The Director of the 27th International Biennial of Graphic Design Brno 2016 has nominated on the recommendation of the Organization Committee BB2016 the International Jury as follows: Guus Beumer, Anuschka Blommers & Niels Schumm, Jean-Marie Courant, Vít Havránek, Jon Sueda.

Jan Press, director of the Moravian Gallery in Brno and the international Biennial of Graphic Design Brno, Radim Peško, Tomáš Celizna and Adam Macháček, the authors of this Biennial and Marta Sylvestrová, head of the Graphic Design Department of the Moravian Gallery in Brno, were also present at the jury deliberations. The International Jury consisting of five members (Anuschka Blommers & Niels Schumm share one vote) commenced its deliberations on Tuesday, 14 June 2016 at 10 am. The jury members elected Jon Sueda as the chair and Guus Beumer as the vice-chair of the International Jury. The vote was unanimous. The working methods of the Jury and the evaluation process were then discussed.

The Jury discussed the potential criteria for awarding the prizes. Having carefully evaluated all the works in the International Exhibition, the Jury decided not to focus on traditional notions of ‘excellence’ and individual awards and instead used this as an opportunity to further explore the diversity of the original selection and identify the expanded practice of graphic designers in the exhibition.

The International Exhibition comprises a total of 44 exhibits by 68 designers and creative teams from 15 countries. The International Jury examined the works on display at the Museum of Applied Arts of the Moravian Gallery in Brno, Czech Republic. The highest quantity of works were submitted from Germany (18), the Czech Republic (10) and the USA (9).

The International Jury completed its deliberations on Wednesday, June 15, 2016 at 6:30 pm.

List of Brno Biennial 2016 Awards

Grand Prix of the Brno Biennial 2016 – The Minister of Culture of the Czech Republic Award
Rivista Apparente
Anna Haas (CH)

The Mayor of the City of Brno Award
Sexed Realities: To Whom Do I Owe My Body?
Anja Kaiser (DE)

The Czech Centres Award
Abeceda pro Futuru
Jan Brož, Michal Landa (CZ)

 The International Jury Award
Whitney Museum of American Art: New Building Materials
Whitney in-house team: Hilary Greenbaum, Keri Bronk, Virginia Chow, Francesca Grassi, Liz Plahn, Kees Bakker, Sung Mun, Meg Forsyth, Seth Hoekstra (US)

The Brno Biennial Award for an Outstanding Contribution to Graphic Design
František Štorm (CZ)
 awarded by the Board of the Brno Biennial

Statement of the International Jury

The International Jury of the 27th International Biennial of Graphic Design Brno 2016 acknowledges the strong curatorial perspective of the Selection Jury and aimed to both understand and extrapolate their initial ideas, which included recognizing work in the margins of the discipline and emerging talent. Through observing and studying the work, the jury decided not to focus on traditional notions of ‘excellence’ and individual awards and instead used this as an opportunity to further explore the diversity of the original selection and identify the expanded practice of graphic designers in the exhibition. After rigorous exchange between studying the individual pieces and group discussion, the jury identified four categories that represent important positions and practices in contemporary graphic design. These ‘activities’ were: Editorial, Discursive, Pictorial, Interpretive.

Revista Apparente, designed by Anna Haas, is an example of an ambitious project accomplished within modest economic means. This project exemplifies the position of designer as editor and collaborator. The jury commends the intelligent display, which allowed the viewer to engage and understand the complexities of the project and the designer’s role.

Sexed Realities: To Whom Do I Owe My Body?, designed by Anja Kaiser confirms the discursive power of design to incite social thought and commentary. This work represents a contemporary posture in graphic design practice, which opposes traditional notions of problem solving for a questioning of media and design culture.

Abeceda pro Futuru, designed by Jan Brož and Michal Landa, refers to the rich tradition of European poster design through a contemporary lens, using alphabetic systems and a compelling hybrid of text and pictorial imagery.

The Whitney Museum of Contemporary Art: New Building Materials, designed by the institution’s in-house design team, acknowledges the interpretive responsibility of the designer to work within a set of given parameters and rules yet find a way to expand and create. Much like musicians interpret a score in their own way, the Whitney’s team of designers has creatively used the institutional identity system designed by Experimental Jetset.

Through our selection process, our multi-disciplinary jury (made from two graphic designers, two photographers, one curator, and one institute director) deeply discussed and debated many topics revolving around the discipline and aimed to re-focus what we deemed to be an expanded yet ambiguous landscape. We hope these selections both celebrate the work in the biennial and provoke discussion about the larger practice of graphic design.

Jon Sueda, chair of the jury
Guus Beumer, vice-chair of the jury
Anuschka Blommers & Niels Schumm
Jean-Marie Courant
Vít Havránek