Exhibition Design: "Petőfi: Freedom in the Rhythm of Poetry"

Reframing a Cross-Cultural Literary Exhibition Through Poetry.

Petőfi: A Long Song of Freedom in Poetry is an international literary exhibition presented at the Gulangyu Art Gallery, adapted from the original Petőfi exhibition of the Museum of Modern Chinese Press and Publishing in Shanghai.

Compared with the more comprehensive structure of the original show, this touring version focuses on poetry, using manuscripts, personal objects, clothing, and paintings to recreate the poet’s life and literary world. In the context of Gulangyu, the exhibition is more than a show about a Hungarian poet.

It becomes a literary experience shaped for an island setting, responding to the site’s cultural atmosphere, slower rhythm, and public-facing character. Through exhibition design, poetic content is condensed and spatially translated into a lighter and more open form, giving the exhibition new accessibility within a World Heritage environment.

Highlights

• Adapted from the original Petőfi exhibition in Shanghai, with a stronger focus on poetry for the Gulangyu setting
• Presented at the Gulangyu Art Gallery, linking international literary content with a public cultural space on the island
• Recreates Petőfi’s poetic world and personal character through manuscripts, objects, clothing, and portraits
• Distills a fuller biographical exhibition into a more lyrical and approachable display structure
• Translates international literature into a form better suited to lingering, reading, and wandering
• Uses poetry as a medium to strengthen the on-site presence of China–Hungary cultural exchange

Design Challenge

Compared with the original museum exhibition, the Gulangyu touring version faced a more open, lightweight, and public-oriented viewing environment. The core challenge of this project was how to transform Petőfi from simply a literary name into a poetic world that could be felt within a smaller exhibition space and a shorter viewing duration.

Rather than reproducing the full original exhibition, the tour needed to distill and foreground poetry as its central thread. At the same time, Gulangyu is defined by wandering, tourism, and public cultural experience, with viewing habits very different from those of a museum audience.

The design therefore needed to find a new balance between literary depth and on-site accessibility, preserving the spirit of Petőfi while making the exhibition more suited to the open cultural setting of the Gulangyu Art Gallery.

Design Strategy

The project is built around the concept of “a long song of freedom in poetry,” shifting the exhibition from a full narrative of life and history to a more concentrated presentation of poetry and emotion. Rather than unfolding complete historical information, the exhibition reorganizes its content around poems, inspiration, personal character, and traces of everyday life, creating a clearer and more immediate path into Petőfi’s inner world for the touring context.

Spatially, the design emphasizes a lighter and more visual presentation of literary content. Manuscripts, objects, clothing, and images are arranged not simply as documentary material, but as part of a poetic viewing rhythm that conveys both the poet’s real presence and the emotional atmosphere of freedom, lyricism, and song.

In this way, the exhibition transforms literary content into a more site-responsive experience, moving from a document-based format toward a spatial narrative better suited to wandering and lingering in the Gulangyu Art Gallery.

Project Value

The significance of this project lies in offering a more adaptable exhibition model for international literary shows in public cultural and tourism-oriented settings. Within the context of Gulangyu as a World Heritage site, Petőfi is presented not only within a museum framework, but as a poetic medium connected to urban wandering, historic atmosphere, and public cultural life.

By selectively refining the original exhibition, the project shifts literary display from a complete knowledge structure to a more concentrated cultural and emotional experience, making international literary content more accessible to a broader audience. Through the coordination of exhibition narrative, content compression, and spatial atmosphere, the project extends Petőfi’s poetic world from the museum into an island-based public setting, while also offering a flexible curatorial approach for future touring literary exhibitions.