As an editorial resident here at AIGA, I have been spending my time nosing around for interesting design-related goings on each week, so you don’t have to. Follow along all day every day on Instagram @AIGAeyeondesign and Twitter @AIGAeyeondesign.
This week I…
… celebrate the reopening of London’s Design Museum, which has officially now moved over to swanky west London. In honesty, we’re a bit sad it’s gone all the way to Kensington from its former Thames-snuggling location, but the exhibition program certainly looks promising. Among the opening exhibits is a five-month-long show entitled Fear and Love: Reactions to a Complex World, tackling these vast issues through 11 installations by contemporary designers and architects focusing variously on “networked sexuality, sentient robots, slow fashion, and settled nomads.”
… consider the role of art in the public realm with the help of last week’s Oslo Pilot symposium in the Norwegian capital, where artists Mette Edvardsen, Dora García, Thomas Hirschhorn, and Rahraw Omarzad detailed some ambitious new projects and explored ideas around the nature of art as a public spectacle. Some truly fascinating (and at times, challenging) talks and workshops; all in the name of setting the groundwork for a future arts biennial in the city, which is very exciting indeed.
… cast my eyes over Studio Calm and Collected’s new large-scale illustration at a store in a disused toilet in east London. We’re not sure why, but it appears to depict Lady Liberty looking confused having just popped in from the garden. Either way, we dig the MS Paint vibes and unusual color palette.
… contemplate a trip up to Birmingham’s superb Ikon Gallery after the news of its rather stonking 2017 exhibition program. As well as a survey of work by local lad Robert Hiorns, they’re laying on a major show by Bangalore-based multidisciplinary artist Sheela Gowda.
… coordinate my glad rags in preparation for all-illustrator supergroup Owen and the Eyeballs’ London gig this weekend. The band comprises a veritable creative consortium of talent: Andrew Rae, Jim Stoten, Nick White, and Owen Gildersleeve. If you’re in the smoke, see them dressed in all kinds of mental outfits and playing rock and roll down at Woolf Presents over in Forest Gate, you won’t regret it.
…. consider the aesthetics of post-1989 East Poland through a gorgeous new photography book by London artist Paulina Korobkiewicz. Entitled Disco Polo, the beautiful tome highlights the mix of east and west and the barrage of bright, bold advertisements that suddenly infiltrated Poland along with capitalist influences. “It explores the omnipresent visual chaos in the urban landscape and search for a ‘better world,’” says Korobkiewicz. “The title references the popular local music genre of the same name, which created its own aesthetics, from the outfits to the venues where it is performed. Naive lyrics and over-saturated video clips often embody a longing for Western capitalism and hopes for better future.”
And finally, happy Thanksgiving! May your cranberries and pie be as utterly delectable as these ones, shot for Toilet Paper magazine.
