Design is n in part, art
This is the starting point for a new reflection that, beyond the exha of delving deeper into the creators who move in parallel betwee to emphasize these common processes of reflection, conce interpretation, we are interested in the deepest discourse of t brings coherence to an integral and global discourse. How to se expression while simultaneously reflecting on the elements t these teachers of the idea and at the same time ho Exhibition curated by Espai Tactel gallery and Toormix
not art but t is design.
austing debate that unites one field with another, has the purpose en these two disciplines. At “Art Designers� exhibition we wish eptualization and of creation itself. Beyond formalization and the idea, the meaning and the most personal expression that eparate the commercial project from the most personal artistic that they share. How to find the points of connection between ow to differentiate between a product and a work. x agency for Espai Tactel Toormix space in Barcelona.
Learning from bastardism Victor Ramírez Tur Doctorate in Art History and Professor at the University of Barcelona
In 1972, Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown and Steven Izenour published “Learning from Las Vegas”, the foundational essay of postmodern architecture in which the Las Vegas strip was defended as a new architectural paradigm. Almost half a century later, in many architectural manuals, some authors still strongly oppose accepting that the huge neons, the announcements of the Celine Dion show and the fake pyramids can be seen as architecture. Singer-songwriter Bob Dylan was awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature. Ferran Adrià was invited – where is he not invited? - to participate in the Kassel Documenty of 2007. The production of artist Rirkrit Tiravanija consists mainly of preparing feasts. Andy Warhol invaded the galleries of New York in 1964 with simulations of Brillo detergent boxes. Last year Pedro Almódovar, among other relevant figures in the film industry, protested with irritation that a film produced by Netflix could participate in the Cannes festival. Each and every one of these episodes has caused scandal. The debate between the limits of the disciplines or the idiosyncrasy of artistic languages is a constant in the historiography of the arts. And in this sense, it is interesting to observe how the concept of “design” was key in one of the most heated moments in the history of this controversy. In 1563, what was noted as the first academy of art opened in Florence, founded by Cosme de Médici as the Accademia delle arti del Disegno. In this academy, promoted by Girogio Vasari, students explicitly learned art of design, that is, tools related to geometry, mathematics or anatomy, which served as the theoretical
and scientific foundation prior to the execution of a painting, of a sculpture or a work of architecture. Thus, the first time in the history of art in which the intellectual or liberal character of the arts was strongly defended was done by taking the concept of design as its foundation. Now, as pointed out by Yves Zimmermann in his article “Art is art, design is design” -2003-, the dialogue between the notions of art and design has experienced other variations since the Industrial Revolution and the rise of applied arts in the nineteenth century. The author explains that, although in the beginning the works of graphic and industrial design were evaluated with the same aesthetic criteria as those understood as works of art - think for example in the posters of ToulouseLautrec or in the production of the Bauhaus-, in recent decades such as those of the eighties, design was tainted with a derogative patina, assuming itself as a mere cosmetic of the objects or signs. The exhibition Art Designers launches this debate once again in a moment of special and stimulating bipolarity: our era of hyper specialization coexists with discourses surrounding the fluid, the undefined, the mutant or confused happiness. Although these antidicotomic narratives see good fortune in the field of gender activism, of affective sex or of identity-the commitment to non-binary or polyamorous thinking or bastardism-we could ask ourselves here about the porous declassifying force of the pieces integrated into the exhibition.
From the outset, the site where the works are displayed allows us to review that tyranny of the “nomenclature dependent on the spaces” according to which the same object would be assumed as a design if it were in the display case of a shop or in a muppie or as an artistic object if it were moved to a museum, a gallery or an art center. Espai Tactel Toormix happily transitions between design and art, and like those Florentines of the 16th century, it takes thought and conceptualization as beacons. Moreover, if anyone still thinks that artistic production has not depended on a client who demands or expects something, strictly until a century ago, and in a more inconspicuous manner today, is either naive or a romantic. To all this we must add the capacity of the works presented to alter certain binarisms that have marked the traditional debate between art and design: Is Antoine et Manuel’s piece any less close to the design by transforming a fragment of some of its serialized furniture into a unicum? Does the same thing occur with the lamp of Mathieu Mercier? The French artist affirms that his lamp is a work of art, not an industrial production. Why does he need to affirm something like that? Are not the industrial pieces of minimalist authors artistic material? Did not Walter Benjamin enthusiastically celebrate the democratic character of the serialized work in his famous text of the beginnings of the last century, “The work of art in the era of technical reproducibility? Are we still in need of the aura of the unique?
