Events
DON’T MISS
28 November – 1 June 2025
Electric Dreams: Art and Technology Before the Internet
This exhibition will celebrate the early innovators of optical, kinetic, programmed and digital art, who pioneered a new era of immersive sensory installations and automatically-generated works. Electric Dreams will offer visitors a rare chance to experience incredible works of vintage tech art in action - from psychedelic environments created in the 1950s and 60s, to early machine-made art from the 70s and 80s, which has paved the way for today’s experiments with AI. Bringing together an international network of artists who used machines and algorithms to create mesmerising and mind-bending art between the 1950s and early 1990s, the exhibition will show how these groundbreaking figures imagined a visual language for the future.
Admission: General £22, concessions available
Tate Modern, Bankside, London SE1 9TG
28 November – 5 December 2024
International Assembly Conference
An unmissable all-day design and creative conference with some of the most exciting thinkers, makers and movers in design, branding, illustration, animation, art, advertising and beyond. The International Assembly Conference has an incredible line up of speakers including Marina Willer from Pentagram (see Eye 99), Mitch Paone from DIA (see Eye 104), Angela Kirkwood, Eric Hu, Metahaven (see Eye 71), Joseph Lebus from PORTO ROCHA, and Liza Enebeis from Studio Dumbar/DEPT® (see Eye 100 and 104).
Tickets starting at £326. See event site for more info.
Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, Scotland
to 3 December 2024
Here & Now: Xi’An International Design Invitation Exhibition
An exhibition at Xi’an Art Museum bringing together an overview of Eye magazine (Simon Esterson and John L. Walters) together with work by MuirMcNeil, Benny Au, Han Jiaying, Jiang Hua, Masayoshi Kodaira, Mann Lau and Nono Leung. Through the interactive exchange of Eastern and Western characters, this exhibition reflects the culture and national self-confidence of different regions through the organic interweaving of forms and concepts, the integration of historical and modern, Eastern and Western design concepts, showing the diversity, commonality and openness of Eastern and Western design.
Xi’an Art Museum
Curator: Han Jiaying; Visual Design&Execution: HAN D LAB
Organized by Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts, and co-organized by the School of Design and Art of Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts, the Research Center for Chinese Traditional Symbol Design and Xi'an Art Museum.
29 November 2024
TypEd: Defining Visual Narratives with Type
Workshop with Astrid Stavro
Using typography to create engaging editorial design, this workshop offers a unique opportunity to combine literary wit with visual storytelling. Join Astrid Stavro (See Eye) in an immersive journey of discovery inspired by Ambrose Bierce’s timeless satirical work, The Devil’s Dictionary. Through a combination of lectures, hands-on exercises, individual and group discussions, participants will gain insight into editorial design principles while honing their skills in crafting compelling visual narratives.
Time: 2:00pm-7:00pm, Tickets: £200, £175 (Friends), £125 (Students)
St Bride Foundation, 14 Bride Lane, Fleet Street, London EC4Y 8EQ
to 30 November 2024
Gregory Halpern: King, Queen, Knave
King, Queen, Knave is a new solo exhibition of works by American photographer Gregory Halpern. It presents 21 photographs from Halpern’s latest body of work, which he photographed over the past two decades, mostly in and around his hometown of Buffalo, New York. The series extends beyond a portrait of place, celebrating the poetic idiosyncrasies of everyday life.
Admission is free. / Hours: Monday to Friday 10:00am - 5:30pm, Saturdays 1:30pm - 5:30pm.
Huxley-Parlour, 3–5 Swallow Street, London W1B 4DE
Photo © Gregory Halpern, image courtesy Huxley-Parlour.
to 30 November 2024
The London Underground map: evolution of a design icon
‘Mapping the Tube: 1863-2023’ explores the evolution of London’s Tube system and the iconic London Underground map over 160 years. The exhibition offers a rare opportunity to see and purchase hand-drawn and annotated manuscripts by Harry Beck on the 50th anniversary of his death. Beck's 1933 pocket map influenced the design of transport maps worldwide, and is an instantly recognisable design icon.
