Events
Director: Andreas Siadimas
Script: Christos Goussios
Handset type
Early 1982. The writing system of the Greek language changes from polytonic to monotonic. It is an era when technology starts to be widely introduced in printing at the expense of handset type. The clash of these two different worlds leads the characters of the film to exceed their personal limits and brings about unforeseen developments.
Greek subtitles available.
With an introductory video prepared especially for the 5th ICTVC.
Director and editor: Andrei Severny
Executive producer: Edward Tufte
Inge Druckrey: Teaching to see
This engaging film offers many insights and encapsulates a lifetime of learning and teaching.
Chris Pullman
Inge Druckrey (born 1940, Germany) is a designer and educator, one of the first people who in the 1960s and 1970s brought Swiss school of design to the United States. For over 40 years she taught at Yale University, Rhode Island School of Design, University of Hartford, Philadelphia College of Art, Kunstgewerbeschule in Krefeld, The University of the Arts, Kansas City Art Institute. She is Professor Emerita of Graphic Design, University of the Arts.
Viktor Koen holds a BFA from the Bezalel Academy of Arts & Design in Jerusalem, Israel and an MFA with honors from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Mr. Koen serves on the faculty of the MFA Illustration program and the BFA Graphic Design Department at SVA. He is a regular contributor to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Nature magazine, his client list includes Penguin Books, Random House, Doubleday, Simon & Schuster, Harper Collins, Rizzoli, Houghton Mifflin, Time, Newsweek, Esquire, The Economist, The Atlantic, National Geographic, Rolling Stone, Wired, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, Reader’s Digest, New York, Man’s Journal, Bloomberg, Fortune, Money, Forbes, Smart Money, Nation, The Village Voice, Mother Jones, BusinessWeek, Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Atlantic Records, Roadrunner Records, Virgin, the BBC, Delta Airlines, IBM and Merrill Lynch. His award winning prints are exhibited in galleries and museums in the United States, Europe, Japan and Australia and are part of private and institutional collections. Mr. Koen’s work is regularly featured in books and publications worldwide.
: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhruAkiBO5E
Letters From Underground
Steven Heller calls SVA Subway posters “the jewel in the crown for any designer or illustrator”, I call them “a full circle”. After all, it was one of these posters that got me to the School of Visual Arts and New York, couple of decades ago (“why be good when you can be great” that poster said). Circular was also the fact that these posters would be art directed by Steven himself, years after our New York Times Book Review days.
The pantheon of people that created such posters in the past includes communication arts legends such Milton Glaser, Paul Davis, Tony Palladino, Louise Fili, James Victore, Stefan Sagmeister, Gail Anderson, James McMullan, Paula Scher, Henry Wolf and Stephen Kroninger, just to name a few. The project adorns over 400 subway platforms around New York City for months.
Designing the posters and finishing 26 illustrations that compile a full alphabet was smooth but intense, since the time between concept approvals and finishes was short. But “short” is something I know well and after sending mechanicals to press, there was nothing left to do but wait at a subway station for my posters to come in. Steve’s idea was simple but brilliant - the messenger is the message. These posters utilized one of the most important advantages illustrated type has to offer, wearing its own message (or better, having the message impeded in its DNA), no matter what it spells. This virtue gives the ability to communicate complex concepts in a clear and direct way. Here, letters fused out of art making utensils. I photographed everything I had from the good old days, including the content of boxes that haven’t been opened for decades but also in secret photo shoots at art supply stores and tools that SVA students at the MFA illustration program were kind enough to part with.
Seeing them everywhere (yes, I got excited every time, especially when catching people scrutinizing them up close), I also appreciated their cleanliness, compared to the underground environment were they lived. Contrary to the graphic language that dominates the stations, they provide a brake with their quiet complexity and brightness. A simple line that drove a complicated message to its commuting audience “change your life by making art part of your vocabulary, one letter at a time”.
To view the animated companion to these posters log on to http://vimeo.com/40158600
Against Lethe...
a mail art project by Les Yper Yper for the 5th ICTVC
http://lesyperyper-mailart.tumblr.com/
EXHIBITION: All works will be exhibited a) in Nicosia, Cyprus, as part of the 5th ICTVC, b) at the Les Yper Yper gallery, in Thessaloniki, Greece, and c) at the Margaris Foundation Gallery in Amfilochia, Greece, starting in May 2013. The exhibition might also be held in other cities in Cyprus, Greece, and in places abroad.
Against Lethe
a mail art project by Les Yper Yper for the 5th ICTVC, Nicosia, Cyprus, 4-12 June 2013.
http://lesyperyper-mailart.tumblr.com/
Call for submissions
In the framework of the 5th ICTVC, Les Yper Yper invite creative people from all over the world to submit ORIGINAL mail artwork relevant to the conference theme Against lethe.
Social, economic, political, cultural, and environmental issues that affect us all demand a new way of thinking. However, as we look forward we should not forget the lessons of the past. What has been the role of visual language against forgetting till now and what may happen in the future?
ICTVC is established worldwide as a major event that explores the world of typography and visual communication. Since its inception in 2002, people from diverse fields and different disciplines with a passion for visual language research, education and practice, contribute to the conference.
ICTVC attracts speakers and delegates on an international scale, and from a wide range of disciplines related to typography and design. The high quality of presentations is a hallmark of the conference.
Les Yper Yper is a physical/conceptual habitat populated by a group of creatives active in the full range of visual/sonic arts, practice and applications. Parallel to its main activities, Les Yper Yper is hosting exhibitions, events, screenings, installations as well as seminars and workshops. It is located in downtown Thessaloniki, Greece, and its doors are open to the public.
