One of the highlights of the year was (without doubt) our solo-exhibition at MACRO in Rome (pics, card, pamphlet, essay, quote, sticker, etc.) – while we were also included in some smaller group shows (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11). Next, we worked on a couple of graphic languages: NADA (1,2,3), DIP (1,2), etc. There were interviews (1,2,3, etc.), merch/multiples, lectures, postcards, bootlegs, reworked tote bags, booklets – and an issue of High as well. We celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Responsive W (yay!), and did the usual teaching. Coming up in 2024: projects for (and collaborations with) IICD, R(S)A, DKE, P, W, etc.

And that’s all for now – wishing everybody a great new year. Stay warm, keep cool, and see you on the flipside.

As we’re about to close down our studio for a short summer break, here’s a streamlined sum-up of everything we did in the first months of 2023. To start with, we worked on a couple of graphic languages: NADA Flea, NADA NY (1,2,3), and DIP. We put together another issue of High, and did a couple of smaller projects (1,2,3,4, etc.). Our work was exhibited (1,2,3,4,5), displayed (1,2,3,4), worn (1,2,3,4), carried, and published.

We went to exhibitions (1,2,3,4,5,6, etc.) and concerts (1,2,3,4, etc.). We traveled (1,2,3) and tutored. We celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Responsive W. We had chance encounters with books (1,2,3), buildings (1,2) and people (1,2). But mainly, we’ve been working on upcoming projects: exhibitions in Rome and Milan, a publication for IICD, and a couple of other things (for Portikus, for Stedelijk Museum, etc.) – so stay tuned for that. In the meantime, have a great summer!

2022 was hectic as ever. We developed graphic languages for two cultural institutes – NADA (1,2,3) and Palomar (1,2,3). We created capsule collections for both Patta (1,2,3) and Susan Bijl (1,2) – and worked on a set of multiples for Portikus.

Added to that, there was a paperback, a solo exhibition, a fundraiser button/badge, a fundraiser skateboard, an issue of High, a t-shirt, and various contributions to other projects (1,2,3,4,5,6, etc.). We participated in group shows (1,2,3,4) and interviews (1,2, etc.), We did some light travelling (1,2,3,4, etc.), reading, and teaching. And oh yeah – we celebrated our 25th anniversary as a studio (and we’re looking forward to the next 25 years). Happy holidays, everybody!

Since the beginning of 2022, we’ve been working on a couple of large projects (from graphic languages for new cultural institutes to capsule collections for streetwear labels). However, these collaborations will not be announced until in the Fall of 2022 – so stay tuned for that.

In the meantime, we worked on plenty of smaller projects – from t-shirts to buttons, from stickers to paperbacks, from prints to posters, from postcards to pamphlets, from record sleeves to solo exhibitions, from contributions to donations, from interviews to essays, etc. etc. We’ve been teaching, travelling – what not. And now it’s time for a break – so have a great summer, and catch you on the flip-side!

Since 2017, Experimental Jetset have been developing the graphic language of the Moscow-based V–A–C Foundation (and of all its affiliated sections, such as GES-2 and Zattere). Based on the notion of a diagrammatic language, the acronym V–A–C was transformed into a labyrinthic diagram of rotating axes, mapping all kinds of associative relationships and activities (as they appear within the universe of V–A–C). The graphic language (which includes templates and manuals for signage, murals, printed matter, clocks, online media, etc.) is already being implemented (while being constructed), in collaboration with the V–A–C in-house graphic design team (headed by Lyosha Kritsouk) and type designer Roman Gornitsky – it will be fully ready in december 2021, in time for the opening of GES-2. 

So here we are again, at the start of the summer, ready to take a break. But first, a report of everything we did in 2021 so far. We mostly worked on V–A–C, including website, signage, etc. – the building will open in September 2021. We designed two issues of ESP (1,2), a new Japanese magazine. Via Roma Publications, we released a new paperback: Superstructures – Notes on EJ, Vol. 2. There were accompanying t-shirts and buttons. We created a tote-bag for Post Books, and a fundraiser skateboard for Everyone on Boards. Also, the re-issue of Wim Crouwel: Typographic Architectures / Architectures Typographiques, originally designed in 2007. And High – let’s not forget High!

