EXQUISITE TYPOGRAPHY POSTER EXHIBITION (QLD)

NZ identity - le cadavre exquis / the exquisite corpse / 

A series of nine works by nine designers and typographers, curated by Italian designer Leonardo Sonnoli.

Alt NZ / Peter Bilak NL / Moana Bilsahson AO / Tony Brook UK / Catherine Griffiths NZ / Henrik Kubel UK / Paul Sahre USA / anothermountainman [Stanley Wong] HK / Leonardo Sonnoli IT

With many thanks to TypeSHED11 NZ, Leonardo Sonnoli IT, Catherine Griffiths NZ, Typevents IT

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Exhibition viewing: Design College Australia, 200 Barry Parade, Fortitude Valley: 1–22 July |  Mon-Fri 9.30am - 5pm

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The theme 'NZ identity' – how nine separate designers from all over the world imagine New Zealand through typography. Now it is possible to discover our contemporary world through Flickr, webcams, online news, in a 'couch journey', from wherever you are… how new technologies degrade our imagination, and potentially create a fake identity of the world…

Helen Walters, New York-based editor for BusinessWeek.com's Innovation and Design Channel, writes – "With a pleasing continuity across and throughout the nine posters featuring the collaborative vision of the nine artists, these are also startling visions of a country's identity, with themes covering the gamut from whimsy to beauty, with a healthy dose of the absurd included for good measure." 

"The effort was to create a dialogue among designers and a reflection on the idea of identity of a nation," Sonnoli noted in an email. "In this case it should be an experiment interesting also for the citizens and not only for designers." 

It was certainly an interesting experiment for its curators, who had to deal with the crunched availability of their nine contributors.

To their credit, they pulled it off, with only one last minute hitch: the unexpected disappearance of the ninth (turns out, he'd gone on holiday.) Ever resourceful, Griffiths and Sonnoli improvised, staying true to the Surrealist nature of the project by simply inventing the ninth designer. Love the work of Moana Bilsahson? Make the most of it; it's the only time you'll ever see it, what with Bilsahson being an amalgam of work by Bilak, Sahre and Sonnoli." 

[ProDesign #99]

The game – how it all began

"Originally played with the text among poets. Only later with images. In this way, it is appropriate to the experimental aspect of TypeSHED11. Usually the surrealists divided the space into three or four parts. As nine designers and typographers, we will do the same, resulting in nine different posters, each made of three parts. Read through the rules of the game and, should you choose to accept, prepare for an immediate start on Monday December 8, 2008. We realise timing is tight, but that's now part of the game" ... Leonardo Sonnoli

Rules of the game / 1. There are nine participants in the cadavre exquis project. Each will be asked to design three thirds on three different posters. The design should be a dialogue with the previous third already designed. The first round is of course free, following the theme 'NZ identity'. The following two will be a dialogue with the other designers / 2. Each designer for the first round will receive a blank file with the indication of the three spaces to fill. He/she will have to work only in one-third of the whole size / 3. The standard software will be Adobe Illustrator. All files will be sent back with type in trace (converted to paths/outlines/vector-based) and potential pictures included as high resolution files / 4. Size: A0 (note: also reproduced at A2 size); Colour: Black only; Paper: Uncoated stock; An edition of three sets of nine posters at A0 size will be digitally printed by Fuji Xerox. An edition of 100+ sets of nine posters at A2 size will be offset printed by Freestyle Print / 5. The files must be emailed on/or before the finish dates below. You will then be emailed the next file to begin work with, on the start date (that's the plan, so long as we get the files by each finish date, NZ time, allowing for various time zones!) round 1: start date: Monday 8 December 2008 / finish date: Sunday 21 December (NZ time) round 2: start date: Tuesday 23 December / finish date: Monday 5 January (NZ time) round 3: start date: Wednesday 7 January / finish date: Tuesday 20 January 2009 (NZ time)