EXHIBITION IDENTITY // NAHMAD PROJECTS

Design in dialogue with de Chirico and Vezzoli, staging metaphysics, artifice and print.

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Curated by Francesco Vezzoli, Metafisica da Giardino staged a knowingly opulent dialogue between Giorgio de Chirico and Vezzoli. The visual identity needed to hold that tension – both classical and constructed, rooted in history yet alert to artifice.

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​The typographic system is anchored in a high-contrast Didone, drawn directly from a 1922 de Chirico exhibition poster. Its upright elegance and sculptural forms conjure the peculiar grandeur of early metaphysical painting – poised between theatre and philosophy. As a foundation, it offered a tone that was both historically grounded and quietly uncanny. 

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The accompanying book extends the tone of the exhibition into print – an object designed less to record than to respond. Material choices and structural interventions mirror the show’s conceptual play. Transparent substrates allow images to blur and double; French folds and die cuts fragment and reveal. One section simulates the experience of entering the ‘sun room’ – layering the book’s sequence with the same disjointed, theatrical logic. Experimental without being decorative, the book is grounded in typographic discipline and conceptual clarity. It reflects the artists’ shared fascination with symbol, staging and metaphysical dissonance – casting the publication as a continuation of the show’s enquiry, rather than a retrospective account. You can view the book in detail here.

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Artist: Francesco Vezzoli, Giorgio de Chirico 

Graphic Art Direction: Billie Temple
Gallery: Nahmad Projects

Installation Photography: Stephen White & Co