We’re working on a capsule collection for Patta (to be released in 2022) – but that’s top-secret yet. And did we tell about the compact graphic language we developed for Echobox Radio? We wrote some essays, answered some interviews, worked on some unrealised projects, were part of a couple of shows, did the usual reading and teaching – and that’s about it. Let the summer commence!

Twenty-twenty has been a harrowing year, in many ways. But amidst the global stress and personal sadness, we tried to march on, and continued working on V–A–C (1,2,3, etc.), our ongoing project in Moscow. We’ve also been occupied with Superstructures, our upcoming paperback (out soon). We designed a new Japanese magazine, and created some items for Paradiso and TABF. Then, a set of membership cards, a tote-bag, another instalment in the High Series, and an album sleeve. We have been exhibited (1,2,3), published (1,2,3,4, etc.), and interviewed (1,2,3). And in-between the lock-downs, there was even some light traveling (Paris, London). As always, we’ve been teaching. And that’s it for now – have a safe holiday season, and see you in 2021!

Happy to announce that we’re amongst the group of six artists who were commissioned by the Museum of Modern Art to create site-specific interventions within the museum’s public spaces. Part of a series of long-term installations curated by Yasmil Raymond, our piece was unveiled October 15, 2019, at MoMA’s Cafe 2. The official press-release can be found here (PDF here), while our own statement can be read here (PDF here). Meanwhile, a series of photos (by Johannes Schwartz) can be found here.

The installation comes with a full apparatus of graphic footnotes – a series of wall texts, a sequence of 14 offset-printed placemats, a set of three screenprinted aprons, and an ongoing run of menu sheets. Above all, there will be the upcoming paperback, to be released by Roma Publications – further information will follow.

On a personal level, the year started with absolute sadness (1,2). Yet, we soldiered on, and we continued working on two large ongoing projects: a long-term site-specific installation in NYC (which will be revealed later this year), and the graphic language (a,b,c,d,e) for V–A–C, a cultural institute in Moscow/Venice (which won’t be fully ready until 2020). There were also some loose bits and pieces (1,2,3,4), a limited-edition print that can be ordered, and a paperback that can be bought. We traveled (NYC, BCN, Moscow, Paris, Venice, etc.), we tutored (WT), we were photographed. Exciting projects on the horizon though, including a new book to be published by Roma. And on that note, we drift into the summer.

Running from November 2 to December 8, 2018, Alphabet Reform Committee is a collaborative installation we made with US musician Ian Svenonius, conceived specifically for the Volksbühne Pavilion (Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, Berlin). Taking the form of a textual/spatial/sonic intervention, and exploring the notion of the city as a platform for language, Alphabet Reform Committee is part of a three-piece program curated by the artist-run initiative Atelier Impopulaire.

The story so far. The first half of 2018, we were mainly occupied with Superstructure, our retrospective at RMIT – w/ accompanying symposium and lecture. We were involved in the Kyiv International (0,1,2,3,4), worked on some smaller projects (Esc., NSW, EA, 019, Banhe, etc.) and were included in several group shows (1,2,3,4). We’ve been teaching, continued our Provo Tumblr, and did a related talk at De Appel. There have been online interviews (1,2,3), and magazine articles (1,2,3). We’ve even been nominated for the Amsterdamprijs. But mostly, we’ve been working on an upcoming Moscow-related project, opening in 2019–2020 (more about that later.)   
We’re now slowing down for the summer – but the rest of 2018 will be filled with more Moscow, more teaching, a lecture in Ljubljana, a pavilion in Berlin, a project in NYC, etc. Looking forward to it.

In 2017, we worked mainly on future projects (Melbourne 2018 and Moscow 2019). We were busy with other things as well – a couple of books (1,2), an album cover, a poster, a multiple, a reprint, etc. (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8). We developed two graphic identities (1,2), created a print for PM (in collaboration with MM), were involved in a few exhibitions (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8), panels (1,2), signings (1,2), and interviews (1,2,3). We also started a Provo-related weblog. There were some unrealized commissions (Seoul, Split), and projects that still have to be documented (KW, B8, UQ). We also continued teaching at WT. Some highs, some lows, and everything in-between.  

