Documentation: July 2012

Wednesday 18 July 2012

'Thursday 10.00 Tate Britain‏' (posted on 18/7/12)

Camberwell College of Arts' MA Graphics students Dylan (left) and Nikos (right)

at Sketch's toilets. Photo by N. Georgopoulos

Last Thursday (12/7) we did a very interesting full day Gallery tour in London starting from Tate Britain at 10.00 in the morning as part of our final show research and planning. The tour included: Patrick Keiler's exhibition at Tate Britain; Bruce Nauman's sound installation at the ICA; a retrospective by Jenny Holger; a stencil by Banksy painted on an alley; a visit at a sort of conceptual restaurant called Sketch (photograph). The second half of the itinerary was spent at Antony Pearce's studio (fellow student at Camberwell) as well as visiting 2 exhibitions held at Victoria Miro.

Personally, I was much more interested in the environments within which the exhibitions were carried out rather than the exhibitions themselves. In particular, I was mesmerized by Victoria Miro both interior as well as exterior space. What is more, the most impressive thing was Sketch's futuristic Clockwork orange-inspired toilets (photo). Having said that though, I have to say that I was highly intrigued by Patrick Keiler's sort of 'weird' concept for his exhibition, which was about displaying his own work in conjunction with other pieces from the Tate collection. An endeavour that approached narrative in a very interesting way -I think.

Nikos Georgopoulos,
London,
July 12

Saturday 14 July 2012

'Studio culture' at the Design Museum. (posted on 14/7/12)

Unit Editions: 'Studio Culture', Design Museum, London, 2012. Spin design studio (Patricia Finegan & Tony Brook) interviewed by Adrian Shaughnessy (left). Photo by N. Georgopoulos.

Last Friday I attended Unit editions' Studio Culture book re-launch at London's Design Museum as part of its ongoing series Design Museum Takeover. Unit Editions, an independent publishing company, has been brought into life when Tony Brook (Spin) and Andrian Shaughnessy (Graphic Design on the radio) joined forces with the intention to produce research papers and affordable books about Graphic Design and Visual culture.

The event was called Studio Culture and it was about ''the secret life of Graphic Design Studios''. Five London based studios were invited to chat with and answer questions put by Andrian Shaughnessy and the public in relation to the culture they cultivate amongst their work spaces, etc as well as on current design and sociopolitical issues. Brook pointed out at the beginning of the afternoon that ''.. this event is only going to work if you make lots of intimate questions to the designers; cause quite frankly, you ain't gonna get this chance again for a long time''. During the event Unit Editions' book Studio Culture was available for purchase via the Design Museum shop in half price.

In my view, the event was fantastic. Not only it did work very well in conjunction to the theme of the book and therefore, it worked very good as a promotional scheme, but it also gave the chance to the attendees (design students, graduates, recent graduates and so on) to chat and get to know some of the most successful and world acclaimed European graphic designers. So, massive thanks to Unit Editions as well as to the Design Museum which usually, is not even affordable -sorry, but you got to tell it like it is.

Nikos Georgopoulos
London,
July 12

Friday 13 July 2012

Metahaven, 'Signal (Murcia)', installation, 2010. (posted on 13/7/12)

Metahaven, 'Signal Murcia', installation at the former Post Office, Murcia
(ACAF), Manifesta 8, 2010. Original photo by Ilya Rabinovich. Print screen.

Metahaven is a studio ''for design and research'' based in Amsterdam. Founded in 2007 by Vinca Kruk and Daniel van der Velden, their work -both commissioned and self-directed- focuses on identity while reflecting political and social issues through its provocative graphic design schemes. Amongst the studio's research projects are the Sealand Identity Project as well as the celebrated Uncorporate Identity (Lars Müller, 2010), a self-initiated book on politics and visual identity.

In 2010, Metahaven were invited to participate in Manifesta 8, Murcia, Spain. Perhaps, in order to gain a deeper understanding of the concept that Metahaven came up with for their Manifesta project we should take into consideration that Murcia is a very important region for the European fruit and vegetable market. Having said that though, some of the production -eg. lemons- has moved to Northern Africa or even to other places outside Europe. The issue of Manifesta 8 was suggestively titled to be “in dialogue with Northern Africa.”

Through an interview taken by the Highlights, an online art journal, Metahaven observe that ''... fruit has an origin. From that origin it travels in a network, between nodes of distribution, until it ends up at the place where it is eaten.''[1] The designers came up with a fruit-market installation -with fresh fruit provided by a cooperative of organic farmers who run a self-managed business, exporting throughout Spain and to some other European countries. As a project, Signal (Murcia) is considered to be an alternative labeling system for the fruits; one that is based less on the characteristics of the product but more on the sociopolitical situation of the place they have been produced at. Through the same interview, Metahaven pointed out that they ''.. love fruit labels as devices that contain information, ideas, and dreams... Unlike packaging, fruit labels do not overshadow the product. Often, all they do is convey the origin or name of the fruit, as well as a certain atmosphere... ''.[2]

To sum up, Kruk and van der Velden ''.. are interested to voluntarily approach the constraints of commissioned design, while operating in an art context...''.[3] And I suppose that by now, the seemingly weird title -Signal (Murcia)- just started to make some sense.

