Exhibition: Nov 18 – Dec 16, 2011
Curated By: Jaz Halloran & Tracy Stefanucci
Artist Talk: 6:00pm, Nov 25
Opening Reception: 8:00pm, Nov 25
Publication Launch: 7:00pm, Dec 8
Download Full Interpretive Text (PDF)
In a society where graphic design permeates our visual environment, habits of viewing limit individuals to reading banal visual communication materials without ever really looking at them. Messages are absorbed, but the graphic arrangements that signify these messages are rarely questioned or even noticed. This language of automatic responses disconnects viewers from their visual environment, removing the opportunity for curiosity, discovery or critical thinking in favour of speed and efficiency.
Material Arrangement brings together two Vancouver artists, Andy Chung and Christy Nyiri, and two Berlin artists, Anette K Hansen and Easton West, to explore the role of graphic treatment in the conveyance of meaning. Drawing from the utilitarian nature of the visuals being examined, the title of the exhibition describes what the artists have been asked to do—arrange a collection of materials—and asserts that the arrangement of graphical forms is material to meaning-making in graphic design.
Chung, Nyiri, Hanson and West have each examined and collected a form of banal, commonly overlooked visual communication material—sprites, karaoke typography, bathroom hand-type and street posters, respectively—and will each present their selection of material in an arrangement that disrupts the intended meaning or use of these visuals. Separated from their intended contexts, the chosen materials no longer prompt viewers to read, then move on (either with action or ambivalence), but rather to pause and look, causing new interpretations and observations to become available. This subversion prompts viewers to transcend the role of passive receptor by questioning and interpreting what they are looking at, rather than automatically receiving a programmed message.
Andy Chung is a Vancouver- and San Francisco Bay Area-based artist and designer whose work includes a range of activities that negotiate conditions and implications of the Internet. Chung holds a Bachelor of Design from Emily Carr University, developed and released the typeface Neighbourhood (2009), and recently exhibited his work as part of Typecast at Also Known As Studios (2011).
Christy Nyiri is an interdisciplinary artist and designer based in Vancouver. She co-founded the artist collective Norma, which recently received a 2011 Mayor’s Art Award and has performed and exhibited work in Vancouver at Artspeak Gallery (2010), Vancouver Art Gallery (2008), Access Gallery (2005) and PuSh Performing Arts Festival (2005). Nyiri also hosts a weekly karaoke night as part of the collective Weekend Leisure, with whom she is creating the feature film STEEL VIPER FORCE: Fiero’s Redemption. In 2009 she co-founded the interactive studio David Christy & Internet. She holds a Bachelor of Media Arts from Emily Carr University.
Easton West lives and works in Berlin as a designer and art director for publications, videos, films and music promotion. Since moving to Berlin from Vancouver, where he attended Emily Carr University and worked for Adbusters, he has founded the Son Of Cataclysm record label with techno artist Stewart Walker, opened a collaborative studio with colleagues, helped launch the contemporary poetry magazine Poetry Is Dead and worked on the feature-length film Problema in collaboration with the Mindpirates.
Anette K Hansen is a Berlin-based, Oslo born and bred art director, graphic designer, curator and stylist. After graduating from the Communication Design program at Emily Carr University in Vancouver, Anette worked for Metaform Communication Design Inc. while also art directing the local street newspaper Street Corner, playing a key role in its relaunch as Megaphone. After moving to Berlin in 2008, Anette co-founded the collaborative studio space Working™®© and co-created SemiDomesticated—a platform for designers and creatives working under the umbrella of upcycled and sustainable design.
Jaz Halloran is an artist, graphic designer and independent curator based in Vancouver, BC. He has a Bachelor of Design from Emily Carr University and has been curating and designing art books since 2005. He is co-founder of Project Space and is currently the art director of OCW Magazine and Discorder.
Tracy Stefanucci is a writer, editor, publisher and independent curator based in Vancouver, BC. She is the Executive Director of OCW Arts & Publishing Foundation, which publishes OCW Magazine and runs Project Space. She has a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Education from the University of British Columbia, and is a Master of Publishing candidate at Simon Fraser University.
A project by the Goethe-Institut
Produced by 221A Artist Run Centre
in cooperation with OCW Magazine, Mindpirates and Revised Projects
Supported by Emily Carr University, Cygnus Group, Steam Whistle Brewing, British Columbia Arts Council and the City of Vancouver.
