Thursday, May 22, 2008

Daley's "Nowhere" To Host First International Poster Biennial in U.S.

If you're a graphic designer, I'm sure you already know about this, but just in case you don't, you still have until next Tuesday, May 27th, to enter your work in the first Chicago International Poster Biennial. According to Co-Directors Lance Rutter and Yann Legendre -
While Chicago is well known for its architecture, theatre, fine art, public landscaping, and music scenes, there is a significant lack of applied visual arts in public spaces. By focusing on making this exhibition an outdoor one, we hope to accomplish two important objectives. First, we want posters to be realized as the quintessential public art form, because they engage citizens at street level, requiring an emotional and intellectual response. They also stimulate dialogue and articulation of important issues—social, political, and economic. Secondly, we want to help the City of Chicago craft its international reputation as a proponent of international cooperation and communication—and as a strong civic advocate of design.
International poster biennials have been held worldwide from Warsaw to Helsinki, Hangzhou to Tehran, but this is the first event of its kind to be held in the United States.

You can find the rules for the competition here. President of the jury will be the legendary John Massey. Other international heavyweights among the jury members are France's Michel Bouvet, Japan's Shigeo Fukuda, Israel's Yossi Lemel, and Mexico's German Montalvo. You can see a sampling of the striking, often dazzling work of the jury members, including the poster, shown to the left, by Chicago's Jay Ryan, here.

An opening night reception for members of the jury will be held at Mies van der Rohe's Crown Hall at IIT on Saturday June 7th from 6:00 to 9:00 P.M. It's free for Biennial members, with a suggested donation of $20.00 for non-members. Space is said to be limited. RSVP to Aude Charmetant at 312/494.5250 or email to: aude@legendrerutter.com. An exhibition of jury members' work will be open to the public from June 8 through the 10th, 10 A.M. to 3:00 P.M.
Then, beginning September 15th and running through October 15th, Daley Bicentennial Plaza, the park that Mayor Richard M. Daley dismisses as "nowhere" in his quest to to force a new Chicago Children's Museum into it, will be home to what organizers say will be a "one-of-a-kind outdoor exhibition" of posters, the "art of the streets." The cylinders you see here are said to take their "aesthetic cue from the poster columns of Europe." Unlike the Children's Museum, the exhibition will be free of charge, and "demonstrate that art and culture are not reserved only for patrons of museums and galleries."

It looks to be a hell of a show. Preview it here.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow Lynn ... and imagine how many more thousands of people would enjoy this exhibition if the Children's Museum were in the park.

Oh and disclaimer: my boyfriend works for someone who knows someome who may have gone to the museum once.

Lynn Becker said...

Julia,

The Biennial will have the common courtesy to clean up and leave when they leave. The Museum would be the guest from hell, plopping down a matrix of convoluted ramps and never leaving.

And no, Howard Rosenburg isn't a friend of a friend of a friend. He's the husband of a Children's Museum employee and, until last month, a principal attorney at the Museum's law firm. If you can't see the difference, you need to stop drinking the kool-aid.

Anonymous said...

The guest from hell that brings the best hostess gift I have ever heard of ... a new zillion dollar field house (and a great museum to boot).

As for Howard Rosenberg -- who the hell cares who he is. Do you think all of my neighbors on Randolph who have been writing letters have given their address so we know their affiliation?

And why not acknowlege that Mr. Rosenberg is correct in bringing up the deceipt that the locals have perpetrated? Is the banner on the save grant park website the area where the museum will be built. NO.

Lynn Becker said...

"who the hell cares who he is?" Well, let's put it this way. If Mr.Rosenburg concealed his vested interests in his professional practice like he does when he shills for the Museum, he'd be subject to, depending on the specific circumstances, ABA sanction, disbarment, or perhaps even criminal prosecution.

Disgorging little kids from buses on exhaust filled lower Randolph into a below grade museum built out of a parking garage is "Yummy" the same way a Hostess Twinkie is "Yummy," and equally devoid of real nutrition. And as much as I may crave an occasional Twinkie, it doesn't follow that I want them taking over my front lawn.

Anonymous said...

Oh who cares anymore I really wish they would just open a DSW Shoe Warehouse and a Baja Fresh. It would fill that gross void and be a place people actually wanted to go. Its kind of too bad that they already relocated the Pacific Garden Mission.

Anonymous said...

sounds great, looking forward to it..................