Exploring the filmography of David Cronenberg in the first travelling exhibit created by The Toronto International Film Festival.

The Toronto International Film Festival - Evolution : David Cronenberg

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Introduction

TIFF's first major original exhibition, David Cronenberg: Evolution, parallels David Cronenberg's evolution as a filmmaker with his longstanding fascination with the possibilities and perils of human evolution itself. Curated by TIFF Director & CEO Piers Handling, and divided into three major sections that provide a loosely chronological overview of Cronenberg's career, the exhibition traces the development of the director's evolutionary themes across his filmography through more than 300 original artifacts, visionary designs, and rare and unseen footage. The exhibition has traveled to five European cities since its inaugural opening at TIFF.

Final exhibit interior, and design options rendered.

Exhibit Digital Visualizations

Approached by RPDI Architects to collaborate in the exhibit design pitch, our initial attempts were to capture a mood that encapsulate the thought processes of the director as he examines human behaviour in his films. Inspired by his philosophies, as well as the movie props that would eventually be on display, our office came up with numerous images.

The Requirements

The design was conceived as a symbolic journey, exploring the dark, provocative mind of David Cronenberg. The centre of the exhibition was the metaphoric brainstem of the filmmaker, a curvilinear synaptic media installation featuring video clips of dozens of interviews designed as a cascade playing in sequence across a panoptic array of screens. Visitors enter the very centre of the exhibit, conceived as the brain’s inner chamber. This central space was a stylized media installation of screens made of abstract, stretched fabric featuring clips of Cronenberg throughout his career, describing his evolution as a filmmaker. (RPDI design philosophy for exhibit).

"The Fly" in situ, and rendered interpretations.

"The Fly" Reinterpreted

Each prop on display is loaded with meaning, so that moving through the exhibit seems as if one is moving through the mind of the author. We aimed to capture the precarious nature of the mental states of some of Cronenberg's most memorable protagonists.

Using the images and concepts presented in many of Cronenberg's films, we partnered with the exhibit designers at RPDI to conceive spatial responses that would be evocative of the director's philosophical sensibilities. The central "repository" or "brain" is filled with screens presenting various clips from his films in a manner represented in the movie "Videodrome".

The Response

Entrance to central space

Renderings indicating central space.

The periphery of the "brain".

"Videodrome" Reinterpreted

Entering the central space is representative of entering the mind of not only the director but the protagonists in his many films.

The Result

The inaugural travelling exhibit was very successful, winning numerous awards. Actor Jeremy Irons described it in an interview: "I've never seen an exhibition of such depth and variety for a film director. What's down at TIFF is extraordinary!" While David Cronenberg himself has said: "It's incredibly touching to me...It is really so intelligently and carefully, and even I say, affectionately constructed to show the relationship amongst the films and my own life."