Part 1 – Bauhaus Exhibition Techniques
We’re currently working hard on the upcoming ‘Bauhaus: Art as Life’ exhibition for the Barbican which will open on the 3rd of May 2012. As a prelude to this we will be running posts exploring various aspects of the famous German art school that have inspired, and influenced our approach. Beginning with some of the explorations in exhibition design that came from the Bauhaus – most notably from a master and former student, Herbert Bayer.
Bayer began experimenting in display design around 1924, applying principles from the wall painting workshop, the architecture workshop, and the initial ideas of ‘total design’ to kiosks and other advertising spaces. Using large horizontal and vertical protruding planes for the placements of block colour and posters. Resulting in simple constructions that could be created cheaply, (Image 1).
These ideas were then expanded upon to become more interactive with a visitor. Utilising internally projected films, loud speakers and letters formed from smoke in his vision for a pavilion to be used at an industrial fair, (Image 2). And using lighting that would cover a giant rotating sphere, making up lettering in various colours for the entrance of an exhibition pavilion, (Image 3).
Between 1928 and 1931, other members of the school explored and developed techniques for showcasing products in advertising commissions. Walter Gropius and Laszlo Maholy-Nagy’s approach to the entrance area and restaurant of the ‘Building and Living’ exhibition in Berlin, 1928, (Image 4), used a range of panels with bright colours and cut sections that left silhouettes on the ground to lure visitors in.
Some time after Herbert Bayer emigrated to america (and after the Bauhaus finally closed in 1933), he wrote an essay titled ‘The Fundamentals of Exhibition Design’ which was published in 1937. This essay explored various aspects of the indoor exhibition design process – most importantly taking his research into protruding planes and the field of vision of a visitor further (Image 5), as well as exploring visitor flow. With illustrations showing various possibilities of where objects and text panels could be placed to create a dynamic space.
These were notably put into practice in his design for Room 5 of the International Exhibition of the ‘Societe des artistes decorateurs francais’ in Paris, 1938 (Image 6).
And also in the first major retrospective of the Bauhaus at MoMA in 1938. Where image boards and flat works were angled to protrude from the walls, or sat on wires as if they were hovering over the flat surface (Image 7). Bayer’s ideas for visitor flow were also put into practice through the use of playful markings on the floor (Image 8), that led the visitor around the gallery.
Talk
Working with Galleries: Part II Tuesday 24 January
This discussion focuses on the processes of negotiation between artist & curator / designer & client. Two professional ‘couples’ have been invited to make visible the conversation around the initiation, development & realisation of work; the practical concerns and conceptual repercussions. The artists Cullinan Richards talk with curator & writer Tom Morton while directors of the design agency A Practice for Everyday Life, Kirsty Carter & Emma Thomas, speak with curator, writer and gallerist Rob Tufnell.
Eastside Projects, 86 Heath Mill Lane, Birmingham B9 4AR 6pm
Article
Every Extraordinary day
Based in creative, truculent Hackney in East London, APFEL, (A Practice for Everyday Life), routinely draw together stories that translate the ordinary into the extraordinary. This approach has lead to thoughtful and inspired designs, establishing their reputation for intelligent and innovative work. Uniting almost academic research methods with spontaneous, honest, instinctive, responses to a variety of subject matter and materials… to read more buy Elephant, Issue 9 – Winter 2011
Workshop
APFEL’s workshop at FdA Graphic Design, Camberwell College of Arts
Kirsty leads a Editorial Design and Typography workshop to redesign A Certain Tendency in Representation Cineclub at Thomas Dane Gallery poster.
Workshop with Tara Hanrahan www.thinkdostudio.com learningwithindustry.com
Project
To celebrate the bicentenary of Charles Dickens’ birth, we’ve reworked the first page of Great Expectations for a project by GraphicDesign&. This will be reproduced alongside 50 other versions in a publication, Page 1 later in the year. We wanted to highlight the symbolism is used in the novel, illustrating certain passages and playing with typographic interventions in others.
Book Launch
Design Research Unit 1942–72
The new publication we designed for Design Research Unit is being launched on Tuesday 29 November. Join us at the Old Doctor Butler’s Head, the venue for the Bassett Gray annual ‘bibbing ceremonies’ were. This is where Milner Gray and Misha Black met in the 1920s, two key figures in the creation of the Unit
The Old Doctor Butler’s Head 2 Mason’s Avenue, City of London, EC2V 5BT 7–10pm
Workshop
V&A Friday Late: Pomo
Jason recently led a workshop at the V&A Friday Late, to link in with our work on the Postmodernism exhibition. In true Pomo fashion, he created an evening of cut and paste, with people creating their own magazine covers.
Have a look at all the designs here
Project
Print Run: Design makes me sick, Design makes me better
Here’s the poster we designed for Print Run: Design makes me sick, Design makes me better, held at Kemistry gallery. We thought it would be nice to give someone an extra window to put up in their room. Hopefully it would brighten the place up!
Project
The Art of the Conversation
We got involved in bit of design Chinese Whispers recently, creating an exhibition piece and poster for the Art of Conversation. All in all 20 studios, ten in Berlin and London took part. We made three spoken word pieces for the hold music on our phones, based on previous projects, with a live telephone in the exhibitions to listen to them and some lovely phone cord type for the poster.
See the rest of the conversation here
Typeface
Cruiser Typeface
We were asked by Anna Sartorius and Simone Vollenweider, two students from HGB Leipzig to contribute new characters to the the font Cruiser they had created. Based on the logo found on a poster from 1934, the typeface had a nautical feel to it. Our response was to add two ornamental glyphs, a ships funnel and the cleat from a dock.
For the full character set, visit here
