Graphic Design Worlds
Triennale Design Museum, Milan, IT
January 6 – March 27, 2011
Curator: Giorgio Camuffo
Assistant curator: Maddalena Dalla Mura
Statement: «The Triennale Design Museum presents Graphic Design Worlds, the first major exhibition totally devoted to graphic design, that will be curated by Giorgio Camuffo. The Triennale Design Museum carries out this way its commitment to researching and promoting contemporary design.
Graphic design is a discipline that is undergoing a significant change, which is also reflected in the development, in recent decades, of a specific critical discourse. Engaged in shaping the universe of communication we are immersed in, active at different scales and on different dimensions, translators as well as actors that contribute in building relationships and knowledge, graphic designers draw a territory that is in constant evolution and may offer interesting perspectives for understanding contemporary culture and society.
Necessarily in dialogue with different fields and disciplines – art, music, fashion, cinema, architecture etc. –, graphic designers are also increasingly engaged in developing and taking a critical position, with respect to both the world and their own tools and objectives.
Graphic Design Worlds will provide a look at this phenomenon: not so much an exhibition of “graphics”, but rather “on graphic design”, it will focus on the multifarious interpretations of this discipline and practice, on the various routes to graphic design and the paths that branch off from it, into the world.
The notion of “worlds” is meant as a key to investigate and to shed light on the plurality and diversity of approaches and readings that animate contemporary graphic design – that is, the worlds of the graphic designers. Furthermore, this notion refers to the relationships that graphic design and graphic designers have with the world, with the contexts in which they operate, with the society they address, with the visual and material culture to which they refer and which they contribute to shape.
The aim of Graphic Design Worlds is not to offer a comprehensive and definitive survey, but to present the richness of graphic design through a selection of significant visions, which may stimulate reflections and interest, beyond the exhibition itself.
Over thirty graphic designers will show their worlds and present their approaches to the world, exemplifying a variety of possible routes, languages, attitudes. What these designers share is a critical awareness of graphic design and of their position as graphic designers. Besides international names, there will be Italian designers and teams that have entered the profession in the new millennium.
The exhibition will be accompanied by the publication of the book Graphic Design Worlds, edited by Giorgio Camuffo and Maddalena Dalla Mura, published by Electa. The book, bilingual (Italian and English), will offer a critical reflection on the issues that have fostered the exhibition, through the voice of renowned scholars, critics, and the designers themselves.»
http://graphicdesignworlds.triennaledesignmuseum.it/
See the blog A diary of an exhibition
