Course title:

On Display

Course description:

You are cordially invited to enter a controlled
yet indeterminate design process. We come to know
one another through an object—
an object that carries meaning for you,
an object you choose to put on display,
an object you can physically bring with you.
Imagine investigating the object at an ant’s scale, or from a perspective granted by the object itself. The object instinctively invites undisciplined, generous, and relational modes of visual inquiry. For the duration of these two weeks, it becomes your client, your host, and your collaborator in the invention of a visual system—translated into multiple formats [A, B, C].
[Assignment]
Your work unfolds toward a specific moment. At a
defined place, on a fixed date, all objects will
be on display. The task of these two weeks is to
design different gestures of invitation to this
moment:
A — via a DIN format (e.g. poster),
B — via the screen (e.g. moving ad, short video),
and
C — vis-à-vis (e.g. T-shirt, envelope),
following the visual system you developed in
response to the object.
You will bring the object into existence through
its title, possibly by entering into a personal
dialogue with it. From this encounter, you will
develop a visual narrative and invent a specific
visual system. You may align yourself with the
object’s form, echoing it through composition
or typography, or you may choose to resist
it deliberately. Your personal relationship with
the object will likely surface in the visual
atmosphere, the chromatic language, or the rhythm
of your design.
Yours,
Anja Kaiser

Bio:

Anja Kaiser is a graphic designer and artist working across cultural and subcultural contexts. Her practice engages with the appropriation of resistant media, and undisciplined methods. She explores alternative narratives and porous tools within graphic design. Her work investigates the thresholds between graphic design, art, and music. Since 2018, she has been responsible, together with Jim Kühnel, for the art direction of the Rewire Festival. She also occasionally builds furniture—such as tables for the Study Rooms at the Bauhaus Dessau — or hosts sound art events as part of a collective.
Since 2011, Anja Kaiser has been working independently, engaging in various collaborations with other graphic designers and programmers. Until March 2023, she held the interim Professorship for Typography at the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig. 2017, she received the INFORM Award from the Gallery of Contemporary Art Leipzig, recognizing conceptual design practices. In 2020, Le Signe – Centre National du Graphisme in Chaumont dedicated a comprehensive exhibition to her work. In 2021, together with graphic designer Rebecca Stephany, she co-edited and published the symposium and publication project “Glossary of Undisciplined Design,” (Spector Books).