Tandem

Discover Lifelines in
The National Library
of Ireland

The National Library of Ireland contracted Tandem to design an exhibition to commemorate the immense success of the Lifelines project, started by English teacher Niall MacMonagle and his Fifth Year pupils from Wesley College, Dublin in 1985.

The students wrote to famous people asking for their favourite poem and the reasons for their choice, with a view to donating any money raised to the Third World. They received hundreds of replies from people as diverse and renowned as Mother Theresa, Bertie Ahern, Graham Norton and Judi Dench and compiled the responses into
a book. By 2006 Lifelines raised over €100,000 for Concern and
has been dubbed 'the best poetry anthology ever'.

The exhibition begins at a 6m long wall made up of 13 panels with three recesses, two of which have a built-in desk surface each with lighting, for visitors to read copies of the New & Collected edition in more detail. It continues across the second feature wall featuring excerpts of letters from famous people. Other features include an
area for sharing a favourite poem.

To encourage a flow throughout the small space, we avoided designing the exhibition in a linear sequence, instead affording
visitors the ability to start at any point and move from one section
to another without the narrative flow being lost.

Scope

Defining key stories

Allocating and prioritising
budget to various and
most appropriate
delivery mechanisms

Copywriting

Image research
and selection

Design of space and
interpretation