The exhibition will include the most significant collection of Beck manuscripts ever offered for sale, some gifted by Beck to his friend and biographer Ken Garland. Highlights include: a one-of-a-kind draft copy of Harry Beck’s first Underground map, annotated by Beck and his predecessor Fred Stingemore, which highlights some of the tricky design questions he had to overcome, such as whether to use the official name of 'Willesden Junction (New Station)' or stick with a simplified 'Willesden Junction'; the resulting exceedingly rare first Edition Underground poster map (1933), of which only five copies of the original 2000 are known; and a unique, unfinished sketch from 1950 drawn in coloured pencil showing a proposed new layout for the District Line branch to Richmond.
Mon to Fri: 10:30am to 6pm. Saturday: 10:30am to 5pm
The Map House, 54 Beauchamp Place, London SW3 1NY
to 30 November 2024
This group exhibition on displacement, with twenty-two international artists, includes experiences, perspectives, and diverse approaches to methodologies and philosophies of displacement that go beyond familiar paradigms. The curatorial team of Maria Korolkova, Margarita Osepyan, and Kate Umnova, say, ‘With Critical Shifts we propose to go beyond the fractures and dislocations into the possibilities of the new, when the shifted and the displaced is celebrated in its creativity and acknowledged as the new constant.’
Admission is free. Hours: Tuesday - Saturday 10am-6pm.
Barın Han, Binbirdirek, Boyacı Ahmet Sk. No:4, 34122 Fatih/İstanbul
CURRENTLY ON
to 1 December 2024
Collection Insights: Seven Perspectives
An exhibition exploring seven views on organising a collection. The seven perspectives have to do with analogue and digital design methods, virtual objects and provenance research, key figures in the history of Swiss graphic design and design in the public space. Taking these as its starting point, Collection Insights will examine selected objects in the collection from different angles and explore how the museum’s collecting, exhibiting, and educational activities are interconnected.
Admission: 12CHF / 8CHF
Museum für Gestaltung, Ausstellungsstrasse 60, 8005 Zurich
to 6 December 2024
A Life Passing By: John Haynes
From photographs of Northern England in the early 1970s, to his renowned theatre and Samuel Beckett photography, to images of James Baldwin, and Paula Rego in her studio, this is a comprehensive exhibition of John Haynes’s work.
By appointment only and in a series of private views. To view the exhibition, please contact [email protected].
3 Avenue Studios, Sydney Close, London SW3 6HW
to 7 December 2024
Women’s Rights Are Human Rights
International Posters on Gender-based Inequality, Violence, and Discrimination.
Center for the Arts Gallery at Towson University, Towson, Maryland MD 21204, US
A parallel exhibition is also taking place in Tshwane University, Pretoria, South Africa
to 10 December 2024
An exhibition featuring Sir Michael Craig-Martin RA fills the Main Galleries at this retrospective of his 60-year career. A key figure in British art, Michael Craig-Martin is one of the most influential artists and teachers of his generation. Since coming to prominence in the late 1960s he has moved between sculpture, installation, painting, drawing, prints and digital works, creating a body of work that has fused elements from Pop, minimalism and conceptual art. This will be the largest and most comprehensive exhibition of Craig-Martin's work ever held in the UK.
See also ‘Olympic Deliverance’.
Admission: £22-£24.50 / Hours: Tuesday - Sunday 10am-6pm, Friday 10am-9pm
Royal Academy of Art, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BD
Photo caption: Untitled (painting), 2010, Acrylic on aluminium. 200 x 350 cm. Courtesy Gagosian. © Michael Craig Martin. Photo: Dave Morgan. Image courtesy Gagosian.
to 10 December 2024
Global Writing Systems: A Typographic Survey (Part 1)
with Kamal Mansour
Typographic text is found nearly everywhere in the world. What was once written by hand, now appears in typographic garb. Written forms took centuries to develop. Because of their prevalence, we’ve grown accustomed to them. Around the globe, various writing systems have adapted in distinct ways to the constraints of typography. Each one has a story to tell.
Join us for a series of lectures as we explore the typographic stories of some of the most often encountered global writing systems: Latin, Perso-Arabic, Devanagari, Japanese & Chinese, Thai & Burmese. Which languages do they serve? How did they come to take their various forms? What is the logic behind each one? The final lecture will focus on the role of Unicode & OpenType in enabling digital devices to display text in many languages and scripts.
On Tuesdays, 6:30–9:30pm EST, online
Price: $350
Type at Cooper, 30 Cooper Square, New York, NY 10003
See ‘Beyond Latin’ in Eye 90.
to 11 December 2024
Advanced Type Design: Open Studio
with Petr van Blokland
This ten-session course addresses all the necessary aspects that are type designers need to shape their practice. Even in projects where the designers work in a team with a well defined separation between disciplines, it still is extremely valuable to be able to communicate beyond these boundaries.