In 2016, we had two solo shows: Provo Station at GfZK, and Word-Things in Time-Space at Riot. We did the exhibition design for Space Embodied (HNI). There was The No-Thing, an all-purpose protest banner (a, b, c) we created for The Thing Quarterly.
For TTQ, we also made a series of seasonal t-shirts, and a tote-bag. The Athens Recorder was a publication we designed and edited for photographer Johannes Schwartz. We made some other books (EP2, VB, EVL), went on a West Coast tour (LA, SF, Seattle, Portland), did some more traveling, and gave lectures in Leipzig and Ravenna. We were interviewed. We continued teaching at WT. Other things we did: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, etc. Anyway – have a great holiday, and all the best for 2017!

It's on: pre-sales have started on the winter issue and all-purpose protest banner we have made for The Thing Quarterly: the No-Thing. Get yours now!

When in Belgium, make sure to visit Word Things in Time Space, our exhibition at Riot in Ghent that opened on May 6, 2016.

Hurry up though, it runs for only one more week: until September 24.

When in Germany, make sure to visit Provo Station, our current installation at the Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst (GfZK) in Leipzig. Running until May 22, Provo Station sets out to explore some of the ways in which the Provo movement (1965–1967) managed to transform the city of Amsterdam into a machine for communication (and non-communication).

More information can be found here (and here), while a first selection of photos (installation views / details) is uploaded here.

Keep on truckin' in 2016. In February, we will be doing talks in Los Angeles (LAABF, February 13), San Francisco (CCA, February 16), Seattle (Public Library, February 19) and Portland (Beyond This Point, February 20). All these talks are free, and open to the public – but seating is limited, so make sure to RSVP. Also, during the LA Art Book Fair (February 11–14), we will be signing (or rather, stamping) copies of our paperback at the Roma booth (T09), every day around noon.

East-coast-wise, we're very happy that a selection of our work will be shown during an exhibition at NY's Drawing Center. The show will run from February 19 to March 20, but our section of drawings will be on display from March 4 to March 13.

First of all, we launched our monograph (w/ zine and bag), published by Roma. We designed a publication for Melanie Bonajo. We created a site-specific mural for an exhibition in Zürich, and we revisited Lost Formats for Fotomuseum Winterthur (see also here). We designed some signage for Hacked. There were two new issues of High (1, 2), some loose contributions for group shows (1, 2, 3, etc.), and we did some interviews (1, 2, etc.). We gave a workshop at Krabbesholm Højskole, together with Linda van Deursen. We did some talks (NYABF, UCLA, C-H, Winterthur, PrintRoom, etc.). We visited Tokyo (to work on Mash), and did two lectures there. We've been teaching at WT and Artez. And now we need a rest. All the best for 2016, everybody!

Announcing 'Statement and Counter-Statement: Notes on Experimental Jetset' (Roma 250), the first-ever publication about our own work, released by Roma Publications in Amsterdam. A fanzine (Roma 249) and tote-bag (Roma 248) have been produced as well, to accompany the release of the book.   Also announcing 'Matrix Botanica Vol. 1: Non-Human Persons', the publication we recently designed for Dutch artist Melanie Bonajo, as published by Capricious in New York.

In 2014, we were involved in the design of three major exhibitions: O:ABC, IABR and Game Theory. We stopped working for De Oude Kerk, and started working for the Rijksakademie. We edited and designed Tiergarten for Johannes Schwartz. Then there were things like DLO, APF, 24P, High Signs, and the 1-year anniversary of the Whitney ID. Our work was acquired by CNAP and Cooper-Hewitt. We did lectures in Cape Town, Prishtina and Berlin. We went to Brno, just for fun. We have been teaching at Rietveld and WT. We're currently working on a book about our own work (to be published by Roma). And we now need a holiday. All the best for 2015!

There are currently two architecture biennials going on, and we happen to be involved in both of them. First of all, we were responsible for the spatial design (and graphic design) of 'Open: A Bakema Celebration', the Dutch entry to this year's Architecture Biennale in Venice. A first selection of pics can be found here, a video can be watched here, and some articles can be read here (1, 2, 3, 4).

And secondly, we collaborated (with EventArchitectuur) on the exhibition design of the current International Architecture Biennale of Rotterdam (IABR), currently taking place  at De Kunsthal in Rotterdam. A review can be read here.

