Black-and-white urKultur illustration with fantastical creatures, raised glasses and lettering within a flame-like shape.
Portrait-format crop of the urKultur illustration, with lettering, a winged fantastical creature and a raised glass.

urKultur

When should design step forward, and when should it step aside?

Context

Curatorial practice is about creating connections between people, ideas and places. For urKultur, Ruth Ur develops art commissions, feasibility studies and campaigns, often bringing art and design into public and transit spaces.

Approach

The website translates this approach into a clear and restrained digital presence. Rather than imposing a strong visual language of its own, the design gives space to the different projects and the contexts in which they take place.
The landing page becomes a changing exhibition space, presenting a rotating selection of works from urKultur’s collaborations with different artists. These works offer a visual introduction to Ruth’s collaborative approach to curating.
Generous image compositions show artworks in relation to their surroundings, while a simple structure makes the breadth of Ruth’s practice easy to navigate. The result is a website that supports rather than interprets the work, reflecting urKultur’s approach through clarity, openness and attention to context.

Project documentation

urKultur landing page with a black-and-white illustration of fantastical creatures and a brief introduction to the curatorial practice.
urKultur website project index with columns for project, type, artist, client and year.
urKultur project page “La Ventana”, showing colourful ceiling painting and wall mosaics beside a staircase.
Text section of the urKultur “La Ventana” project page, with a description, project details and press links.
urKultur About page with a portrait photograph, biography and lists of clients and artists.

Project

Project Title
urKultur
Client
Ruth Ur
Year
2023
Services
Website Design
Role
Concept Development, Design, Project Coordination
Graphic Design
Sarah Fricke, Lea Sievertsen, Pawel Wolowitsch (Distaff Studio)
Development
Menschmaschine Studio
Illustration
Ali Fitzgerald
Website
urkultur.com
Typeface
GT Alpina by Grilli Type