100 Years of Swiss Graphic Design - eMuseum
100 Years of Swiss Graphic Design - eMuseum
100 Years of Swiss Graphic Design - eMuseum
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Press Release February 2012<br />
New exhibition at the<br />
Museum für Gestaltung Zürich<br />
Museum <strong>of</strong> <strong>Design</strong> Zurich<br />
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Museum für Gestaltung Zürich<br />
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Ausstellungsstrasse 60, CH-8005 Zürich<br />
Telefon +41 (0)43 446 67 67<br />
Fax +41 (0)43 446 45 67<br />
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www.museum-gestaltung.ch<br />
welcome@museum-gestaltung.ch<br />
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Zürcher Hochschule der Künste<br />
Zürcher Fachhochschule<br />
<strong>100</strong> <strong>Years</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Swiss</strong> <strong>Graphic</strong> <strong>Design</strong><br />
Exhibition:<br />
Media conference:<br />
Opening:<br />
Curator:<br />
Scenography:<br />
10 February to 3 June 2012, Halle<br />
Thursday, 9 February 2012, 10 am<br />
Thursday, 9 February 2012, 7 pm<br />
Karin Gimmi, Museum für Gestaltung Zürich<br />
Barbara Junod, <strong>Graphic</strong>s Collection, Museum für Gestaltung Zürich<br />
Matthias Gnehm<br />
Up to the present day <strong>Swiss</strong> graphic design has always been regarded as a pioneering and<br />
high-quality product. With a fresh and comprehensive exhibition the Museum für<br />
Gestaltung Zürich now presents one hundred years <strong>of</strong> visual communication.<br />
<strong>Graphic</strong> design is ubiquitous. Who is not familiar with the signet <strong>of</strong> the SBB, the nine glowing colored<br />
dots on the ABM plastic bags, or the legendary advertising campaign for Toni yoghurt? The<br />
graphic symbols <strong>of</strong> everyday life inscribe themselves in the collective memory and exert a lasting<br />
impact on visual culture. “<strong>100</strong> <strong>Years</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Swiss</strong> <strong>Graphic</strong> <strong>Design</strong>” showcases the diversity <strong>of</strong> contemporary<br />
visual culture as well as revealing the fine lines <strong>of</strong> tradition that extend between works<br />
from different epochs. The show reveals that, while it is impossible to identify a single individual<br />
style in <strong>Swiss</strong> graphic design, a certain common approach is certainly to be found. The striking<br />
quality <strong>of</strong> the works, the way in which they are securely rooted in handcraft, as well as precision<br />
and reduction to essentials are the characteristics <strong>of</strong> this approach. <strong>Graphic</strong> works from Switzerland<br />
reflect international tendencies as well as local characteristics. They are accompanied by<br />
irony and wit.<br />
<strong>Graphic</strong> design meets art, photography and music<br />
This exhibition is a colorful cross-section through one hundred years <strong>of</strong> visual everyday culture.<br />
The chronological link is formed by a continuous frieze made up <strong>of</strong> <strong>100</strong> posters from the period<br />
between 1912 and 2012. The poster has been able to retain its relevance as a medium over this<br />
entire period, so that the range extends from classic masters <strong>of</strong> poster art, such as Otto Baumberger,<br />
to designers from the younger generation. The show reveals that, despite changes in<br />
needs, aspirations and techniques over the course <strong>of</strong> time, graphic design always circles around<br />
similar themes: the field <strong>of</strong> tension between art and graphic design is manifested, for example, in<br />
the works <strong>of</strong> Max Bill, the dialogue between graphic design and photography is illustrated by Herbert<br />
Matter’s tourism advertising, and the world <strong>of</strong> signs and symbols in the Migros logo. Advertising<br />
is represented by classics from the Zurich advertising agency GGK, the permanent relation-<br />
