Each student group will create one tabletop show to exhibit in the Graphic Design Gallery. This show will draw from Letterform Archive’s vast graphic design collection, and be aided by conversations with LFA’s librarians Amelia Grounds and Kate Goad.

These exhibitions must be in dialog with the rest of the course’s content – they can respond directly to the designer your group is working with, or to the broader subject matter of the exhibition series. Your show’s topic is open – however, you must be able to articulate how your show fits into the larger framework of the course.

How does the tabletop format privilege certain objects, and viewing experiences? How does LFA’s collection, which is largely codex and posters, limit or enable certain ways of viewing and interaction? For instance, if you’re exhibiting rare books, would you make facsimiles so people can view them beyond one spread under glass? If your objects can’t fit in the vitrine format, how can the show represent and extend itself beyond the display case?

When thinking in relation to the courses content, how do objects become a dialog? Do they reinforce, or oppose a worldview? Can they extend today’s moment back in time and draw historical connections, or can they pose questions that project a specific future?

Challenge yourself to leverage these constraints in order to make something rich, unexpected, and engaging. A successful show will be rigorous and novel conceptually, and graphically. In addition to creating the show, you will also need to define its graphic identity, provide context to the objects through labels and a mission statement, and promote it to the CCA community.

The gallery space will be located in the NW corner of the Graphic Design Studio. Working with Mike Scaringe and Ivan Chen, we’ll define and establish the space via graphic identity and physical installation. This will take the shape of a vitrine, signage, graphic ephemera, and a website.

The vitrine measures 30” ✕ 48”, and will have a lockable plexi-glass top to store valuable objects. We’ll have graphic control over the adjacent walls, and can use the wall opposite the Graphic Design Studio (all the way across the Nave hallway) to promote the shows inside the studio.

By promoting your shows, and raising the gallery’s awareness, you will add to the culture of liveliness of CCA Graphic Design. A successful outcome of this project will be the establishment and activation of the gallery space for years to come.

Schedule

Each group will be responsible for the following:

1. One tabletop exhibition consisting of 2 or more objects
2. Label text for each object
3. A mission statement installed in the gallery space
4. 11 ✕ 17 inch takeaway describing the show
5. 11 ✕ 17 inch poster promoting the show

While there are 5 deliverables per show, some deliverables can perform multiple functions. For instance, your takeaway can act as your promotional poster and wall text, in addition to a memento of the exhibition. However, these decisions should be in service of making the show as compelling as possible.

Schedule