RE-DESIGNING THE EAST

Monika Rak, EQUALITY. 20 years – time for changes, 2009
Tomasz Sarnecki, High Noon. 4. Juni 1989, 1989
Gerard Lewandowski, Solidarity's First Year, 1981
Michał Szlaga, Untitled, 2007
© Pracha Suveeranont
© Pracha Suveeranont
© Activism of Graphic Imagination
© Activism of Graphic Imagination
© Activism of Graphic Imagination
© Activism of Graphic Imagination
Studio of Joska Skalnik, Photo: Jan Matousek
Joska Skalník, Poster (Detail), 1978
Design & People (Logo)

Political Design in Asia and Europe

Exhibition's Sections

POLAND
The Solidarnosc Logotype

Curator: Maks Bochenek
Designers and Artists: Jerzy Janiszewski, Grzegorz Klaman, Gerard Lewandowski, Andrzej Pagowski, Monika Rak, Tomasz Sarnecki, Marek Sobczyk, Michał Szlaga, Henryk Tomaszewski, Ania Witkowska, Ewa Bałuk-Zaborowska
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The section conceived by the Wyspa Institute of Art makes reference to the Solidarnosc (Solidarity) logotype designed by Jerzy Janiszewski. Created as a result of the artist’s spontaneous reaction to the conditions of Polish workers and their struggle against the communist system, the sign was to become a gift to the whole Polish society, which was uniting in the spirit of solidarity. Since the time of its initial distribution in Polish towns, thirty years have passed. The aim of this section is to show how dynamic developments in politics, economics, and law have influenced the use and reception of the Solidarnosc symbol, which changed from a symbol of a uniting society into a trademark. Apart from archive materials, posters, and their reprints, works by artists will be presented referring to these changes.

THAILAND
Vexed Brand Thailand: A Case of Political Design in a Troubled Paradise

Curator: Keiko Sei
Designer: Pracha Suveeranont
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Presently, in Thailand, a battle over social influence associated with advancing age of the demigod King is taking place. Widely differing groups are struggling to increase power under the auspices of democracy: a fight which, aside from entailing an increase in violent conflicts, is being carried out to no small degree on a visual level, while being simultaneously subjected to growing censorship. The section curated by Keiko Sei introduces a selection of works by the Thai designer Pracha Suveeranont, whose undertakings include the instigation of a 2007 campaign to boycott the election of a new constitution which had been conceived by the military. His graphic works seize in various ways upon the presently escalating political situation in Thailand.

SOUTH KOREA
Conspiracy by …
(National Security / The Origin of Wealth / Common Ground)
Curator: Nathalie Boseul Shin
Designers and Artists: Activism of Graphic Imagination, Noh Suntag
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Since the 2008 election of Lee Myung-bak as president of South Korea, the country’s relations to North Korea have considerably cooled. The newly activated “Cold War” rhetoric are going hand in hand with newly heightened repressions against leftist positions. Intensifying at the same time have been the excesses of an unchecked turbocapitalism in mega-enterprises of re-structuring urban and natural environments. Natalie Boseul Shin presents the collaborative design practices and activities by the design group Activism of Graphic Imagination (A.G.I.) and artist Noh Suntag that oppose the current policies in South Corea. Their positions will be compared to those currently being implemented in Seoul in the contexts of its celebrations as this year’s Capital of Design.


CZECH REPUBLIC
Joska Skalník: Designer of Czechoslovakian Dissent
Curator: Tomáš Pospiszyl
Designers: Jan Matoušek (Laboratory), Joska Skalník
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Tomáš Pospiszyl has focused his section on the work of the dissident graphic designer Joska Skalník, who in the nineteen-eighties in former Czechoslovakia worked, among other things, for the independent underground organization Jazz Section. During the so-called “Velvet Revolution” he advanced to become ringleader of this movement and ultimately took on the role of official advisor to President Václav Havel, who was elected in 1989. Since the nineteen-nineties, suspicions have arisen that Skalník may have operated at the same time for Czechoslovakia’s secret intelligence system: an accusation that Skalník has never denied nor confirmed. For the exhibition, Pospiszyl invited Jan Matoušek, a young Czech graphic designer from the Laboratory (Laboratoř) studio who has no experience of the communist regime, to create a portfolio that would, through the perspective of his independent view, summarise the story of Joska Skalník.

INDIA
Swaraj in Design: Opportunities for Conscious Learning and
Sharing
Curator: Sethu Das
Designers: Design & People
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Design & People is a noncommercial grouping of designers and architects that is dedicated to the communicating of social, humanitarian, ecological, and activist projects. Taking up Mahatma Gandhi’s idea of Swaraj (in English: self-rule), Design & People also supports an open design and knowledge production. Along the lines of the “copyleft,” their design products can be freely copied, disseminated, altered, and presented for noncommercial and for educational purposes. The designer Sethu Das, who founded Design & People in 2003, presents the work and philosophy of this network in his section.

HUNGARY
The Monument of the Nameless Scrum
Curator: Nikolett Eross
Artist: János Sugár
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In their section, Nikolett Erőss and János Sugár explore questions pertaining to the visual representation of political upheavals in Hungaria, precisely of the Revolution of 1956. They focus on a monument-concept by the ’56 communist resistance fighter István Angyal (executed in 1958) that has never been realized. Angyal suggested to dedicate a big, rustic stone to the “nameless scrum.” Eross and Sugár will present a realization of this monument in form of an imitation made from Styrofoam in 1:1 scale.

SPECIAL SECTION / GERMANY
The Art of Not Being Governed Like That

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