In the same vein, if the MACBA recently read the visual poetry of Joan Brossa from the notion of transformism and no one is surprised to find conceptual artists who work only with the expressive and formal capacities of the text in the halls of contemporary art museums. why not also understand the typographic poster of the Claudiabasel studio, the textual pieces of Anthony Burril, the exploration of the vector and the color by Alex Trochut or the visual jokes of Eike König Volskwagner as artistic material? And finally, perhaps the most difficult exercise, how does the design manage to incorporate the performative and carnal dimension, to move from the screen or the pattern to a creative reflection around the body? Step into the shirt-canvas of Pepa Salazar or identify yourself as a precarious worker in those 300 hours of seemingly immaterial work reduced to three canvases with disheveled eyes and deranged hands, configured by The Rodina. Purists will be irritated by this exhibition. Yet Venturi, Scott Brown, Izenour and Raphael would be delighted to see a canvas of Micky Mouse with the face of the logo of McDonalds and the nose of Adidas, the Augusto of Prima Porta interupted by Patrick Thomas, eyes that seem to have spent years hanging from a bright pink canvas or a few hallucinated vectors that melt like chewing gum at kilometer Boomer in the same hybrid space. EVERYTHING.
Alex Trochut
Information: Printed over aluminum dibond Size: 1,200â‚Ź / each one - 2,000â‚Ź / both pieces Serie of 5 each one
Biography: Alex Trochut was born in 1981 in Barcelona, Spain. 4 years after completing his studies at Elisava Escola Superior de Disseny, working at Toormix and Vasava, Alex established himself as a freelance in Barcelona before relocating to New York City. Through his design, illustration and typographic practice he has developed an intuitive way of working that has resulted in his expressive visual style. Mixing styles and genres and drawing equally from pop culture, street culture, fashion and music, Alex has created design, illustration and typography for a diverse range of clients: from Nike to the The Rolling Stones, and divides his time between comissions and personal projects. Alex’s work has been internationally recognized, appearing in in exhibitions and publications worldwide. He has exhibited his work in Spectrum, Miami Art Basel, Colette and Sonar +D. Alex believes in the idea that art and design are different languages, not different untransferable identities. When working as an artist, he focuses on creating a feeling rather than a meaning, trying not to cross a line of excessive communication, and letting his pieces create a perceptual experience rather than a conceptual understanding on an idea. Alex currently lives and works in Brooklyn.
Description: Alex Trochut presents new experimental graphic pieces printed on cut out aluminum.
www.alextrochut.com
Anthony Burrill
Information: Signed edition, series of 10 (each letter) Letterpress and serigraphy - 200gr paper Size: 20x30 inches (51x76cm) Price: 300€ each letter (frame included) QUESTION EVERYTHING (18 posters collection) Price: 3,500€ (without frame) - 4,500€ (frame included)
Biography: Anthony Burrill is a graphic artist, print‐maker and designer known for his persuasive, up‐beat style of communication. His work is held in the permanent collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Cooper‐Hewitt National Design Museum, New York and has been exhibited in galleries around the world including the Barbican Art Gallery, the Walker Art Center and the Design Museum, London.
Description: Eighteen big printed letters through letterpress that build the sentence “QUESTION EVERYTHING”.
www.anthonyburril.com
Antoine et Manuel
Information: C’est mieux peint, 2019 Unique piece hand painted with bas-relief Size: 60x60x6,2cm Price: 2,200₏
Biography: Antoine AUDIAU / born in 1964 in Paris. Manuel WAROSZ / born in 1965 in Clermont-Ferrand. They both live and work in Paris. Antoine and Manuel met in art school in Paris in 1984 They started working as a duo in 1993. They mainly collaborate in the fields of culture, fashion, art and design, combining their multidisciplinary talents to create images, typographies, logotypes, video animations, objects and art installation. They created many visual works for Comédie de Clermont‑Ferrand, Villa Noailles, Centre national de danse contemporaine, Collection Lambert, Sèvres, Christian Lacroix, Saint Laurent and some objects for BD Barcelona, Moustache, Domestic and Tarkett. In 2009 their first major exhibition was held at the Musée des Arts décoratifs in Paris displaying in seven rooms of the Louvre their specific approach of creation, from drawing to graphic design to furniture to architecture. This exhibition was followed by a bigger exhibition in Hong Kong at the Heritage Museum. In 2013 they signed their first monumental immersive installation Cartieroscope at the Grand Palais, followed in 2015 by Eat me at the State Library of Victoria for the White Night Melbourne then in 2018 Animal for the Adelaide Festival at the Barr Smith Library in Australia.
