‘Abstract Erotic’ at The Courtauld Gallery, designed by Nissen Richards Studio, represented a unique chance to see a collection of extraordinary sculptures by pioneering 20th century artists Louise Bourgeois, Eva Hesse and Alice Adams. The exhibition was the first time The Courtauld had staged an ambitious group exhibition of this kind, with three-dimensional works suspended from the ceiling and abstract sculpture filling the gallery spaces in bold and unconventional ways. 

The exhibition foregrounds the shared commitment of these artists to using humour and abstract form to ask important questions about sexuality and bodies. The influential critic and curator Lucy Lippard dubbed this kind of work ‘abstract erotic’. Prior to the emergence of the women’s movement, these artists engaged with a feminist politics of the body with their visceral, playful, and abstract forms in materials such as latex, expanding foam, string, and plaster. As Lippard later reflected, ‘I can see now that I was looking for “feminist art”’.

The exhibition is located within the only series of spaces that were not part of the scope of Nissen Richards Studio’s work as interpreters of the new Courtauld Gallery visitor experience, including gallery, exhibition design and wayfinding for its major 2021 refurbishment scheme – which went on to win a RIBA National Award, as well as the People’s Choice Award at The Stirling Prize 2023.

The designs sought to reflect the feeling of an iconic exhibition and studios in the 60s that featured some of the work on display. As the works were very delicate and unusual materially, they needed to be given space, but also arranged as groups that relate to each other in interesting ways. Nissen Richards Studio used sweeping, curved plinths to unite these groups, thinking carefully about how each work might be either suspended, placed on a shelf or plinth, or set within a showcase. 

For the graphics, the individual artists were showcased individually whilst also creating clear and not distracting labelling. We wanted the text to be very much on second reading when entering the space, so that the visitor would feel as if they have stepped into a sculpture studio.