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Civica Pinacoteca Il Guercino
- RESEARCH
- STRATEGY
- ART DIRECTOR
- BRANDING
- ENVIRONMENT
THE CHALLENGE
THE REBIRTH OF THE CIVIC ART GALLERY - IL GUERCINO.
Two devastating earthquakes struck the city of Cento and the Emilia Romagna region on May 20th 2012. Many buildings were severely damaged and declared uninhabitable or unusable, including the Civic Art Gallery Pinacoteca Il Guercino. This was the city's civic museum, established in 1839 to house the most important masterpieces of the illustrious local artist Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, known as "Il Guercino," recovered after the Napoleonic requisitions. The Civic Art Gallery is located in the Monte di Pietà palace, designed in 1794 by architect Giovanni Callegari from Bologna.
After 11 tough years, the renovation and restoration work on the building has finally been completed. For the inauguration, which will return the Art Gallery to its citizens, we were asked to redesign the museum's coordinated image, the graphic tools of the exhibition, and the graphic communication for the opening.
THE LANDSCAPE
AN ALL-ROUNDED APPROACH TO CULTURE
The museum needed a young and dynamic identity to reignite public interest, which had waned over 11 years of closure. The reopening aimed to engage not only historical visitors but also a broader new audience, mainly targeting young teenagers less familiar with this type of art. The focus was also on young families visiting the area, who would see the civic museum as a curious and engaging tourist destination. To realise this ambitious vision, we collaborated with the web studio Basili.co and the architecture studio Open Project, combining our forces to offer a profound cultural experience within an innovative digital approach.
STRATEGY
THE BLANK CANVAS
To build a brand, it is essential to have a clear vision. In the initial phase, we worked with the municipal administration and the cultural department, which maintained the city’s artworks and presided over its cultural heritage over the years. The emerging goals were to create an authoritative brand with a strong and expressive visual image. Aiming to convey beauty, freshness and quality - involving a younger audience - and positioning ourselves as a bold and vibrant cultural study centre.
BRAND
LINKING PAST TO PRESENT - AN EVOLUTIONARY BRAND
We promoted a change in mindset by proposing the idea of beauty as an active catalyst. Il Guerncino would not be just a civic museum, but a great defender and exhibitor of art and beauty during a crucial moment in our history.
We needed a strong symbol to honour the main protagonist, the genius loci Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, known as "Il Guercino", from whom the museum takes its name. This symbol had to encapsulate the stylistic evolution of not only the master, but also the period itself shared by his students and collaborators - all within a logo. Thus, a symbol was created that represents a subtle nod to his initial - the G of Il Guercino - as a distinctive element. The design is a blend of calligraphic signs and essential lines representing modernity, combined with the Renaissance typographic style typical of that period. The slight tilt of the logotype subtly references Giovanni Francesco Barbieri’s strabismus, the element that earned him the nickname "Il Guercino" and was considered part of his extraordinary artistic abilities.
LOGO
The brand’s "palette" combines "muted" primary colours, inspired by the chromatics used by the artist in his works, with bright secondary colours that strongly contrast, creating distinctive lighting effects characteristic of the master's works. This overall visual image was used to colour and define all merchandising tools, transforming them into stories and memories of the experience at the Art Gallery.
The long-awaited opening
For 11 years the city had become accustomed to barriers, excavators, and scaffolding. We needed to draw attention to the long-awaited, though unexpected, completion of the renovation. To do this, we created a campaign with a clever play on words: "xCento" in Italian means "one hundred per cent," which also references the city's name, Cento. The slogan "we're ready at 99xCento" was born, and through memes, flyers, posters, and stickers, we began to rekindle the citizens' dormant hopes.
Follow your own path, as the master did
The exhibition creates an interpretative space that explores the artist's connection with his city and territory, deeply represented and influenced by the Master himself. It’s a dynamic and engaging experience that allows visitors to understand and appreciate Guercino's genius individually. The visit is organised through various paths, designed to enable users to delve into their interests autonomously, on multiple levels of depth, always curated and consistent with the overall visual language.
An audiovisual experience, a detailed art catalogue and a collection of more ‘human’ images accompany visitors, offering a personal and unique relationship with the art of Guercino and his disciples.
But the most accurate explanation of this project we can give you, is that you need to see it to believe it. Everyone is welcome at the Civic Art Gallery Il Guercino in Cento!