this book & collecting
fun stickers.
Activation
The project prompt was to reframe the ICA as “the most creative intersection in the city,” using the Markel Center as a site of visibility, movement, and encounter. Rooted in the concept of intersubjectivity, this identity system reimagines the museum as a crossroads of many crossroads, a meeting point where people, perspectives, and creative disciplines intersect to generate shared cultural meaning. Inspired by organic circular forms found in biology, data visualization, and communal systems, the evolving “orb” motif represents both individual presence and collective connection, emphasizing how identity is shaped through interaction and exchange. This direction later evolved into “The Backyard,” a conceptual summer activation that extended the project’s themes of connection, community, and shared space through ecological textures and softened environmental forms. Introducing greenery, familiarity, and a sense of pause into Richmond’s downtown environment, the ICA is reimagined as a shared backyard: an accessible civic space grounded in curiosity, informality, and the living systems that connect us.