Curated by Angela Jerardi, and taking place at the CAFA Art Museum in Beijing, 'Game Theory' is a group show for which we did the exhibition design and graphic design. Part of the 2nd CAFAM Biennale, 'Game Theory' will run from February 28 to April 20, 2014. Contributors, collaborators, participants and subjects include (in no particular order) YKON, Constant Nieuwenhuys (New Babylon), Temporary Services, The Yes Men and Experimental Jetset (Two or Three Things I Know About Provo). Special thanks to Chris Lawrence and Herman Hake.

Another year, another round-up. Our main occupations during the first months of 2013 were still Whitney-related, while the summer was spent moving our studio from one location to another. Immediately after that, we were asked to develop the graphic identity of the Oude Kerk – a project we’re currently working on (in the meantime, a website, coded and designed by ourselves, can be found here). We did a LongLunch lecture in Glasgow, continued working on Karina Bisch’s Kiosk-project, started teaching again (at Rietveld Academie and Werkplaats Typografie), and were involved in some smaller projects (e.g., 1, 2, 3). So yeah, that was 2013. On to 2014!

On June 20th, 2013, we’ll be doing a short talk in Glasgow, as part of the LongLunch series. It will take place at The Lighthouse, and starts around 19:00 hrs. More information can be found here. For the occasion, we were also asked to design an A2-sized screenprinted poster, which will be available through LongLunch – a ‘flat’ image of that poster can be seen here:

Looking forward to Glasgow – we’ve never been there, so we’re quite excited. Hope to see some of you there!

Throughout the whole year of 2012, we have been working on the graphic identity of the Whitney Museum. Today (May 21, 2013), this new graphic identity has finally been unveiled on the website of the Whitney. A short movie, in which we introduce the new graphic language, can be seen there. A long, essay-sized background story can be found here.

In short – we have been responsible for the development of the graphic identity, while the actual application of this new language will be taken care of by the in-house design team of the Whitney. Needless to say, we are extremely grateful to have been given this opportunity.

We finally found some time to update (and somewhat redesign) our website. There are still hundreds of items to be filed and archived, but we’re slowly getting there. For this update, we added a couple of old stories (for example Anarchitecture, from 1999), we included a lot of work we did over the years for NAiM / Bureau Europa, we posted some early interviews, and we completed the whole year of 2012.

Later this year, we hope to add another update (if time permits, that is). In the meantime, we hope you’ll enjoy the new features.

Happy to announce the release of EP1 (for which we did the graphic design). EP will be an annual journal/review, published by Sternberg Press, each issue focusing on one particular theme. Volume 1 revolves around the Italian avant-garde of the late ’60s and early ’70s: from Archizoom to Arte Povera to Autonomia Operaia.

In addition to the graphic design, we also wrote a short text for this first issue of EP: ‘Socialism as a Graphic Language’, a brief introduction to the work of Ettore Vitale. Some spreads from EP1 are shown on the Facebook page of Sternberg Press.

2012 turned out to be one of the busiest years we’ve ever experienced: The Printed Book, the Provo exhibition in Brno (and the accompanying catalogue and interview), Playboy Architecture, Ecstatic Alphabets, the SM stamps, the SY shirt, and many other projects (e.g., here, here and here). Above all, we have been working on a large assignment in New York – a project that kept us occupied for most of the year (more news about that later). Our work has been showed in cities like Chicago and LA, and has been acquired by the SFMoMA. Let’s see what 2013 will bring us. In the meantime: Happy New Year to all of you!

Currently on display, until October 28, 2012: Two or Three Things I Know About Provo / The Brno Edition, an exhibition we curated and designed as part of the 25th International Biennial of Graphic Design.

Basically a revised and expanded version of the show we organized last year in Amsterdam, the Brno edition features new items, updated texts and fresh translations. It also includes audio and video, as well as an appendix (curated by Femke Dekker) on the links between Provo and Prague. On the occasion of the exhibition, the Moravian Gallery also published a small catalogue (which can be be ordered This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

We are proud to be part of Ecstatic Alphabets / Heaps of Language, a group exhibition on the subject of language-based art, opening on May 6, 2012, at the Museum of Modern Art, NY (MoMA). The piece included in the show is a reprinted version of Zang Tumb Tumb, a poster that we originally designed in 2003 (we actually proposed another, more site-specific piece, but the curator eventually chose to show ZTT).

More information can be found on ManyStuff.

