What is the Meaning of Life?

Sainsbury Centre
16 May – 15 November 2026

Client
Sainsbury Centre

Location
Norwich

Collaborators/Creative partners
Living by the Rule curators: Dr Jessica Barker and Dr Ed Krcma
Play Power curator: Tania Moor
Exhibition design: Simon Leach Design
Production and printing: Rock Solid Graphics

Photography
Simon Leach Design, Kate Wolstenholme/Sainsbury Centre

Context

Every year the Sainsbury Centre curates a season of exhibitions around a one question. In 2026 it asked ‘What is the meaning of life?’ The two exhibitions occupying the larger galleries were Living by the Rule: Contemporary meets Medieval and Play Power. Both explore daily life, reflecting on the ‘rules’ we live by and how the idea of ‘play’ shapes our society. Key objects included the earliest copy of the Rule of St Benedict (The Hatton Codex, c.700 AD), Medieval stone carvings and important 14th century illuminated manuscripts, curated to be in conversation with contemporary artworks by Andrea Büttner, Susan Morris, Vivienne Koorland, Germaine Richier, André Breton, Yoko One and many more.

Design

We created the season identity and the exhibition graphics. The identity centres on the artwork Thrones by Tacita Dean from 2021, part of a series of etheral, colourful artworks representing celestial beings, providing an abstracted device to help frame the season’s question. Typography throughout used the typeface Optima, evoking the calligraphic craft found in the Medieval manuscripts and a sense of humanity reflected in many of the contemporary artworks. Scale, proportion and rhythm were key aspects of the design language, defining the exhibition spaces and supporting the curatorial structures. 

Type: Exhibition, Visual identity
Project duration: 10 months