New Work: ‘Dress Codes’

The triennial of the International Center of Photography is the only major American survey of contemporary photography and video. The ICP triennial’s third edition, Dress Codes, recently on view at the Museum at ICP in New York, closed out a year of fashion-related programming at the museum and explored ideas of identity, production and consumption through the lens of fashion, style and image. The exhibition featured the work of 34 photographers including Cindy Sherman, Stan Douglas, Barbara Kruger, Lorna Simpson, Mikalene Thomas and Thorsten Brinkmann. Abbott Miller designed the show working with ICP curators Kristen Lubben, Christopher Phillips, Carol Squiers and ICP adjunct curator Vince Aletti.

The challenge of designing a large survey like Dress Codes is to create a visual framework that ties the exhibition together without overshadowing the exhibited works. For Dress Codes, Miller treated the gallery walls like a sewn-together ribbon that weaved through the exhibition space. This “ribbon” was made of painted zones of color that delineated each artist’s installation. (A palette of 10 colors was used; these were repeated, but each artist was only displayed in one zone.) The colored zones wrapped around the corners of galleries, crossing into adjacent spaces and creating a sense of movement that was somewhat cinematic. The colors were joined or “stitched” together at seams that extruded from the walls, giving the appearance they were being “pulled.” The seams were made of pairs of curved, concave metal runners that were mounted to the walls and painted. The treatment was relevant to photography that engages clothing, fashion and representation through dress.

Miller also designed the exhibition graphics and the installation in the museum windows, which appears as a pattern of blocks of color alternating with cropped images of the triennial works.

Previously: Preview: “Dress Codes” at ICP

Project Team: Abbott Miller, partner-in-charge and designer; Kristen Spilman, Brian Raby and Susan Brzozowski, designers.