Taking place right now, at Bijzondere Collecties, Amsterdam: ‘The Printed Book: A Visual History’, a book show for which we did both the exhibition design (see scale model below) and the accompanying printed matter (posters, invitations, leaflets).

The display also includes a video installation by French artist Aurelien Froment, and a series of photographs by Johannes Schwartz. The exhibition runs until May 13, 2012. More information can be found on our Facebook page, and on this Romanian weblog.

Opening next Saturday (17 Dec, 2011) at NAiM / Bureau Europa (Maastricht): ‘The Art of Inhabitation’, an exhibition on the architects Peter and Alison Smithson. Basically a travelling expo (originating at the Design Museum in London), the exhibition itself came already pre-designed. Our role was limited to the design of a basic institutional layer (the title wall, some window lettering) and the usual printed matter: the invitation (A3), posters (A2 and A0) and a very simple, photocopied brochure (A4) containing Dutch translations of all the captions. Here’s a quick snapshot:

Happy to be part of ‘Graphic Design: Now in Production’, a group exhibition curated by Andrew Blauvelt and Ellen Lupton, taking place at Walker Art Center (22 Oct 2011 to 22 Jan 2012) and Cooper-Hewitt (2 June 2012 to 30 Sept 2012). For the show, we designed a series of three posters:

More information on the posters can be found on the Walker weblog.

Happening in Maastricht right now: Re-Action!, a group show taking place at NAiM / Bureau Europa, curated by REcentre, with exhibition architecture by Maurer United. For this project, we designed the signage (in the form of almost 150 overlapping posters), the printed matter (affiches, invitations), the window lettering, etc.

More pics of the exhibition can be found on the weblog of Maurer United.

High Series is a website that archives the ongoing series of publications we’ve been collaborating on, with photographer Johannes Schwartz, for the past 8 years (on and off, obviously). From High Noon (2003) to High Value (2011), and there’s more to come soon.

Website developed by Jonas Lund. Further information on High can be found here.

We recently designed an invitation, as well as a couple of adverts (for Artforum and Kaleidoscope), announcing Vanessa Beecroft’s upcoming performances and exhibitions in Milan and Naples. For these announcements, we created a series of collages similar to those we created for Vanessa’s retrospective in 2007; see VBRS.

Currently, we’re working on some other VB projects as well -– we’ll keep you updated on that.

Opening on Saturday, May 14th, at NAiM / Bureau Europa: ‘Out of Fashion / Maastricht Edition’, a group exhibition on the interaction between fashion and cinema. Since it’s a pre-fabricated, travelling show (originating in Rotterdam), we weren’t responsible for the actual exhibition design. However, we did design the usual printed matter: posters, invitations, announcements and window typography.

Exhibition running from 14 May to 26 June, 2011. More information can be found at the website of NAiM / Bureau Europa.

This news is already a couple of weeks old, but we still thought we should mention it. As a part of Club Céramique (the project that took place between 30.11.2010 and 27.03.2011 at NAiM / Bureau Europa), we designed a local newspaper featuring photography by people such as Johannes Schwartz and Blommers/Schumm. Titled ‘Courant Céramique’, the (bilingual) publication is available at Bureau Europa.
For Club Céramique, we also designed the posters, invitations, announcements and the typography in the exhibition. A picture of one of the posters can be seen here:

Sorry for the radio silence! The last couple of weeks, we have been working hard on Two or Three Things I Know About Provo, an exhibition that will open on February 17 at Amsterdam art space W139.

Basically a small and subjective archive of printed matter, the installation will focus on the role of printer and activist Rob Stolk (1946 – 2001) within the Provo and post-Provo movements. The exhibition will run from February 18 to March 13, 2011. More information can be found here. For recent updates, please check our Facebook page.

Currently on show at the Triennale Design Museum in Milan: a mobile consisting of standard ISO 216 (DIN 476) formats. The posters were selected according to size: the largest poster is twice the size of A0, the smallest poster is A3, and the posters inbetween are A0, A1 and A2.

We installed the mobile on the spot; a picture of that can be seen here. On display at Graphic Design Worlds, running until the end of March, 2011.

FYI, we just designed a t-shirt for a symposium that is taking place at Paradiso, on 18 December 2010.

