EXHIBITION
Emergence(Y)
2026
VENUE
Science Gallery Melbourne
YEAR
Commissioned by Science Gallery Melbourne, Studio Peter King designed EMERGENCE[Y], an exhibition exploring how life adapts to a world in flux — spanning subjects from the cellular to the planetary and across landscapes from natural to urban. The exhibition design celebrates the elements: wind, fire, water, earth — using subtle colour and material changes to accent these elements and their connections to the artwork projects on display.
The exhibition brought together thirteen individual artist commissions, each with its own material, spatial and technical requirements. Works ranged from immersive and interactive experiences: installations that ask visitors to listen and watch, or even to dress up or sleep in the gallery. The design had to give each commission the specific spatial conditions it needed while weaving all thirteen into a single, cohesive visitor journey.
Given the exhibition's themes of ecological interconnection and regeneration, the design was built almost entirely from certified sustainable wood. As trees grow they draw carbon out of the atmosphere, and that carbon stays locked within the timber for the life of the material — making wood a renewable, lower-impact alternative to steel and other conventional exhibition construction. The choice also reinforced the exhibition's biophilic character, connecting visitors to natural materials as they moved through a show fundamentally about adaptation and survival.
Client: Science Gallery at the University of Melbourne
Curator: Tilly Boleyn and Bern Hall
Exhibition Design: Studio Peter King in collaboration with Mono Studio
Exhibition Identity: Studio io
Fabrication: Synthesis Design Build and PropArt
Painting: Flys Alone
Graphics: Image Box
Photography by Phoebe Powell courtesy of Science Gallery Melbourne
