36 MOTH DESIGN
“Our goal was to provide the experience of an exhibition long after its closing,” explains Dan Rukas of Boston’s Moth Design. No small challenge for an exhibition as immersive and multisensory as Beaver No Seikatsu, a solo show by artist Shintaro Miyake at the Sandra and David Bakalar Gallery at Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt). Yet it was an assignment that Moth was uniquely suited to accept. Rukas, the project’s lead designer, is a MassArt grad, and Moth has worked with the school on other design projects, including a new identity. Miyake had a few requests—including the tree-bark cover image—but otherwise the project was in the hands of the designers.

The resulting catalog for Beaver No Seikatsu—Japanese for “life of beaver”—was published nine months after the show ended. The book combines the perspectives of the artist, curator Lisa Tung and the design firm, while also showcasing a diverse artistic practice: performance, video, drawing, stuffed beavers, an artist dressed as a beaver, and an indoor pond. This breadth of visual material is organized into three sections divided by color. To convey Miyake’s quirky, whimsical spirit, the catalog’s small size, horizontal shape, foldout pages and playful sticker sheets emulate features of a children’s book, surprising the viewer much as the exhibition did. The catalog, says the curator, effectively captures “the overall joie de vivre” of Miyake’s work. by Stephanie Greene

Moth Design | Creative Director: Tammy Dayton | Lead Designer: Dan Rukas | Photographers: George Bouret, John Paul Doguin, Stefan Epprecht, Justin Knapp, Daisuke Watanabe, Chloé Zang, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo/Yoshitaka Uchida-Nomadic Studio, Pennsylvania Game Commission | Editors: Lisa Tung, Chloé Zaug | Client: Massachusetts College of Art and Design Exhibitions Department | Contact: www.mothdesign.net