To be sold during the event as a piece of rock merchandise, the shirt is basically a recreation (or abstraction) of the taped sweater Paul Weller is wearing on the sleeve of The Jam’s ‘This is The Modern World’. The shirt comes with a small fanzine, in which we reflect on the notions of past and future in modernism. Limited edition of 50, numbered and signed. Screenprinted by SMLX, on fair-trade Earth Positive shirts. For enquiries, contact Graphic Design Museum Breda.

Blommers & Schumm are two photographers whose work we really admire, so we were flattered when they asked us to add some typography to the set of portraits they photographed for the 2010 edition of the Children’s Stamps, to be released by the TNT Post Group later this year:

To emphasize the educational theme, we came up with the idea of referring to sums and calculations. For the occasion, we also designed a (yet-to-be-named) typeface, which we plan to launch in the near future. The sheet of stamps can be ordered here. More information can be found here and here.

On the occasion of this year’s London Design Festival, we’re part of ‘Two’s a Pair’, a one-night group exhibition that will take place on 24 September at the V&A. The show will take the shape of a game of Memory, which basically means that every participating artist designed two oversized cards. Our contribution is based on the simple fact that one of our fave US hardcore bands, Hüsker Dü, is named after a Danish/Swedish memory game. Here’s our set of cards:

Coming Saturday (September 11, 2010), the exhibition ‘Panels’ will open at NAiM / Bureau Europa. The show (subtitled ‘An Inquiry into the Spatial, the Sonic and the Public’) will revolve around a site-specific architectural soundscape by Dutch artist Paul Devens. The opening will start at 17:00 hrs.

For this exhibition, we designed the invitation, two posters (A2 and A0), some signage and a simple hand-out. The show will run from 12 September, 2010, to 16 January, 2011, at NAiM / Bureau Europa, Avenue Ceramique 226, Maastricht (NL).

Recently, we were asked by Paradiso to redesign their program poster. The old version of the poster, which we designed in 1996, can be seen elsewhere. The new poster can be seen here.
The new poster will be ‘unveiled’ this Friday (Aug. 27, 2010), on the outside walls of Paradiso. More info will follow on our Facebook page.

We’re currently creating the graphic identity of Moon Life Store, a museum shop that will be part of Moon Life, a travelling group exhibition curated by the artist Alicia Framis. We’re also working on sketches for the architecture of the store. An early scale-model can be seen below:

We'll be off the radar for a couple of weeks. Tomorrow we’re heading to NYC; we’ll be back in the studio mid-April. Why New York? Well, first of all, we’re gonna conduct/deliver a small workshop/lecture at Pratt Institute. Secondly, we have some meetings planned. But other than that, we’re trying to keep it as open as possible. We just want to walk around, go to shows and exhibitions, eat nice vegetarian food, and walk around some more. Free as a bird. If you bump into us in the streets, say hi!

Regarding the lecture, we’re actually planning to do a talk about the use of acronyms in our work; the workshop will be about acronyms as well. The working title is TLA.

(We have to admit, we received very friendly invitations to do some more lectures while in NY, but we politely declined. One lecture is already nerve-racking enough!)

We just came back from Barcelona, where we had a truly amazing time. The reason for our trip was a lecture we were asked to deliver at the MACBA, on the occasion of the DHUB exhibition A New Typeface.

Thanks to Silvia Roses, Laura Meseguer, Ramon Prat, Bartomeu Mari and everybody else involved, for making this event possible. (The above image is a twitpic that we 'borrowed’ from a person called Kaaliss; sorry for that).
If we ever get the time, we will certainly publish a transcript of the lecture on our website; we hope to have a chance to update our online archive later this year.

We were recently asked by Shepley Bulfinch, one of the oldest architecture firms in the US, to design a 22" x 34" poster announcing their 2010 fellowship. For the design, we decided to do something with the Roman numerals ‘MMX’. The poster was printed last week, and will be sent to art schools and design academies all over the US:

Dan Vlahos (from Shepley Bulfinch) just wrote a short text about the poster on the SB weblog. For his article, we sent him with some quick, early, ‘back of the envelope’ ballpoint-pen sketches, to provide some background information about the design process; these sketches can be seen here.

Some assorted news. First of all, in addition to our MySpace page, we now also have a Facebook page. Check it out, and join the group. Secondly, we’ll be in Barcelona this week, to do a lecture at the MACBA; more information can be found here.