The source built on a series of short but complete projects, that result in a working Variable Font. Each lesson will shift focus to different aspects, such as the drawing tools, interpolation, design spaces, spacing, kerning, OpenType features, proofing, planning and QA, to name a few in arbitrary order.
On Wednesdays, 5:30–8:00pm EST, online
Price: $975
Type at Cooper, 30 Cooper Square, New York, NY 10003
See 'The digital wave' in Eye 7.
to 19 December 2024
Principles of Typeface Design: Essentials and Techniques
with Gen Ramírez
This course, with ten total sessions, provides a comprehensive overview of the essential elements and methodologies involved in designing typefaces. It is suitable for beginners with a basic understanding of Bézier drawing tools, as well as designers looking to improve their type design skills.
On Thursdays, 6:30–9:30pm EST, online
Price: $1170
Type at Cooper, 30 Cooper Square, New York, NY 10003
to 22 December 2024
80 Studios presents The Vinyl Factory — Reverb, a major multimedia exhibition exploring the intersection of art and sound. In the largest show of its kind, The Vinyl Factory brings together over 100 artists and musicians – working across mediums including visual arts, music, film and live performance.
180 Studios, 180 The Strand, London WC2R 1EA, UK
Admission £20
Open Wednesday - Friday 12pm-7pm
Saturday - Sunday 10am - 6pm
to 25 December 2024
Stefan Sagmeister, Beautiful Numbers
MOT, Lviv, Ukraine
Sagmeister writes: ‘Incredibly, we will open an exhibition of our long-term thinking work in the Ukraine on 4 October 2024. This will be all new work, never shown anywhere else before. It will be interesting to find out if the message of ‘Now is Better’ is something the people of Lviv – who have bombs falling nearby – are willing to contemplate.’
Read more about Stefan Sagmeister on the Eye site.
to 5 January 2025
A new play based on the man behind the iconic Tube map! Find out more about the creative mind behind the map and how it came to life. For many of us, the London Underground is purely functional. But to Harry Beck, this web of geography became an obsession – a fascination with the creation of the perfect Tube map. How did Beck create the iconic diagram, and at what cost? To understand you need to meet Harry, and his wife Nora. Take a glimpse inside a journey of passion, a wife’s dedication and the living breathing network of the tunnels and train tracks in London
Admission: £24.50 - £35.00
Performance Times: Friday – 8.00pm, Saturday – 1.30pm, 5.30pm, 8pm, Sunday – 1.30pm and 3.30pm
Cubic Theatre at London Transport Museum, London WC1
to 5 January 2025
This year, for its 15th edition, the Planches Contact Festival welcomes a prestigious selection of internationally renowned photographers, ready to reveal their unique vision of Deauville and its landscapes. Among the guest artists, Dominique Issermann, Julien Mignot, Bettina Pittaluga, Phillip Toledano, and many others, bring their unique perspective on the town of Deauville, each offering a personal interpretation of the places and stories that make up the Normandy coast.
Admission: General €13, Member €8 / Hours: Tuesday to Sunday from 10:30am to 6:30pm, closed Mondays.
Les Franciscaines, 145 B, Avenue de la République, 14800 Deauville
to 5 January 2025
Fragile Beauty
Photographs from the Sir Elton John and David Furnish Collection
A selection of the world's leading photographers, telling the story of modern and contemporary photography. Including iconic images across subjects such as fashion, celebrity, reportage and the male body.
Admission: £22 (includes donation)
V&A South Kensington, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 2RL
to 8 January 2025
Out of the Grid: Italian Zines (1978–2006)
This exhibition brings together a selection of historical underground publications that exemplify the aesthetic language and approaches of various subcultural movements across Italy. The exhibition is developed by artist Dafne Boggeri and photographer Alien, drawn from the research for the publication of the same name. The work on view—including original fanzines, facsimiles, in-progress materials and related tools—traces the ways in which independent publishing in Italy was shaped by social, political, aesthetic, and technological shifts across three decades.
Printed Matter, 231 11th Avenue, New York, NY 10001
to 11 Jan 2025
Life Dances On: Robert Frank in Dialogue
The first solo Robert Frank exhibition at MoMA provides a new perspective on his expansive body of work by exploring six decades of his career following the 1958 publication of The Americans (see ‘Frank’s wild years’ by John L. Walters in Eye 68).
