BB Being a writer, what is your relationship to graphic design?
EK I am a historian manqué. I am drawn to historical narratives, but I cannot write, or even think very well in the absence of pictures. I am interested in design above art because it plays more of a role in the kind of stories that interest me.

BB What made you interested in typography in particular?
EK In 1993 I was offered funding to study for a PhD on a topic relating to design and digital technology. At that point it struck me that technology was revolutionising the business of type design. I had graphic design friends who would compete to be the first to use a new font, meanwhile traditional type design companies and typesetting shops were shutting down month by month. And then there were the ‘font wars’, the big debate among mainly US graphic designers, between those who favoured self-expression and those who believed in self-restraint. It was a thrilling field at the time, really.

BB In your review of the 26th Brno Biennial 2014 published in Frieze 167 you wrote: “Although it could be argued that the 26th edition didn't venture into dramatically new geographical territory, it made a significant step simply by breaking the cycle of professional self-congratulation.”
How do you see events such as Brno Biennial, what role should they play in relation to the field of graphic design, and to society in general?
EK I think they should be chances for graphic designers to get together and work out what they’re doing and why they’re doing it, and they should offer the public the opportunity to work out those things at the same time. They should also be occasions to learn something new – hence my comment about geographic territories. It is a shame when you see the same set of usual suspects involved in every graphic event, wherever it happens to be. To an extent, I count myself among those usual suspects.

BB What are your thoughts on exhibiting graphic design, especially in the gallery context?
EK By putting graphic design in a gallery, you are asking that it command a different sort of attention than it would in its normal setting. You might place it in relation to other works by the same designer (monographs being the most conventional form of graphic design exhibition), or you might put it in the context of works of a similar kind, or possibly things that only have a very loose relation (sometimes it’s good to challenge expectations, not just those of your audience, but also your own). Whatever your approach, when you put graphic design into a gallery, you have to make sure that the change of setting is intelligent and meaningful. In exhibiting graphic design, a curator is required to shed some new light on the subject.
That said, I love the transformation when something goes from being an old magazine rotting on your shelves to something that you hold carefully by the edges, wearing white gloves.

BB This edition of the Brno Biennial responds to the metamorphoses and the state of contemporary graphic design; its multitude, variety, vagueness and apparent superficiality. Can you identify some of the basic parameters, current themes or motivations of contemporary graphic design?
EK I am afraid I am feeling really out of touch. I am the perfect audience for this Biennial. I have a fundamental interest in graphic design and I am really keen to learn something new, and to feel more up to date.
A contribution by Emily King, key-word ‘Heat’, is included in the catalogue of the 27th Brno Biennial.