TECHNIQUE: Free.
All techniques may be employed, provided that the holders are able to be mailed (printmaking, rubber stamps, postcards, art stamps, visual poetry, stickers, collage, poetry, textile, photo, painting, original drawing, mixed media, or a short story created by you...).
The address, stamp and postmark must always be applied directly onto the work.
FORMAT: free
All works received shall be submitted to a selection process by a jury composed of ICTVC and LYY members.
No prizes will be awarded; however, the ten highest ranking submissions by students will qualify for free tickets to the full ICTVC schedule in June (workshops, events and the main conference). Successful entrants shall be notified via e-mail.
- The works submitted will not be returned and become the collection of the Les Yper Yper archive.
- No work will be for sale but may be exhibited from time to time in public galleries to promote cultural awareness.
- You may submit a maximum of 2 works.
- Participants should provide their full name, address, nationality, email, and website, if available.
EXHIBITION: All works will be exhibited a) in Nicosia, Cyprus, as part of the 5th ICTVC, b) at the Les Yper Yper gallery, in Thessaloniki, Greece, and c) at the Margaris Foundation Gallery in Amfilochia, Greece, starting in May 2013. The exhibition might also be held in other cities in Cyprus, Greece, and in places abroad.
DOCUMENTATION: To all participants.
The organization will produce a publication with all mail art received and a participants’ list.
Moreover, an online gallery will be conceived for the project and the exact location will be announced at a later stage.
Documentation will include your complete name and the colour reproduction of at least one of your works.
All participants must agree to the reproduction of their work in printed brochures or other material produced for educational purposes.
All entries must be submitted through the Post Office.
To facilitate the online gallery publication, please send by e-mail an image of the work (high quality, 300dpi jpeg) as well as of the envelope and/or the shipping package in case they constitute part of the artwork, to: mailart@ictvc.org
The printed version will be sent selectively to various libraries, institutes, galleries and the pdf version will be available on the internet for free.
Info
DEADLINE for submission of works: 15 May 2013
Submissions to:
Les Yper Yper
Georgiou Stavrou 4
54623 Thessaloniki, Greece
+30 2310 269.587
Les Yper Yper, 5th ICTVC, MARGARIS FOUNDATION
ICTVC EXHIBITIONS | Curated and planned by Evi Tselika & Maria Stavride | texts by Evi Tselika
Against lethe…
International Conference on Typography and Visual Communication Conference Exhibition 2013
At such a time the souls become thirsty and go
To the crystal fountain of forgetfulness
But the water will be darkened by quicksand,
May a tear be shed wherever they wish.
And if they drink murky water they remember again,
Going through asphodel meadows,
Past aches, which have been asleep within them…
Lethe. Lorentzos Mavilis, 1860–1912
The ICTVC Conference is established worldwide as a major event that explores the world of typography and visual communication. Since its inception in 2002, people from diverse fields and different disciplines with a passion for visual language research, education, and practice contribute to the conference.
This time the conference theme is "Αgainst lethe...", against forgetfulness, and the site where the exhibition will be held reflects this as it reminds us the history of the typographic communication of the island. Social, economic, political, cultural, and environmental issues that affect us all demand a new way of thinking. However, as we look forward we should not forget the lessons of the past. In discussing the structures of remembrance and how these have shaped and defined visual communication, the concept of remembering and forgetting and the fluid nature of memory becomes highlighted.
ICTVC 2013 is organizing the "Against lethe..." exhibition in collaboration with the newspaper "Politis". The exhibition will be held at the “politis” premises which use to house one of the most historic printing houses of the island, that of the Zavalis Brothers. In this space that provides us a glimpse of the past a series of contemporary works of visual/graphic communication will be presented, reminding us that the past formulates the present and that the present transforms the culture of tomorrow. The works on display remind us how important it is to explore and understand the use of visual design as a means to communicate both on the local but also on the global scale. The site and the art works create inevitable questions as to what has been the role of visual language against forgetting till now and what may happen in the future.
Works exhibited include:
Viktor Koen's ArtPhabet
Artist and designer Viktor Koen, who is considered one of the most important contemporary illustrators, presents one of his illustrated alphabets within this historic site for the printed material in Cyprus. A series of 26 poster illustrations is displayed which compiles a full alphabet, the letters built through a fusion of photographic images of art making utensils. Through the use of photographs Koen builds the Artphabet using the art tools themselves as the basis for the construction of the 26 letters. The illustrated graphic language of the Artphabet communicates complex concepts in a clear and direct way. The Artphabet has been previously exhibited in the New York Underground as part of the project of the School of Visual Arts New York, Subway Posters, with the title The ABCs of SVA: Art, Business, Culture.
Against lethe… Mail Art
Les Yper Yper, based in Thesaloniki, invited creative people from all over the world to submit original mail artwork relevant to the conference theme "Against lethe…". Mail Art (Postal/ Correspondence Art) is an artistic movement that concentrates on the use of the postal service to send small scale artworks. With roots in the Fluxus movement of the 1950s and 1960s, it has spread widely on a global scale. Inspired by the concept of the conference that goes against forgetting this mail art exhibit will showcase works by multiple authors.
Raw
"Raw" by Aliki Chiotaki is a video that describes the printing process of a newspaper through a rhythmic repetition of moving image and sound. The images of the machines in the video and the absence of the human figure create the sensation of an organic situation where the raw material of the paper, is subjected to a series of transformations until it can finally take its final form. The footage was captured in the printing house where the newspaper "News of Chania" is printed.
Artist Film by Rebecca Thomas
The ICTVC against lethe tavern...
Details will be announced during the Conference.