Description: It’s better painted or ‘C’est mieux peint’ in French, is a casted low relief pannel designed by Manuel and hand painted in marshmallow colors by Antoine ; it’s an allegory to architecture, history, art and mythology. It’s also one of the doors of our cabinet Tout va bien —a monochromatic furniture produced by BD Barcelona since 2009— turned into painting.
www.antoineetmanuel.com
Claudiabasel
Information: Specimen poster of 89,5x128cm 20 listed and signed posters edition Printed by 5 colors in serigraphy Price: 200â‚Ź / each one
Biography: 1976: Born in Brno, CZ 1993–94: ‘Gestalterischer Vorkurs’, The Basel School of Design 1994–95: ‘Basis Erweiterung’, The Basel School of Design 1995–99: ‘Grafikfachklasse’, The Basel School of Design 1999–00: Colaboration with Leander Eisenmann, Zürich 2000–03: Graphic Designer at ‘Meissner&Mangold’, Basel 2003: Founder and Partner of ‹Claudiabasel› 2006: Several Workshops and Lectures 2012: Guest Lecturer ‘Gestalterische Grundlagen’ HfG Karlsruhe/ZKM 2012: Lecturer, Bachelor of Arts in Visual Communication, HGK Basel 2012: Lecturer, Master of Arts in Visual Communication and Iconic Research, HGK Basel, Visual Communication Institute
Description: Specimen-format poster with a typeface created by the studio. This font is based on a design from the year 1999. The basic idea was to generate graphic images just by the help of a typeface. Claudia Basel reactivated this idea for a corporate design of a professorship for architecture. The characters are extended with lines in three different weigts and circles. This makes it possible to create typographic images without use of additional graphic elements. This poster is kind of a specimen for this typeface project and was printed in a 20-pieces limited edition. Is designed by Claudiabasel, and printed by Arni Siebdruck, in Basel.
www.claudiabasel.ch
Eike König
Information: Happy Branding Modeling and enamelling over canvas / unique edition Size: 120x160cm Price: 4,800€ / each one - 8,000€ / both canvas
Biography: In Germany any design hipster will nod enthusiastically at the very name, like a nodding dog brought to life on the back shelf of a car. The sorts of creatives enamored of grids and dismissive of pleasure, however, will shake their heads the other way and refer, anxiously wide-eyed, to the danger that comes from König-style anti-aestheticization. And that’s not all: For all the modern performers who see creativity as a good assistance system for planned business success in the branding coordinates system of international communication, he remains an unfathomable puzzle. Eike produces not answers, but rather discourse. Partly with autobiographical justification, in his creative structures he triggers a ubiquitous media cacophony, which pelts us daily with content-bearing messages, almost like being pelted with bags of cement at the Holi festival in Rajasthan, India. He thus becomes the couturier of a visual decompression suit that banishes into weightlessness our self-made performance pressure stemming from competition and repression for the moment of observation. At first glance, König’s route seems so simple here: Serial repetition, little color, bold type, short statements and omnipotent branding are all thrown into the mixer and then, with no great shock absorption, chased across the cobblestones of modern, economically-shaped data highways. For moments here, he becomes the deconstructivist chronicler of a world in which brands, through the DASD plate tectonics of countless DNA servers, crumble into ever smaller particles. The grid-free swarm intelligence that thus comes to light issues a refusal of classic readability. But Eike wouldn’t merit his kingly surname if he did not touch upon the anti-aesthetic tabernacle with quite so much virtuosity or have invented his very own visual chaos theory. His eternally creative light transforms design elements into free radicals, which develop a hugely associative delight in reaction among observers at every interface of contact. Peter Zizka
Description: 2 large–format canvases with a special version of logo sets.
www.hort.org.uk
Mathieu Mercier
Information: Y-Socket Lamp 1999 - 11 bulbs, 10 Y-sockets Variable dimensions: 50x40x40cm Price: 2,000â‚Ź
Biography: The conceptual artist Mathieu Mercier generates objects that contain a strong symbolic load (whether they come from the consumer society, or are generated ad hoc) nevertheless, they never lose sight of that touch of functionality that embellished the avant-garde. Duchamp’s provocation, and Mondrian’s presence and his search for the essential in what surrounds us, are two fundamental axes in Mercier’s work. Mercier was honored with the prestigious Marcel Duchamp Prize in 2013. He has exhibited in some of the most important institutions in the world, such as the Center Georges Pompidou in Paris, the Musée d’Art Moderne in the Ville de Paris (both have Mathieu’s work in the collection), the Fondation d’Entreprise Ricard d’Art Contemporain in Paris, Villa Merkel in Germany, the Kunstmuseum in St.Gallen, the FRAC Bourgogne, Le Crédac-Center d’Art Contemporain d’Ivry in France or the Kunsthalle Nürmberg from Germany among others. It is also part of the QAGOMA collection of Queensland in Australia, the Stadel Museum in Frankfurt or the collection of the Musée d’art moderne in Strasbourg.