Coinciding with the centennial of Frank’s birth, the exhibition explores his restless experimentation across mediums including photography, film and books, as well as his dialogues with other artists and communities, including 200 works made over 60 years until the artist’s death in 2019.
The Edward Steichen Galleries, MoMA, 11 West 53 Street, New York, 10019
to 12 January 2025
Japan has a long and rich tradition of graphic design. Its abundance of outstanding works and idiosyncratic designers makes this island nation as thrilling as ever. While Europe is well acquainted with the designers of the postwar period, Japan’s contemporary design scene has been largely invisible. ‘Japanese Graphic Design Today’ will focus on this generation. By featuring designers born between 1973 and 1993, the exhibition will present an overview of the work being produced today. With numerous originals and creations that have never before been shown outside of Japan, it will provide an insight into the vast array of its contemporary design practices. Curated by Alexandre Dimos (B42 / deValence) with co-curator Damian Fopp.
Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Toni-Areal, Pfingstweidstrasse 968005 Zurich, Switzerland
See review in the forthcoming Eye 107.
to 19 January 2025
Peter Kennard: Archive of Dissent
Archive of Dissent marks one of the most extensive displays of Kennard’s work to date and has been specially conceived for Whitechapel Gallery. Taking over three galleries within the former Whitechapel Library space, the exhibition brings together work from across the artist’s prolific and influential five-decade career, offering an important repository of social and political history while illuminating an artistic practice that has continuously countered and protested the status quo.
Admission is free.
See ‘Beyond words’ from Eye 80, and ‘Political photomontage’, A blog by Noel Douglas on Peter Kennard’s ‘At Earth’.
Whitechapel Gallery, 77-82 Whitechapel High St, London E1 7QX
Above photo: Peter Kennard, Thatcher Unmasked, 1986, Photomontage – Gelatin silver prints with ink on card, A/POLITICAL collection.
to 19 January 2025
MAKING A RUKUS! Black Queer Histories Through Love and Resistance
The brand-new exhibition, curated by artist, filmmaker and co-founder of rukus! Federation, Topher Campbell, explores Black Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans creativity, activism, community and pride through over 200 objects including archive materials, contemporary artworks and brand-new commissions, celebrating the work of Black LGBTQIA+ pioneers and artists since the 1970s.
Admission: Pay what you can.
Somerset House, Terrace Rooms and Courtyard Rooms, Strand, WC2R 1LA
Photo caption:Valerie Mason-John, 1998. Photo by Michele Martinoli
to 20 January 2025
AS WE RISE: PHOTOGRAPHY FROM THE BLACK ATLANTIC
Organised by Aperture and curated by Elliott Ramsey, this exhibition of photographs from African Diasporic culture has been selected from the Wedge Collection, and showcases work by Black artists from Canada, United States, Great Britain, The Caribbean and the African Continent.
Saatchi Gallery, Duke of York’s HQ, King’s Road, London, SW3 4RY
Tickets for this and two other Winter Exhibitions: Standard: £6-14. Members free.
to 20 Jan 2025
A Vocal Type exhibition created in collaboration with Civilization, showcasing typefaces created by Tré Seals, founder of Vocal Type. Through the stories of historical figures, ‘Characters: Type in Action’ reveals how typography can be wielded as a tool for both oppression and liberation, encouraging us to consider our roles in the ongoing struggle for justice.
MODA, Museum of Design, Atlanta
1315 Peachtree Street NE, Atlanta, GA 30309
Open Wednesday – Sunday, 12 noon – 7pm
to 26 January 2025
This eclectic exhibition celebrates the work of printmaker, illustrator, watercolourist and designer Edward Bawden (1903-89). The show is curated by illustrator and printmaker Chris Brown, a friend of Bawden who has invited 30 artists and makers to respond to works by Bawden in The Higgins Bedford Collection.
The Higgins Bedford, Castle Lane, Bedford MK40 3XD
Free of charge. Opening Hours. Tue-Sat: 11am-5pm; Sunday & Bank Holiday Monday: 2-5pm. Closed on Mondays.
See ‘Friendships and glue’ and ‘Bawden galore’ on the Eye blog.
to 26 January 2025
This new exhibition will exploring Scotland’s critical position on the frontline of the Cold War, telling the stories of the Scots at the centre of this global conflict.
