Zdeněk Ziegler

 

Personalities in Czech Graphic Design

On the occasion of the 25th Brno Biennial 2012 Zdeněk Ziegler received the Award for Lifelong Contribution to Graphic Design.

The exhibition of this outstanding Czech graphic designer and teacher introduces primarily his extensive work in the film poster domain from the beginning of the 1960s to the end of the 1980s.

Through exhibits showing his completed commissions to sketches and designs which did not materialize the display shows a medium which in its time has defined the visual language and aesthetics of a whole generation of graphic designers and which with its variety and inventive approach has provided a source of inspiration to this day.

In this way the Brno Biennial continues the series introducing important designers who have essentially influenced the development and form of Czech graphic design, a discipline that is an indelible part of Czech visual culture.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a film festival composed exclusively of films for which Zdeněk Ziegler created the posters.

For the very first time, the exhibition presents a selection of Zdeněk Ziegler’s sketches and hand made originals, from which the movie posters were then reproduced in two formats – A3 and A1. Seven enlarged posters are shown ‘double-faced’ – one side displaying the original version for the movie release in its country of origin, the other showing the design by Zdeněk Ziegler promoting the same movie in Czechoslovakia. The exhibition display, arranged as an imaginary timeline, is complemented with a selection of the artist’s posters from the Moravian Gallery collection.

Conceived by Radim Peško Radim Peško (1976) is a graphic designer based in London. He works in the field of type design, editorial and exhibition projects. In 2010 he has established his RP Digital Type Foundry that specializes on typefaces that are both formally and conceptually distinctive. His work includes identity for Secession Vienna, typefaces for identities of Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Aspen Art Museum, Fridericianum, Berlin Biennale 8, various work for the Moravian Gallery in Brno, Bedford Press London or a long-term collaboration with artist Kateřina Šedá. He has lectured at many schools including Gerrit Rietveld Academie Amsterdam, ÉCAL Lausanne, HFK Bremen, KISD Cologne, École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts de Lyon, Sint-Lucas Ghent, University of Seoul. Since 2011 he is part of the curatorial board of the International Biennial of Graphic Design Brno., Tomáš Celizna Tomáš Celizna (1977) is interested in graphic design in connection with new technologies. He is a founding partner of design studio dgú in Prague (2001 to 2005), recipient of J. W. Fulbright Scholarship (2006), and holds MFA in graphic design from Yale University School of Art (2008). He currently lives and works independently in Amsterdam. Collaborations include, among others, OASE Journal for Architecture, Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, Sandberg Instituut, Amsterdam and Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Since 2011 he is a lecturer in graphic design at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam, and a member of the curatorial team of the International Biennial of Graphic Design Brno., Adam Macháček Adam Macháček (1980) is a graphic designer. Following studies at the AAAD in Prague, Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam and ÉCAL in Lausanne, he co-founded in 2004 studio Welcometo.as in Lausanne and is a member of 201∞ Designers collective. His work includes publications, exhibition catalogues, illustrations and identities. Collaborations include, among others, the Moravian Gallery in Brno, Théâtre de Vevey (seasons 2003–2012), Galerie Rudolfinum, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Chronicle Books, Editions Pyramyd, Museum of Czech Literature, Brno House of Arts, California College of the Arts, Airbnb. For Brno Biennial he initiated and organized exhibitions Work from Switzerland (2004) and From Mars (2006, together with Radim Peško). Since 2011 he is a member of the curatorial team of the International Biennial of Graphic Design in Brno. He lives and works in Berkeley.