Assignment 05
Artist Exhibition Identity & Publication

Visit a museum or gallery. Take a walk around and find something that gets you excited. Note the artist, and try to find as many pieces in the location by that person. You’re to design a solo exhibition for this artist. You’re the designer & curator. You decide what the show is called, what pieces are in the exhibition, and what the identity and supplemental materials look like.

If possible, photograph the work. You will need either your own photographs or images you find through your research for this project. Also photograph the work within the space. Take wide shots with blank wall space and some of the artwork in context (if applicable). This will give you the opportunity to see what your exhibition graphics would look like in a gallery living next to the artwork it’s introducing.

It might make sense to choose an artist who’s established and has produced a larger body of work. This will make your research phase much easier. If there is already professional photography of the work in question it will make gathering content for your publication easier. You want to focus your efforts on design, not production. If there is already essays or critical analysis of the person this will give you an opportunity to learn more about your subject, where their work lives on a timeline, and how it has affected culture, and give you content for your foreword.

Deliverables
1Research Presentation

2Exhibition Identity
—Graphics applied to wall
3Exhibition Publication
—Foreword required —Feature 10+ pieces of artists artwork
4Exhibition Poster
—24x36 in.

Research Presentation

Show your research in the form of presentation slides. Keep your presentation around 5 minutes. Show some work your selected artist has made, possibly the photos you’ve taken. In your presentation answer these questions — Who are they? What is their background? Where did they come from/whats their story? What themes are present in their work? What drew you to what they've made? How do you plan to move forward? Address some formal or conceptual routes you are considering exploring for the identity, either with sketches or a few sentences/word associations.

Exhibition Identity

You are to create an identity for your exhibition. The identity should consist of a wordmark, featuring the title of the show and the artists name. Building on the wordmark, you are to develop a typographic system for the identity. What will the body text of the publication be set in? What will work for captions? Apply (photoshop) your graphics on the wall of the exhibition for context.

Exhibition Publication

You are to create a publication for your exhibition. It can be any size or material you would like, but it must be printed. Imagine this will be given out to patrons of the show when they walk in. It should include at least 10 pieces of artwork. It should include a foreword about the artist. Either it can be your task to write about the show (possibly explaining why you chose the works you did), or you can find an essay about the artist and use that for your content.

Exhibition Poster

You are to create a poster for your exhibition. It’s dimensions are 24x36 in. Imagine this poster would be wheatpasted around New York, or as an advertisement in the subway.

Timeline

Week 11 — 11.14.17
Research
Visit the Museum / Gallery. Show your research in the form of presentation slides. Tell us about who your artist is, what you like about their work or what you find interesting about them as a person.

Week 12 — 11.21.17
R01 Group Crit
Have one to three directions you’re considering. Decide on a name and show it’s wordmark. Show us a few spreads of your publication, and a few different composition sketches for your poster on 11x17. Start thinking about the typographic system and how your interpretation of the exhibition translates to layout and materials.

Week 13 — 11.28.17
R02 Group Crit
Have all deliverables ready to show. These are not required to be in final form, just mock-ups.

Week 14 — 12.5.17
R03 one-on-ones
All deliverables required to show in as close to final form as possible. Have a dummy book to scale, but can be loosely bound. Bring an example of paper stocks and cover options you’re considering. Have your poster tiled as 18x24 (can be roughly produced).

Week 15 — 2.12.17
R04 Guest Crit
All deliverables required in full, final production form.

Background

It’s not required, but I highly recommend visiting Dia:Beacon. It’s an 80 minute train ride outside the city. Either go with a friend, or even better, alone. Their permanent collection of 60’s to now modern art is incredible, and there are plenty of artists you can explore for this project. DIA’s galleries are specifically designed for the presentation of one artists work, so you’ll see more than one of their pieces in person. Plus, photography is allowed so it’s an easy way to gather content and own the photos you’re using in the project (just dont bring a tripod).

It’s not required because you need to take the Metro North at Grand Central Terminal, which costs $36.50. If you get a package with your Metro North ticket admission into the museum is only $6. But the museum is amazing! and the town is nice! Especially if you’ve never visited upstate before! Seriously, really try to get there, it will be worth it. Give yourself as much time as possible.

Other Options

The Whitney
MoMA PS1
MET Breuer
The New Museum
Gugenheim
Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum
Jewish Museum

Galleries
See unti-tled