Also see ‘Walking in a nuclear winter land’.
Admission is free / Open daily, 10am-5pm
National Museum of Scotland, Chambers St, Edinburgh EH1 1JF
Photo caption: Polaris demonstration at Holy Loch, 3rd February 1961. © Trinity Mirror/Mirrorpix, Alamy
to 26 January 2025
Binia Bill – Images and Fragments
Binia Bill (1904–1988) attended Lucia Moholy's photo class at the Itten School in Berlin after training as a concert cellist from 1930. Afterwards she worked as a freelance photographer and published her pictures in magazines. She impressively captured the artistic, architectural and typographic work of Max Bill, which she had married in 1931 and with which she worked for advertising contracts. Her portraits and still lifes are characterised by a clear visual language that is related to the aesthetics of the ‘Neues Sehen’ movement. Binia Bill’s interest in perspectives and surfaces, in playing with light and shadow, was combined with a very distinct sensitivity though, which influenced her view of objects, plants, animals and people.
Fotostiftung Schweiz, Grüzenstrasse 45, 8400 Winterthur
Photo: Binia Bill, Selbstporträt, 1930er-Jahre © jakob bill
to January 2025
Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr.: Citizen Printer
Curated by designer and author Kelly Walters, Letterform Archive’s exhibition includes a wide variety of printed artifacts such as broadsides, maps, church fans, handbills and oversized posters produced throughout Kennedy’s career.
Through the use of bold language, graphic typography, and colorful layers, Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr.’s prints embody an intensity that catches the eye and provokes the mind. He is extremely outspoken about the impact of white supremacy and racism.
11-6pm, admission free, tickets.
Letterform Archive, 2325 Third St. Floor 4R, San Francisco, CA 94107, US
to 2 February 2025
Holly Herndon & Mat Dryhurst: The Call
Serpentine presents the first solo exhibition of Holly Herndon & Mat Dryhurst, introducing their vision for collaborative artmaking in the age of AI. The artists address current societal concerns with AI and platform participating choirs from across the UK.
Admission is free. See event page for opening hours.
Serpentine North, West Carriage Drive, London W2 2AR
Photo Credit: Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst conducting a recording session with London Contemporary Voices in London, 2024. Courtesy: Foreign Body Productions.
to 2 February 2025
Designer's Note
This exhibition examines the development of book design in Türkiye from 1970 to 2000, with a focus on selected works. It explores a period when cultural publishing gained momentum, foregrounding the graphic designer as a key player.
Admission is free.
Hours: Tuesday to Saturday 11.00-19.00, Sunday 11.00-18.00
Salt Beyoğlu, Asmalı Mescit, İstiklal Cd. No:136, 34430 Beyoğlu/İstanbul, Türkiye
to 16 February 2025
Looks Delicious! Exploring Japan’s food replica culture
Take a mouth-watering journey through the uniquely Japanese phenomenon of shokuhin sanpuru – the unexpectedly realistic food replicas displayed in front of restaurants across Japan. Offering a rare opportunity outside Japan to see these skilfully-created models up close, this vibrant exhibition explores the history, materials, processes and future potential of the craft.
Admission is free, booking is recommended.
Japan House, 101-111 Kensington High Street, London W8 5SA
Read ‘A feast for the eye’, Janet South’s review of ‘Looks Delicious!’ on the Eye blog.
to 23 February 2025
Fantastical Streets: The Theatrical Posters of Boris Bućan
The posters in this display represent a snapshot within Bućan’s (see Eye 92) expansive career, focusing on the monumental works he created for his first season with the Croatian National Theatre in Split, who hired him between 1982 and 1986. While he had previously produced a few large-format posters for other organizations or events, these images made up of six separate sheets of paper became his best-known designs, transforming exterior walls into urban canvases for his artistic explorations.
Admission: Adults $12, students $8, seniors $8, children under 18 free
Poster House, Jewel Box Gallery, 119 W. 23rd Street, New York, NY 10011
to 23 February 2025
Lester Beall & A New American Identity
Lester Beall (see Eye 24 and Eye 90) was hired to advertise the Rural Electrification Administration’s work, creating three series of posters over a five-year span. Knowing that Americans were generally distrustful of overly intellectual and visually obtuse European modernism, Beall deftly translated and advanced these artistic concepts to create a new kind of American art, one that distilled the heart of various avant-garde movements with the need for clear communication and the desire to sell. This exhibition highlights the groundbreaking work Beall produced for the REA, as well as the development of his contributions to American modernism up through World War II.
