'Graphic design is everything you can see and experience,' says Anthony Burrill. 'I think life is graphic design really.' This may be a big claim for any artistic discipline but it's one that sums up the creative reach explored in Graphic Design Worlds, which looks at both the visual culture that inspires the featured designers and the artistic territories they construct.
The Triennale di Milano has invited over 30 international names - among them Burrill, M/M Paris, KesselsKramer and Fuel - to curate mini exhibitions of their own work within its expansive architecture gallery. Burrill has recreated his studio in pavilion form for the show, while KesselsKramer has constructed a children's play area, surrounded by many of the agency’s works, to illustrate the importance of play in the generation of ideas.
The resulting landscape they present is rich, varied, sometimes a little dark - such as Fuel's sinister figures peering through barbed wire on the cover of 'Drawings from the Gulag' - and often sharpened by a good dose of wit, like KesselsKramer's poster for Hans Brinker Budget Hotel in Amersterdam, which declares in bold letters: 'Now a bed in every room'.
Burrill’s installation comprises an abstract recreation of his own studio in the UK.
’The "house" is a made up of re-used material from a large tower that we made for a previous show in London,’ Burrill explains. ’I like the idea of re-using existing work to make a new work.’
Inside is a selection of objects from his studio, framed prints and a TV showing more of his work
The walls are made up of wooden versions of some of his works
More by Anthony Burrill
From left: works by De Designpolitie and Anthony Burrill
More posters by De Designpolitie
A series of 64 silk screen posters by Norm
Close-up of ’Superficial Manifesto’ 2010
’Republica Type Specimen’ , 2009
The walls and floor of KesselsKramer’s area of the exhibition are completely covered in the agency’s posters, flyers, designs, books, photos and scribbles, which reflect its ’near-manic’ creative output. In the centre is a peaceful children’s play area - a symbol of the value the agency places on the importance of play for the generation of ideas
’Now even more...’ campaign by KesselsKramer for Hans Brinker Budget Hotel in Amsterdam, 1996
A photograph of the ’I Amsterdam’ campaign, 2004
KesselsKramer logo
The works of M/M (Paris) are displayed in a 3D model on a table – a recreation of that found in the designers’ office. As visitors leaf through their archives, the voice of DJ Tommy Vee is heard, describing M/M’s ‘symbol-dense’ environment
’Starting from Zero’, 2008
Harmen Liemburg sets up his installation in the Triennale
From left to right: works by Harmen Leimburg and Christophe Jacquet. Leimburg has contributed sketches, papercuts and stacks of colour separated films - the idea being to create something new from process material he has amassed over the years - while Jacquet is showing posters of his fish alphabet, and reproductions of pages from his book, Reproduction Générale
Close up of ’Pirateristik’ , 2010
’Face off’, 2010
Murano glass letters spell out the name of Manfredo Settala in an installation by Åbäke, which pays homage to the 17th century collector
Installation view of work by Åbäke
Elliott Earl’s installation explores the ramifications of the shrinking population of Detroit - once the fifth largest city in the US - in connection with global concerns
In the gallery’s central room are the works of 11 young Italian graphic designers, including Brave New Alps (foreground), whose contribution reflects on the issue of waste management in Campania
Cover design for ’Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia Volume I’, 2009
Cover for ’Crime: A Series of Extraordinary Interviews Exposing the World of Crime - Real and Imagined’, 2008
Cover for ’Drawings from the Gulag’, 2010
An installation by Metahaven, exploring the ’multi-jurisdictional identity’ of WikiLeaks.
A hand-painted tower forms part of an installation by Geoff McFetridge. Visitors enter via doors hidden within the legs of a female figure and, once inside, find illustrations and a video concealed inside a book
ADDRESS
Triennale di Milano
Viale Alemagna, 6
20121 - Milano
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