And while we’re on the subject of lectures; as some of you might know, we did a lecture in Dublin last year (see our previous post). On the occasion of that event, we were asked by the organizers to design a shirt, to be sold (as merch) during the conference. Shown below the shirt we came up with:

If you’re interested in getting one, you should contact The Small Print, to see if they have any left. Thanks to AB for the photograph!

We could write a couple of things. We could tell you about the lecture we recently did in Dublin (1,2), and the fun times we had over there (3,4). Or show you a photograph of a print we designed months ago for Shelter. We could write about the graphic identity we just completed for NAiM / Bureau Europa. Or about the graphic identity we are currently working on, for Precinct 5. Or about the t-shirt we designed for Stussy. We could remind you of the shirts that were recently reissued by Publik. But we won’t do that. We just want to wish you a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year. All the best for 2010!

Taking place during two weekends in September (Sept 11–13 and Sept 18–20, 2009), Pioneers of Change is a group exhibition organized by Dutch design label Droog, on the occasion of NY400. Inside and around eleven abandoned officers’ houses at Governors Island (NY), an assembly of Dutch product and furniture designers will present a wide variety of projects. For this exhibition, we designed all printed matter (invitations, flyers, brochures, etc.) and the website. We are currently working on the sign system, which we will install at the island ourselves. Hopefully it will turn out okay.

The private opening will take place on September 10. Press releases (PDF) can be downloaded here and here. A program (PDF) can be downloaded here.

The management of the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam have come up with a ludicrous idea: to leave its monumental building, designed by Rietveld in 1967. Visions of continuing growth and the lure of millions of subsidy seem to feed these megalomanic plans. 

The desired new location is an abandoned office-building in “Bos en Lommer”, an area of Amsterdam that is part of a select group of districts known as the most problematic and poorest neighborhoods in The Netherlands. By relocating the Rietveld academy to such a poor district, the reasoning goes, the district will be elevated to a higher standard. It’s a way of reasoning that’s either terribly naive, or really patronizing. Poverty can only be solved by looking at underlying social-economic factors; it cannot be solved by moving an art academy to the “wrong side of town”.

A more logical solution for the lack of space at the current location would be to control the increase of students. The Rietveld should stay a small, high-quality unit, not an anonymous factory of mass education.

Please sign the petition here.

As we write this, it’s May 1st, International Worker’s Day. As graphic designers, we do feel connected with this date: after all, aren’t we the manual labourers of the culture industry? It’s a good day to revisit the text of The Internationale, especially the Dutch translation. This version, written by poet Henriëtte Roland Holst, reads like a modernist design manifesto as it contains the famous lines “Sterft, gij oude vormen en gedachten” (“Die, thou old forms and thoughts”). It’s a sentence that’s on our mind often.
In our opinion, it’s a phrase that should not be taken literally, but spiritually. The Internationale was originally intended to be sung to the tune of La Marseillaise; in the same spirit, we think that old forms are here to be loaded with new meaning, until they burst. We need to make these old forms our own, so that they can become new. The ghost of the past, as an agent of change.

H.R. Holst by M. de Klerk, 1921.

In addition to the lecture we did at the Walker (see earlier post), we also did a small workshop at the MCAD. The theme of our workshop revolved around the phenomenon of the ‘sandwich man’. Photos of the results can be seen here and here (we also received lots of great pics from Tess Steube; we’ll post these later). Thanks to Tom Garrett, Erik Brandt, Kindra Murphy, Jan Jancourt, and all participating students. The photo below is by Erin Nicole Johnson, showing a project by Liz Plahn:

After Minneapolis, we triangulated our flight and spent two hectic days in NYC. We went to some exhibitions, hung out with Daniëlle van Ark, saw Wavves and Vampire Hands at the fabulous Cakeshop, and psych-legends Yahowa 13 at the Knitting Factory. At the Knitting Factory, we actually ran into an old friend: Christelle Gualdi, currently touring the globe as Stellar OM Source. It’s a small world after all.

As we mentioned in a previous post, we recently did a lecture at the Walker Art Center, and we really had an amazing time in Minneapolis. We would like to thank Andrew Blauvelt and the rest of the Walker crew (Lisa, Noa, Chad, Mylinh, Scott, Yasmil) for inviting us and hanging out with us.
The lecture can be found online (via YouTube, Walker channel or i-Tunes), but we don’t know whether we should be happy about that or not; the way we see it, you were either there, or you weren’t. A webcast will never capture an actual lecture. Mumbling and stumbling should be experienced live, not on video. Just our opinion.