This is the first time where all posters from all three REA series will be on view in a single show.
Admission: Adults $12, students $8, seniors $8, children under 18 free
Poster House, Programs Gallery, 119 W. 23rd Street, New York, NY 10011, US
to 23 February 2025
Just Frame It: How Nike Turned Sports Stars into Superheroes
Chronicling the many professional sports promoted by Nike, from basketball and football to tennis and golf, as well as the myriad athletes who worked with the brand, this exhibition showcases how one company paved the way for modern sports advertising.
Admission: Adults $12, students $8, seniors $8, children under 18 free
Poster House, Main Gallery, 119 W. 23rd Street, New York, NY 10011
to 23 February 2025
Opening to coincide with the 65th anniversary of the Barbie ‘brand’ in 2024, the exhibition will explore its story ‘through a design lens’, including fashion, architecture, furniture and vehicle design. The show includes more than 250 objects, with dolls dating from 1959 to the present day.
Admission: Adult tickets from £14.38, Children from £7.19, Concession / Student from £10.77.
Under-sixes go free
Exhibition open Monday to Thursday 10:00 – 17:00, Friday to Sunday 10:00 – 18:00
The Design Museum, 224–238 Kensington High Street, London W8 6AG
Top. 1959 Barbie No. 1 © Mattel, Inc.
to 23 February 2025
Deborah Turbeville: Photocollage
Presenting the work of the truly innovative American photographer, Deborah Turbeville (1932-2013), the exhibition will feature a selection of her personal vintage photocollages and editorial work. Deborah Turbeville: Photocollage will present Turbeville's trailblazing photographic explorations, from fashion photos to her very personal work. Bringing together unique pieces, the exhibition will show Turbeville's highly personal artistic universe which has been credited with transforming fashion imagery into avant-garde art.
Admission: General £10, Concession £7. Admission is free on Fridays after 5pm.
The Photographers' Gallery, 16-18 Ramillies Street, London W1F7LW
to 23 February 2025
Letizia Battaglia: Life, Love and Death in Sicily
The Photographers’ Gallery presents a solo show of work by Italian photographer Letizia Battaglia (1935-2022). Born in Palermo, Sicily in 1935, Battaglia began her photographic career in the early 1970s, when she was in her mid-forties. She documented everyday life, alongside the brutal reality of the Mafia and their victims in Sicily during the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s. Her images are some of the best-known records of life in the shadow of the Mafia. Letizia Battaglia: Life, Love and Death in Sicily is the first major exhibition in the UK following her death in 2022.
Admission: £8 (£5 concession), Advance - £6.50 (£4 concession), Members go free, Admission is free on Fridays after 5pm.
The Photographers' Gallery, 16-18 Ramillies Street, London W1F7LW
to 2 March 2025
Serpentine presents the first ever UK exhibition of the LA-based artist, Lauren Halsey, who will transform the gallery into an immersive funk garden with a site-specific installation responding to Kensington Gardens. For the past decade, Lauren Halsey has developed a distinctive visual vocabulary deeply rooted in the South Central neighbourhood of Los Angeles where she and her family have lived for generations. Through maximalist installations and stand-alone objects, Halsey archives and remixes the signs and symbols that populate her environment.
Admission is free.
Serpentine South, Kensington Gardens, London W2 3XA
to 9 March 2025
Outlaws: Fashion Renegades of 80s London
This exhibition focuses on 1985, the year designer and performance artist Leigh Bowery opened the legendary nightclub Taboo. Displaying original garments and accessories from Leigh and more than 30 designers, including custom-made pieces from private collections, photography, film and artworks, the exhibition focuses on this outrageous, alternative arena in which the anarchic energy of the night spilled over into the experimental creativity of the day.
Tickets £12.65 (Concessions may apply), Tuesdays – Saturdays, 11.00 – 18.00 (last entry 17.15)
Fashion and Textile Museum, 83 Bermondsey Street, London SE1 3XF
Above: Leigh Bowery. Photo © Derek Ridgers, co Unravel Productions.
to 16 March 2025
100 BEST POSTERS 23: Germany Austria Switzerland
For the 19th time the MAK presents the winning projects in the 100 BEST POSTERS 23: Germany Austria Switzerland design competition, one of the leading platforms for contemporary poster design. With their remarkable wealth of typographic approaches and their broad stylistic range, this year’s winning projects function as an exemplary optical review that sets the standard for both European and international graphic design.
