintings, 40 graphic light arm fixtures were purchased which could easily be attached to the wooden easels. The graphic arms were fitted with special LED (CRI 95%) lamps  providing a 60 degree spread of 2700K (warm white) light. This temperature of light would complement the Iranian artworks and take into consideration the warm chandelier lighting of Café Royal’s ballroom.

Once provided with dimensions & images of the Iranian art to be displayed. SMA design created 1:10 scale prints with dimensions so we could quickly mock-up the display in the ballroom a few days prior to the exhibition installation.
This would not only save an enormous amount of time on the day but allow us to make changes to the layout and order so the paintings on display would work to provide a harmonious and aesthetic exhibition solution. Due to the earlier preparations, the installation of the Iranian painting exhibition went like clockwork. With everything being booked into the busy Café Royal's loading bay with appropriate intervals and then moved by fine art handlers up to the ballroom. The exhibition was completely finished one hour before the official photographer even arrived.

This Iranian art exhibition was attended by art dealers, collectors and scholars. I understand from the client it received numerous glowing reviews marking CAMA gallery's arrival on the London art scene.  

Iranian Art Exhibition Design Services

Feasibility & Concept Development
Gallery Masterplanning
Graphic Design / Branding / Corporate
Object Mounting & Installation
Gallery Lighting
Exhibition Design
Museum Exhibit
Temporary & Travelling Exhibits
Fine Art Courier Services
Project Management

Click on the large and thumb nail images or related links.

back to news