And while we’re on the subject of recording lectures: we recently came across this item. To paraphrase The Specials: Why must you record our lectures? / Are you planning a bootleg LP?

We keep warning people that speaking in public is not our strongest point, to put it euphemistically. But still people keep inviting us. We usually say no, but once in a while we are pushed into giving an actual lecture. In short, we will be doing a talk at Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, on Tuesday March 24, 2009. The title of the talk will be ‘Friendly Ghosts’. See the details here.

And while we’re on the topic of Minneapolis, here’s a couple of our fave bands from the Twin Cities: 1, 2, 3.

We are part of a large group exhibition that is currently taking place at the Zuiderzeemuseum. The show is called Gejaagd door de Wind (‘Gone with the Wind’), and our contribution consists of a three-part poster/sound installation. Titled Sirens, our piece is basically a series of three silkscreen prints, accompanied by a soundtrack of songs about the sea. Shown here a photograph of one of the prints as it appears in the show.

A limited edition of 50 sets has been published by the museum store. The set, a plastic tube containing three A1-sized screenprinted posters, comes signed and numbered. For enquiries, contact Laura Snapper at the Zuiderzeemuseum. More images can be seen here.

Gejaagd door de Wind runs from March 22 to November 22, 2009.

We're not the lecturing kind: we dislike speaking in public (read: we’re nervous wrecks), and we are usually so wrapped up in work (read: stressed out) that we seldom find the energy to travel. But once every while, people push us to do a lecture. Last November, we did a lecture in Lima (Peru), together with Linda van Deursen and Paul Elliman, and we had such a good time; thanks to Studio A for putting that tour together. Right after that, we went to Miami, to deliver a toast to Wim Crouwel; thanks to the Wolfsonian for organizing that.

In February 2009, we will be travelling to New Zealand, to give a lecture during TypeShed 11, in Wellington. We dread the idea of doing the actual lecture, but we are psyched to travel to NZ. When around, do check out TypeShed; it promises to be an interesting conference, featuring speakers like David Bennewith and Luke Wood.

And so, in that weird twilight zone between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, we finally managed to launch our updated website. It’s far from finished yet; we still have to describe and photograph tons of work. But at least, we’re halfway there.

So what did we do? First of all, we restructured the whole site; we can now upload items much easier. Secondly, we added some new features: a homepage that randomly picks four items every time it refreshes, a preview mode that shows all the archived items as thumbnails, just to give two examples. Last but not least, we added a lot of new items to the archive.
There are still some technical bugs haunting this site. When viewed on a PC, some images might appear bitmapped. We are trying to solve that right now. [edit: fixed]

The only thing we still have to do is wishing you a happy New Year. To speak with John Lennon, let’s hope it’s a good one, without any fear.

A couple of months ago, we received a phone call from renowned Dutch comedian Theo Maassen, who introduced himself as a “graphic designer who dabbles in comedy”. In short, he asked us for permission to use the ‘dripping Netherlands’ drawing that we originally made in 2003 for the Venice Biennale WATW project. We gave him permission, and Maassen’s posters hit the street last week. So in case you were wondering; we didn’t design these posters, but we did give permission to use the drawing.

Other designers that have used the ‘dripping Netherlands’ drawing include Irma Boom and Harmen Liemburg.

Currently taking place at the NAi Maastricht: ‘Changing Ideals: Re-thinking the House’, an exhibition for which we designed all printed matter (invitations, posters etc.), as well as the graphic installations in the show. Curated by Dirk van den Heuvel and built by EventArchitectuur, the exhibition focuses on eight case studies, including The House of the Future by Alison and Peter Smithson, House VI by Peter Eisenman and the Visser House by Gerrit Rietveld and Aldo van Eijck. The show also features photography by Johannes Schwartz and an installation by Rianne Makking and Jurgen Bey. During the exhibition, copies of High Ideals will be available for free to the public – as long as there are copies left.
The show runs from November 4, 2008, to March 29, 2009. The invitation (front- and backside) can be seen here. More information can be read here. Weblog We Make Money Not Art reviews the show here.