Metahaven, 'Signal Murcia', installation at the former Post Office, Murcia
(ACAF), Manifesta 8, 2010. Original photo by Ilya Rabinovich. Print screen.

Notes:
1, 2, 3. The Highlights.org ‘Interview with Metahaven’
< http://thehighlights.org/wp/interview-with-metahaven> [Accessed on 25.07.12]

Nikos Georgopoulos
London,
July 12

Tuesday 10 July 2012

'Bauhaus: Art as Life', Barbican Art Gallery (posted on 10/7/12)

Print screen

A couple of weeks ago I visited the celebrated Bauhaus: Art as Life exhibition at the Barbican Art Gallery. As the name might state the obvious, the whole exhibition was about the Bauhaus movement; a movement that what we call design is rooted there.

The show was massive -and perhaps too much, as it presents Bauhaus from its very first endeavors in form and color followed by furniture, catalogues, sculptures, architecture and so on, up to the last photograph that was shot in the school's canteen the day that it became past. In conclusion, it was a very well curated show, very large and multi disciplinary ranging from linoleums and typography to furniture and photography. It's not that the informed viewer will see something new, but perhaps they will be able to observe a sequence of evolution that was trigured and gradually shaped contemporary visual culture. The exhibition will be on public display until August 12th, 2012.

Nikos Georgopoulos
London,
July 12

MA Symposium No2 (posted on 10/7/12)

Photo by N. Georgopoulos

There is something about presenting your work which is exciting. For me, presenting my work is simmilar to a gig -you go on stage and you perform live! You give your best performance in order to communicate as good as you have imagined.

Towards the end of June of 2012, every student from MA Graphics (including the author) gave a 10 minutes presentation about their work followed by another 10 minutes Q&A at the Ceramics lecture theatre at Camberwell College of Arts. Overall, it went very good. As far as concerns me as a researcher/designer at Camberwell, it was exciting and surely something I needed to do because I had just finished the first part of my project (June 14, 2012) and felt the need to present it as a whole, as a sequence -because that was the way I had conceived it.

My father always tells me that apart from the apparent benefits that one gains when presenting their work, the real and most essential value they get out of their presentation is that of the preparation.

Nikos Georgopoulos,
London,
July 12

Camberwell College of Arts summer show (posted on 10/7/12)

Photo by N. Georgopoulos

Congradulations to all of the Camberwell College of Arts' BA students who exhibited their work on the 16th of June at the 2012 summer show. I tryed to see most of the work but couldn't due to hardcore MA work. From what I saw though, I felt really proud to be part of this famous London-based academic institution. BA Photography, BA Sculpture and BA Illustration had some absolutely mesmerizing projects! Well done!

Nikos Georgopoulos,
London,
July 12

Damon Albarn & Rufus Norris, 'Dr. Dee', opera (posted on 10/7/12)

Damon Albarn at a rehearsal for 'Doctor Dee'. Photo by Jonny Donovan. Print screen.

British Design 1948-2012, V&A (posted on 10/7/12)

Print screen

Saturday 7 July 2012

Research Project, 'June 14, 2012', web site (posted on 7/7/12)

'June 14, 2012', home page. Web Site.

This website was designed in order to host the Identity pictures that the participants of the Installation took inside the photo booth. Since printing the pictures instantly during the event was not an eligible thing to do -from a budget perspective- I designed a website where people could visit so as to download their pictures instead of posting them on a Facebook event page or on Flickr -something that could destruct them from the project to some degree or another.

On that basis, I applied the same sort of design approach with the intention to create a consistent identity for the whole project. What is more, designing a bespoke space for an event in order to 'place' the photographs that were taken during its context, is something that provides to the participants a reassurance that their pictures are not distributed irresponsibly around the web nor they are posted to a free, and therefore dodgy platform.

'June 14, 2012', photographs. Web Site.

'June 14, 2012', Web Site. Design specifications.

Art Direction & Design: Nikos Georgopoulos
Coding: Thodoris Tsiorkas
URL: http://14-6-12.com

Nikos Georgopoulos
London,
June 2012

Research Project, 'June 14, 2012', participatory installation (posted on 7/7/12)

'June 14, 2012', participatory installation. Photo by N. Georgopoulos.

My research project at Camberwell College of Arts is an enquiry into the concept of self-awareness -a state that one can gradually acquire through a journey of self-exploration. More specifically, the aim of this research is about communicating as well as exploring how such a concept translates into real life.

After a lot of research and tests, I came up with the idea to communicate a particular state (destination) through a synthesis (journey). On the basis that self-awareness presupposes experience, the project culminated on June 14th, 2012, into an interactive installation of the same name, consisting of a ready-made bookshelf (containing objects-symbols) and of a photo booth (mixed media) -symbolising respectively the concept of (our) background and that of identity. People were invited to choose an object from the bookshelf that they could identify as a point of reference to who they are; and to take an identity photograph with that object by using the photo booth –essentially communicating that; in real life, people ‘acquire’ their identity by becoming aware of themselves.

The id photographs as well as the interviews of the participants regarding their choice of object will be included into a year book-like catalogue which I am currently designing and will display at the Final show in September.