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ship between music and graphic culture by examples from the club scene or by Max Huber’s legendary<br />
Sirenella poster. “<strong>100</strong> <strong>Years</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Swiss</strong> <strong>Graphic</strong> <strong>Design</strong>” makes reference both to changes in<br />
thought patterns as well as constants in the approach <strong>of</strong> the designers or in the use <strong>of</strong> design<br />
tools. Here the spotlight is turned, for example, on <strong>Swiss</strong>air and its visual presence, the signage in<br />
the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris or the production <strong>of</strong> the Rote Fabrik.<br />
The venue area, a temporary platform within the exhibition, shows consecutively two contemporary<br />
positions selected by external curators and teams <strong>of</strong> artists.<br />
To underscore the historical diversity <strong>of</strong> <strong>Swiss</strong> graphic design in terms <strong>of</strong> content, the exhibition<br />
also conveys the wide range <strong>of</strong> media used. In addition to the poster smaller printed items such<br />
as the party flyer, examples <strong>of</strong> book design and signage, memorable advertising campaigns, design<br />
objects and moving images are also shown. Many exhibits come from the museum’s own rich<br />
poster and graphic design collection, augmented by important donations and loans. With a view<br />
ahead to the new collection center <strong>of</strong> the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, currently being created<br />
on the Toni site, this is the first time that the unique wealth <strong>of</strong> objects in the collection is being<br />
presented to the public at this scale.<br />
A comprehensive, illustrated publication in German and English will appear in summer 2013.<br />
Opening Hours<br />
Tuesday–Sunday 10 am – 5 pm, Wednesday 10 am – 8 pm<br />
Easter and Whit: 10 am – 5 pm<br />
Closed: Monday, as well as Good Friday 6 April<br />
Venues<br />
10 February to 15 April 2012<br />
Aperçu 2011: Graphisme en Romandie<br />
Curated from Schönherwehrs/Gregor Schönborn, Stéphane Hernandez, Nils Wehrspann,<br />
Geneva<br />
19 April to 3 June 2012, Opening: Wednesday, 18 April 2012, 6 pm<br />
Things to Do<br />
Jürg Lehni, Urs Lehni and Rafael Koch, Zurich<br />
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Discussions at the Exhibition (in German)<br />
Wednesday, 7 March 2012, 6 pm<br />
Visual presences. ABM and Centre Georges Pompidou<br />
Ernst Hiestand, Ursula Hiestand and Jean Widmer, visual designers, and Karin Gimmi, curator <strong>of</strong><br />
the exhibition.<br />
Wednesday, 14 March 2012, 6 pm<br />
‘Typography can be art under certain circumstances’<br />
Wolfgang Weingart and Ludovic Balland, visual designers, and Barbara Junod, curator <strong>of</strong> the<br />
<strong>Graphic</strong>s Collection Museum für Gestaltung Zürich<br />
Wednesday, 21 March 2012, 6 pm<br />
Art versus commerce?<br />
Jean Etienne Aebi, creative consultant, and Christian Brändle, Director Museum für Gestaltung<br />
Zürich<br />
Wednesday, 16 May 2012, 6 pm<br />
Handmade. Current tendencies in design practice<br />
Dafi Kühne and Eric Andersen, visual designers, and Bettina Richter, curator <strong>of</strong> the Poster<br />
Collection Museum für Gestaltung Zürich<br />
Public Guided Tours (in German)<br />
Sunday, 11 am: 12, 26 February / 11, 18, 25 March / 15, 29 April / 13, 27 May / 3 June<br />
Wednesday, 6 pm: 15, 29 February / 28 March / 4 April / 2 May<br />
Further information on the guided tours, workshops for schools etc. are available<br />
at: www.museum-gestaltung.ch<br />
Press images<br />
http://www.museum-gestaltung.ch/en/information/media-service/<br />
Contact<br />
Bernadette Mock, Head <strong>of</strong> Communications<br />
Tel. +41 (0) 43 446 67 04, bernadette.mock@zhdk.ch<br />
With the generous support <strong>of</strong><br />
Advico Young & Rubicam<br />
Graphische Anstalt J.E. Wolfensberger AG<br />
Migros Kulturprozent<br />
Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett<br />
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