Stefan Sagmeister: Museum Brochure

STEFAN SAGMEISTER

SPRING & SUMMER 2016

A P R I L 2 0 TH - A U G U S T 1 2 TH

9:00 AM - 7:00 PM

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STEFAN SAGMEISTER

IMAGE of Designer

AS A DESIGNER: Inspirational and intriguing designer Stefan Sagmeister is recognized for his unorthodox, provocative designs that tweak the status quo and question the designer’s role in society.

HIS WORKS: A cunning trickster turns convention upside down, stretches the bounds of propriety, stomps on mores and taboos and alters popular perceptions. Stefan Sagmeister has long fit this “bad boy” bill. Known for upsetting norms, he tricks the senses through design, typography, environmental art, conceptual exhibitions and, lately, video.

HIS STYLE: Long ago, Sagmeister, whose motto was “Style=Fart,” replaced style with attitude. His designs are rooted in disorienting images and self-defining aphorisms.

With apparent ease, Sagmeister morphs—as tricksters are wont to do—taking on various skins, from graphic designer to conceptual typographer to performance artist. When the mood strikes, he returns to being a designer, and a completely new cycle of transformation commences.

STEFAN SAGMEISTER not only tests the boundary between art and design,

he often transgresses it through his imaginative implementation of typography. Filling the ICA’s entire second-floor galleries and Ramp, and activating the in-between spaces of the museum, The Happy Show offers visitors the experience of walking into the designer’s mind as he attempts to increase his happiness via mediation, cognitive therapy, and mood-altering pharmaceuticals. “I am usually rather bored with definitions,” Sagmeister says. “Happiness, however, is just such a big subject that it might be worth a try to pin it down.” Centered around the designer’s 10-year exploration of happiness, this exhibition presents typographic investigations of a series of maxims, or rules to live by, originally culled from Sagmeister’s diary, manifested in a variety of imaginative and interactive forms.

THE HAPPY SHOW

2nd Floor- Upper level

To contextualize the maxims that appear throughout the exhibition, Sagmeister has gathered the social data of Harvard psychologists Daniel Gilbert and Steven Pinker, psychologist Jonathan Haidt, anthropologist Donald Symons, and several prominent historians. A 12-minute segment of The Happy Film, a feature length exploration of whether it is possible to train the mind the way we train the body, will also be on view.

STEFAN SAGMEISTER

YOUR VISIT

MAD will engage visitors in a diverse array of public activities that extend The Happy Show into the community. Programs include a public symposium on ideas for happier communities led by one of the world’s foremost experts on the subject, University of British Columbia Professor John Helliwell; a series of Happy Hours that will encourage Vancouverites to meet each other and inspire happiness through interaction; and a series of guerilla street interventions that invite social connection. Audiences will also enjoy a preview of Sagmeister’s soon-to-be-released documentary, The Happy Film, which depicts his attempts to increase his happiness through meditation, cognitive therapy, and mood-altering pharmaceuticals.

As visitors continue to pedal the message of the typographic piece changes and changes colour

The more speed, the more the messages appear

M A D TA L K S

STEFAN SAGMEISTER M AY

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5:00 PM - 7:00 PM 1ST FLOOR AUDITORIUM

Q.

After overcoming the Bauhaus paradigm, it sometimes seems that it more and more becomes the designer’s task to create bold happiness. Other designers such as Jonathan Adler (author of “My Prescription for Anti-Depressive Living“) have dealt with this subject. Can you relate to this thesis?

A.

I dont think it is the designer’s task per se. But, when listening to architects, it is sometimes surprising how little the well-being of the people who will inhabit the spaces are part of the discussion.

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WORDS OF WISDOM STEFAN SAGMEISTER

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