Description: A historical piece that turns an 11–bulbs lamp into an art object.
www.mathieumercier.com
Patrick Thomas
Information: 6 pieces (Rome edition) Each serigraphy is a test of the artist. Size: 70x50cm Signature stamp and rubber at lower right position Prices: 300â‚Ź / each one
Biography: Patrick Thomas (1965 Liverpool, UK) is a graphic artist, author and educator. He studied at Central Saint Martins School of Art and the Royal College of Art in London before relocating to Barcelona in 1991 where he founded the multidisciplinary studio laVista. In 2005 he published Black & White, a compilation of his work for the international Press. In 2011 Laurence King Publishing, London, published his second book Protest Stencil Toolkit, which also sold out. He is currently working on the follow-up. In 2007 he established his first silkscreen press in Barcelona and decided to concentrate on releasing personal uncommissioned work. Since then he has exhibited his limited-editions across five continents, where many are now held in private and public collections. He set up a second silkscreen press in Berlin in 2016. In April 2018 he was interviewed on BBC Radio 4 Front Row about his public installation Breaking News 1.0 in Liverpool. He has given talks about his practice and held workshops worldwide, extensively in the UK, Spain and Germany. Between 2004–05 he was Graphic Research Fellow at Liverpool School of Art (Liverpool John Moores University) and since October 2013 he is a professor of visual communication at the Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design. Since 2011 he is based in Berlin. He works between there, London, Barcelona and Stuttgart. He is a UK member of AGI (Alliance Graphique Internationale). In Spring 2019 he was invited for a residency at Villa Massimo, the German Academy in Rome.
Description: The result of his last residence in Rome in the form of serigraphs.
www.patrickthomas.com
Pepa Salazar
Information: Knitted fabric Size: 2x1,5m Unique piece Price: 1,200â‚Ź
Biography: Born in Valencia, Pepa Salazar began her foray into the sector after her studies of fashion design at the Instituto Europeo di Design (IED) Her professional career begins in the creative team of Loewe (LVMH). In 2013 she decided to launch her first collection, “S, M, L, XL”, selected to feature Ego Fashion Show and awarded with Mercedes-Benz Fashion Talent Award that led her to present her line at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Mexico. Her second collection, SS14, was recognized for the second consecutive time with this prize, presenting the collection in MBFW Zurich this occassion. She later wins Samsung EGO Innovation Project prize with her third collection SS2015 “Hyperdry”. This project results in eight pieces designed with hydrochromic and hydrophobic technological fabrics. With her next collection, Opening Ceremony is interested in her way of understand fashion and incorporates the collection for sale on its worldwide channels and its SS17 season, inspired by the electronic music of Spanish Levante in the 90s, repeats the success achieved to date both national and international. AW17 season, presented at MBFWMadrid Off, around the concept of the use, reuse and multiplicity of perspectives that a single piece can have, entails the consolidation of Pepa Salazar in her career. That same year is the last to receive the best names in Spanish fashion. In September 2017 she presents her successful SS18 collection at the Antón Martin Market. Models walked between fruit stores and butcher shops while getting the ovation of the press and the audience. In October of that same year, Forbes magazine recognizes the designer as one of the 30 most influential under 30s in Spain.
Description: A white canvas hanged from a wall that is also a clothing piece.
www.pepasalazar.com
The Rodina
Information: 3 unique pieces of printed textile Size: 1350mm x 3000mm Price: 900â‚Ź / each one
Biography: The Rodina (Tereza and Vit Ruller) is a post-critical design studio with an experimental practice drenched in strategies of performance art, play and subversion. Both in commissioned work and in autonomous practice, they activate and re-imagine a dazzling range of layered meanings across, below and beyond the surface of the design. The Rodina invents ways in which experience, knowledge and relations are produced and preserved. In their work, Tereza and Vit often explore the spatial and interactive possibilities of virtual environments as a space for new thoughts and aesthetics that come forward from between culture and technology.
Description: Graphic design is one of the prime fields where human and machine become more and more entangled. As motherboards become smaller, computers quieter and more powerful, digital labour becomes seemingly less material, less visible and audible, and so do the circumstances of labour itself. The living-time of bodies disappears into the working-time of computers. Oh Son, Dear Son is a monument to the freelance designer. It is an ‘audio situation’ which takes the Czech folk song Oh Son, Dear Son (Ach Synku, Synku) as a starting point to consider the human-machine entanglements of digital design. It seeks to make this convolution visible: 2 hands, 2 eyes, one mouth, a brain floating inside the skull, bones in fingers, keyboard strokes, vibration of cooling fan resonating in working desk, silicon chips on motherboard, the squeaking of office chairs, mouse clicks, the gurgle of a coffee machine pump. 300 hours of labour have been compressed into 3 blankets.
www.therodina.com
This exhibition is curated by the team of Espai Tactel and Studio Toormix and will be open from June 7th — August 7th, 2019 at Espai Tactel Toormix gallery in Barcelona. Website: espaitacteltoormix.com Contact and prices: info@espaitacteltoormix.com