As part of the Inside Out. Polish Graphic Design in the Making programme, Culture.pl will showcase works by the best Polish graphic designers and illustrators in New York from 15th to 18th May, 2015. What makes the Polish exhibition stand out from the others is that its organisers will focus not just on the final product: a poster, a book, a dress, a plate or a package, but also on the process of the product’s development.
Regardless of technological progress, handicrafts, like cutting, pasting, drafting, drawing or rubbing out, are very often an inseparable part of the process of creating a new illustration or a new graphic project. On one hand, the exhibition will emphasise the importance of hand-drawn drafts and collages in preliminary work, and on the other, it will show the role of drafts during conceptual work. If we looked at artists at work we’d notice that drafts aren’t only a force that drives the creation of the new project, but a tool required to create the final form of the project as well. Thereby, the exhibition will showcase the completed works of selected artists, along with their sketches, mock-ups and rough drafts.
The exhibition will consist of three sections. Hand-made will showcase projects that were initially created manually with the use of a pencil, paper, markers, scissors, and then re-created as posters, books, illustrations and other media. Hand-produced will exhibit works created by craft techniques, such as screen printing or book-binding techniques. Hand-thought will be devoted to the process of creation, which relies on “hand thinking”: drafting, pasting or creating paper prototypes.
Even though modernity aims to separate mind from body, manual activities from intellectual ones, handwork is still a key element to the process of creation, and too often it’s marginalised or simply invisible.
– Agata Szydłowska, the curator of the New York exhibition, explained.
The exhibition will feature works by many talented Polish designers and design groups: Arizona Studio, Arobal, Edgar Bąk, Jan Bajtlik, Katarzyna Bogucka, Ola Cieślak, Cyber Kids on Real, Anna Dusza, Przemek Dąbrowski, Hipopotam Studio, Dawid Ryski, Agata Królak, Ula Palusińska, Natalia Kulka i Marta Pieczonko/Zeszyt z rysunkami, Maciej Sieńczyk, Marta Ignerska, Tomek Bersz, Moonmadness, Michał Loba, Magda Buczek i Emilia Obrzut, Marcin Markowski, Poważne Studio, Poziomka Studio - Emilia Pyza, Jacek Ambrożewski (XY), Honza Zamojski, Julia Mirny, Monika Hanulak, Tymek Jezierski, Michał Jońca, Paweł Jońca, Jakub Jezierski, Hakobo, Małgorzata Gurowska, Full Metal Jacket, Patryk Mogilnicki, Ola Niepsuj, Marcelina Jarnuszkiewicz, Karolina Kotowska, Malwina Konopacka, Sabina Samulska, Mamastudio, Nieladaco, Kwiaciarnia Grafiki, Homework, Justyna Medoń, Longstory, Falbanka, Magda Łapińska, Kwiaty i Miut, Magda Pilaczyńska, Bożka Rydlewska, Manuka Studio, Jan Estrada Osmycki, Marian Misiak and Fontarte.
This will be the first as extensive exhibition of Polish graphic design and illustrations in the United States. We’re happy that we can present such a unique perspective on the works of Polish designers at such a prestigious festival as WantedDesign.
– says Barbara Krzeska, the director of the Polska Design project of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.
At WantedDesign, the organisers will also hold a discussion panel about VeryGraphic. Polish Designers of the 20th Century album – the first such comprehensive and broad publication dedicated to the Polish graphic design of the 20th century, which was recently published by Culture.pl.