SELBY GALLERY
RINGLING COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN PRESS RELEASE
RINGLING COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN
2700 N.TAMIAMI TRAILSARASOTA, FL 34234-5895
Aug. 14-Sept. 16, 2015
Selby Gallery I & II: StereoType: New directions in typography
StereoType: New directions in typography, opening at Selby Gallery on Aug. 14, is a groundbreaking exhibition presenting works by 14 established and up-and-coming international designers and artists from the UK, Japan, France, the United States, and elsewhere. Exploring the opportunities at the intersection of technology and design, this new breed of artists is expanding the boundaries of traditional typography and integrating elements from the fields of animation, craft, performance, nano-science, and graffiti into their work. It heralds a departure from conventional typographical approaches focused on two-dimensional letters by embracing added dimensions—space and time—as well as the qualities and character of the digital and experiential worlds. This exhibition was organized for the Boston Society of Architects/the Space by Ginger Gregg Duggan and Judith Hoos Fox of c2 – curatorsquared.
As the curators of the exhibition explain:
“Historically, typography has been designed with two axes in mind, x and y. Today, in contrast, designers are broadening their perceptions about type to accommodate for our virtual existence.”
BSA president Emily Grandstaff-Rice AIA says:
“A close relationship between typography and architecture can be found as early as Roman times, as shown by the letters on the Pantheon. Fonts are also central in contemporary buildings as architecture, graphic design, communications, and branding become more intertwined.”
The exhibition will travel to several venues in the US. Selby Gallery, on the campus of the Ringling College of Art and Design, will be the only Florida venue. The show will be on view at Selby Gallery from Aug. 14 through Sept. 16, 2015. Admission is free and open to the public. A series of free public events and programs will accompany the exhibition.
The designers and artists participating in the exhibition include (in alphabetic order):
Brian Banton, Toronto, manipulates the two vector lines that make up the letters of the English alphabet by stretching elastic along spatial planes suspended between two pieces of Plexiglas.
Jerome Corgier, Montreuil, France, deconstructs Arab and Roman letters and transforms them into sculptural hybrids constructed from complex layers of brilliantly colored cut paper.
Oded Ezer, Tel Aviv, Israel, has developed a bespoke font by asking friends and acquaintances from around the globe to hand-draw a letter and hold it up for screen capture during a Skype conversation.
Dominique Falla, Gold Coast and Byron Bay, Australia, presents works in various craft media and combines them with a digital aesthetic to make typography tactile.
Song Hyun Ju, Berlin, represents letters from the Latin alphabet as geometric abstractions, spinning, whirling, and playfully dancing across screens.
Masashi Kawamura, Tokyo and New York City, has created a series of T-shirts that capture the silhouette qualities of five famous typefaces: Helvetica, Caslon, Baskerville, Courier, and Cooper Black, calling attention to the parallel “bodies” of letters and humans.
Ji Lee, New York City, has modified the Swiss-style sans serif font and rotated each letter around a central vertical axis to create pleasingly rotund and friendly forms that can be printed, at any scale, on a 3-D printer.
Thomas G. Mason, Los Angeles, develops three-dimensional and florescent letter forms at the cellular level, which he hopes will ultimately be used to mark cells for identification.
Petra Mrzyk and Jean-Francois Moriceau, Paris, enliven a music video created for French pop star Katerine with mutations for each of the lyrics that move with an energy to match the song.
Stefan Sagmeister and Jessica Walsh, New York City, combine old-world aesthetics, contemporary functionality, and wit by presenting an elaborate book that is actually an empty box with a URL leading to a downloadable app for the iPad.
Alida Sayer, London, explores representing the fourth dimension through form and type by combining traditional tools such as letterpress and paper with unconventional formats including sculptural installation, video, and wall construction.
Dan Tobin Smith, London, has produced a unique alphabet using various virtuosic photographic techniques: He shoots elaborate still lives that “read” as a letter from a specific angle, captures fire or smoke that has been forced into a letter formation, or documents minute changes in a landscape via multiple exposures to reveal a letter forming over time.
[The Curators] StereoType: New directions in typography has been developed by Ginger Gregg Duggan and Judith Hoos Fox, independent curators who work under the moniker c2 – curatorsquared to create exhibitions of international, cross-media contemporary art and design that explore current issues in culture. Duggan, based in Orlando, Florida, earned her advanced degree at the Savannah College of Art and Design, Georgia. She has been curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Lake Worth, Florida; Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale; and the Bellevue Arts Museum, Bellevue, Washington, among other posts. Judy Fox, with an undergraduate degree from Bryn Mawr College and a graduate degree from the University of Minnesota, trained at Walker Art Center and has been curator at the Davis Museum and Cultural Center, Wellesley College; Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design; and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston. She has been visiting curator at Harvard Art Museums. For more information, visit http://www.curatorsquared.com/.
[About BSA Space]
BSA Space is Boston’s leading center for architecture and design, and home to the Boston Society of Architects and the Boston Foundation for Architecture. BSA Space hosts exhibitions on design and architecture, architectural cruises and walking tours,
and other programs and events that foster exchange between design and construction, and the profession and the public, and that encourage collaboration across the city and world. For more information, visit architects.org/bsaspace.
[About the Boston Society of Architects] The Boston Society of Architects (BSA) is committed to professional development for its members, advocacy on behalf of great design, and sharing an appreciation for the built environment with the public at large. Established in 1867, the BSA today consists of nearly 4,000. For more information, visit architects.org or bfagrants.org.
[SPECIAL EVENTS]
Friday, Aug. 21, 5:00 – 7:00 pm: Free public opening reception
Curator Tour with Ginger Gregg Duggan: Monday, Aug. 24, 11:30 am
Designer/Artist Presentations: TBA
[SPONSORS]
Sponsored in part by Sarasota County Tourist Development Tax Revenues; and WSMR 89.1.
[CONTACT US FOR MORE INFORMATION]
Web: www.ringling.edu/galleries
[HOURS: MAY-AUGUST]
MONDAY – FRIDAY, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
[HOURS: SEPTEMBER – APRIL]
MONDAY – SATURDAY, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM & TUESDAY, 10:00 AM-7:00 PM
[LOCATION] The Ringling College of Art and Design campus entrance is at 2700 N. Tamiami Trail on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Way in Sarasota. There are several parking lots on the southside of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way and throughout the campus.
[RINGLING COLLEGE GALLERIES] All gallery exhibitions and presentations (and most of our special events) are free and open to the public.
