Dear blog readers. We have an exhibition opening this weekend called Graphic Design: Now in Production. I’d like to call your attention to this great review in the New York Times by Alice Rawsthorn.
From print to screen, this exhibition explores the vibrant scene of graphic designers who have seized the means of production and are remaking design practice. From Mad Men to The Gentlewoman, chartjunk to infoporn, Gapminder to Google Doodles, Text Pencil to Poster Wall, iPad apps to MeBoxes, Graphic Design: Now in Production chronicles postmillennial all-access design tools and self-publishing systems, the open-source nature of creative production, and the entrepreneurial spirit of the designer turned producer. Basically, the show is ridiculously huge.
The exhibition is co-organized by the Walker Art Center and the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, co-curated by Andrew Blauvelt and Ellen Lupton, with guest curators Armin Vit and Bryony Gomez-Palacio of Brand New, Jeremy Leslie of magculture.com, and Ian Albinson of artofthetitle.com. If you can’t make it to Minneapolis to see the show, the Cooper-Hewitt will present it in New York in the summer of 2012 on Governor’s Island. If you can’t make it to New York next summer, it will also be in several US cities after that . . . and if you can’t make it to those cities, well don’t despair, that’s why we have the internet.
We’ll be blogging behind-the-scenes installation shots, interviews with artists, case studies of particular works in the show, and everything else we can think of.
UPCOMING BLOG POSTS FOR YOU AND YOURS:
—three brand new posters by Experimental Jetset commissioned for the show
—a new installation by Metahaven called FaceState
—a new parasite publication by Åbäke
—video documentation of Jürg Lehni and Alex Rich’s Viktor performance, taking place this Thursday at the Walker (Come see it! It’s free! 7:00!)
—interviews with Daniel Eatock, Fanette Mellier, and more designers in the show
—a writeup of the Walker-produced catalogue for the show
—videos from the making of the show
—many, many case-studies of individual works
—excerpts of essays from the catalogue by Andrew Blauvelt, Rob Giampietro, Peter Hall, Ellen Lupton, and more
—documentation of our night school program—30 students from 3 Minnesota design schools meeting once a week using the exhibition as a text book
And just a reminder to everyone local: Thursday (10/20) night: Viktor performance. Friday (10/21) night: opening night After Hours preview party. Saturday (10/22) day: Show officially opens with an opening day talk and panel discussion with the curators and surprise designer guests.
Image captions, from top to bottom: dust jacket from the exhibition catalogue (Walker design); The Gentlewoman (Jop van Bennekom); Google Doodle; FaceState sketch (Metahaven); Anthony Burrill screenprinting Oil and Water Do Not Mix; Retired Popeyes logo; Pyre logo (Christophe Szpajdel); Churchward International Typefaces (David Bennewith); Dexter Sinister neon sign; Library of Congress logo (Chermayeff & Geismar); Things to Say (Jürg Lehni and Alex Rich); Specimen (Fanette Mellier); The Picture of Dorian Gray (John Morgan); Retired Starbucks logo; Selection from World Trade Center Preservation Project (Ji Lee); Dear Lulu (James Goggin)
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