4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art

4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art fosters excellence and innovation in contemporary Asian and Australian culture through research, documentation, development, discussion and presentation of contemporary visual art.

Challenge

With the appointment of a new director and their upcoming 20th anniversary, 4A came to us with the challenge of reinvigorating their brand for the next chapter in their journey.

Solution

Being at the intersection of a variety of cultures, 4A’s role in many ways is one of an interpreter, provoking conversations across cultures and languages. Contemporary art, however, isn’t meant to answer questions – its task is to provoke more questions and challenge audiences. With this in mind, our approach was to have audiences feel challenged, asking more questions than they did prior to visiting 4A. The brand takes descriptions of artists’ work and translates them through various regional languages. Each translation creates a slight shift in the original meaning of the work, adding new and challenging ideas of what the work means to the various audiences that view it. To accompany this translation strip a dynamic logo has been designed that changes its internal design based on the works it is promoting.

Results

"4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art is an organisation that works from a small shopfront gallery in the Chinatown district of Sydney but programs exhibitions, events, residencies and happenings across Sydney, New South Wales, Australia and the wider Asian region. Our audiences speak numerous languages and we tell numerous stories. We also ask questions. We asked FutureBrand to respond to the idea that we want all of our audience members to leave with more questions. We like to provoke, we like to challenge and we needed a brand that could communicate this mode of working. FutureBrand refreshed our brand in a manner that nods to our past while actively projecting into our future. We are delighted to be working with an aesthetic that reflects not only our diverse reach but our ambitions."

Mikala Tai, Director