Background
If art and design collaborate there is Graphic Detour – this exhibition shows 8 of this collaborations.
Design is not what it used to be. The time when art and design was still about ink on your fingers and individual skills seems to be far behind us. Current techniques have made these professions more transparent and accessible. This means that a lack of professional knowledge is no longer a problem; a lack of good ideas however, is. Disciplines such as fashion, photography, painting, architecture, advertising and graphic design have become porous. Artists and designers no longer work within one discipline but instead branch out into different domains. In this way, fascinating cross fertilisations arise. Artists now regularly make detours to graphic design while graphic designers move increasingly in the direction of art.To celebrate this diversity Graphic Detour shows the work of artists who have crossed the boundaries of their discipline. These innovative talents work with different media and are modernisers with distinctive ideas. By offering various companies a ‘blind date’ with these creative thinkers, new designs have emerged. Graphic Detour has become a meeting between artists and ceramicists, printers, carpenters and even candy manufacturers. The result is a collection of ‘detours’ that lead us to a completely new territory. Eight companies collaborate with eight artists Guest curator Erik Kessels selected and connected the companies with the eight artists.
The British design Daniel Eatock worked with Kemo, a company that makes models and prototypes. Damien Poulain from France is linked with confectionery company Jamin. Dutch artist Koen Taselaar works with metal manufacturer Metaalplan. Other combinations are Marti Guixé (Spain) with packaging factory Kompak, Joachim Schmid (Germany) with NPN Printers, Erik Steinbrecher (Switzerland) with the European Ceramic Workcentre, Tod Hanson (England) with textile manufacturer Vlisco and Fuel (England) with De Geus woodworking. In addition to exhibiting the work that the artists made with the companies, Graphic Detour also shows their recent work. In this way, the exhibition provides an overview of the increasingly blurred boundaries of art and design.
