- 27th International Biennial of Graphic Design Brno 2016
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encs
Pauline Kerleroux & Adéla Svobodová
closeBB Can you tell us a bit about the background of your project? How did you come up with the idea?
PK & AS An event like the Biennial is always a source of discussion and sometimes polemics. Not only the projects come under great attention but the fact of exhibiting graphic design in the setting of a gallery implies removing it from its original context. We thought it could be interesting to actually encourage people to speak up, and play out their opinions as an active part of the exhibition itself. We were also interested from the start to experiment with an audio project, in the context of a predominantly visual exhibition.
BB Your project aims to develop a feedback between the exhibition visitors and exhibiting artists. Is it just an experiment, or is it something that in your opinion exhibitions in general are lacking?
PK & AS It is a bit of both. We’ve deliberately decided to leave it open, so that people are completely free to say what they want, in the way they want. They can also decide to stay anonymous or not. In that sense it is a total experiment – who knows what will come up, or even if people will dare to speak up! From a conceptual point of view, we think it is interesting to bring the very final stage of an artistic process, which is the reaction of the audience, into the exhibition space itself. It should also work as the soul of the exhibition, evolving as we get more material recorded. Finally, it is a wink to the current trend, where people are encouraged to rate anything they experience. Let’s see how this can extend to the artistic sphere. In other words, we are bringing back the traditional ‘comments’ book in an audio form.
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?
PK & AS Graphic design tends to push more and more its boundaries between the applied arts and the fine arts territories. By doing so, it can sometimes loose its purpose on the way, and therefore be perceived as superficial. But when does it become art – where the work isn’t bound to any practical purpose? Exploring this grey area is necessary to push forward the whole discipline. On a personal level, we like to approach a project from a conceptual angle, so that we anchor our work into the core of that particular project, which helps not to get lost into more formal considerations, and stay authentic and original.
Biennial News
Short interviews with collaborators of the 27th Brno Biennial, authors of its exhibitions, jury members and Biennial Talks speakers.
COLOPHON
Interviews and graphic design: 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.
Translation and copy editing: Alena Benešová, Kateřina Tlachová
Production: Miroslava Pluháčková
Printed by: Tiskárna Helbich s. r. o.
Print run: 2000
1st edition
Published by the Moravian Gallery in Brno, 2016
