We recently collaborated with Machine Project to create a series of fliers for their upcoming Walker Open Field residency, Summer Jubilee, which begins this Tuesday, July 19. The Summer Jubilee (and it is truly a jubilee—check out this great teaser video) is a two week long series of events that take place all over the Walker campus, including directly underneath the Open Field.
The idea for these came about when we were digging through the Walker archives and found a great collection of beautiful, one-color fliers that the Walker (we) used to make for its (our) Performing Arts events back in the ’70s. We were immediately drawn to the simplicity of this utilitarian format, evoking a kind of dirty modernism mixed with a photocopied DIY feel. So we decided to revive the system as a bit of a time-travel experiment, not only in aesthetics, but through the history of an in-house design studio that has existed for decades, and seen scores of designers come through its doors. And its a bit of a self-serving experiment in DIY messaging–––what good are coffee-shop fliers in the age of email blasts, direct mail, and Facebook events? Where do retro Kinko’s fliers fall on the spectrum of graphic DIY revivalism—somewhere between Craftivism, zine culture, and delirious desktop publishing aesthetics? It’s fun to ask the question. Maybe Machine Projects has an answer—they have a love for printed matter and DIY communication—in addition to our fliers, they commissioned several L.A.-based designers to make some sweet screen-printed posters for their events.
We plan on returning to this shadowy system in the future whenever it feels appropriate, or even when it doesn’t. More to come on that soon, but in the mean time, can you guess what type of sushi roll that is in the the photo below? (Hint: it was inspired by the range of paper colors that the original fliers utilized.)
Don’t forget to come to the Walker and be a part of the Jubilee, July 19-29, you are sure to experience some form of jubilation.
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