Admission: € 16.50, reduced € 13.50; every Tuesday 6–9 pm: admission € 8
Stubenring 5, 1010 Wien, AT
to 13 April 2025
Munich 1972: Sports Posters of the XXth Olympic Games
This exhibition highlights the program created for the 1972 Munich Olympics at its best, one for each event, each capturing both a moment in time and making a bid for permanence. Together, they demonstrate a magically calibrated balance of consistency and surprise, control and power, precision and exuberance: no less than the athletes they celebrate.
Curated by graphic designer Michael Bierut (see Eye 24 and Eye 100), who graduated from the University of Cincinnati and worked for ten years with Massimo Vignelli (see Eye 83 and the Eye blog) before joining the New York office of the design consultancy Pentagram in 1990.
Admission: Adults $12, students $8, seniors $8, children under 18 free
Poster House, Entry Foyer, 119 W. 23rd Street, New York, NY 10011
to 13 April 2025
Leaving the Smoke Behind: Enjoying an Awayday
The majority of the posters in this exhibition date from the Golden Age of London Passenger Transport Board posters, when many artists were commissioned to produce designs, primarily for London Underground (see the Eye blog and Eye 16) and its various connecting networks of tram and bus lines. In this post-World War I era, the overarching concept behind the poster campaigns was to encourage off-peak travel across the wider network through eye-catching, attractive designs, thus driving up revenues for under-utilised lines.
Admission: Adults $12, students $8, seniors $8, children under 18 free
Poster House, Lower Level Hallways, 119 W. 23rd Street, New York, NY 10011
to 21 April 2025
Delve into the fantastical world of Tim Burton in this major exhibition exploring his remarkable creations and key collaborations with designers. Tim Burton is the creative force behind some of the most celebrated films of the last four decades, internationally recognised as a master of the comically grotesque and the endearingly misfit. This major exhibition will invite visitors into his world through an exploration of the design of his unique aesthetic. While most well-known for his cinematic work, this show will display the full extent of his production as an illustrator, painter, photographer and author, as well as exploring key collaborations with designers. As a multi-disciplinary artist, his creations extend beyond the limits of mediums and formats. Open from October just in time for Halloween, this will be the final stop in a decade-long global tour for this exhibition, and it will be its only ever showing in the UK.
See ‘Books received #24’ for Ian Nathan’s book about the fantasy film director’s career and work.
Admission: Adult tickets from £19.69, Children from £9.85, Concession / Student from £14.77.
Under-sixes go free.
Exhibition open Monday to Thursday 10:00 – 17:00, Friday to Sunday 10:00 – 18:00
The Design Museum, 224–238 Kensington High Street, London W8 6AG
21 November 2024 — 5 May 2025
The 80s Photographing Britain
Explore powerful photography in a decade of social and political change
Explore one of the UK’s most critical decades, the 1980s. This exhibition traces the work of a diverse community of photographers, collectives and publications –creating radical responses to the turbulent Thatcher years. Set against the backdrop of race uprisings, the miner strikes, section 28, the AIDS pandemic and gentrification – be inspired by stories of protest and change.
Tate Britain, Millbank, London, SW1P 4RG
£20 / Free for Members
19 November 2024 — 26 May 2025
Tirzah Garwood: Beyond Ravilious
The first major exhibition devoted to visionary artist and designer Tirzah Garwood (1908–1951). Known as the wife of Eric Ravilious and the author of Long Live Great Bardfield, Garwood excelled as a fine artist and printmaker. This retrospective marks the first time the full extent her output has been shown, including more than 80 of Garwood’s works plus eleven watercolours by Ravilious that draw out the thematic similarities, shared interests, and distinct artistic personalities of this remarkable couple. Curated by James Russell.
Dulwich Picture Gallery, College Road, London SE21 7AD
Opening Hours: Tue–Sun, 10am–5pm; Closed Mon except Bank Holidays.
See also ‘The crew with no name’ in Eye 95.
NOVEMBER 2024
28 November – 1 June 2025
Electric Dreams: Art and Technology Before the Internet
This exhibition will celebrate the early innovators of optical, kinetic, programmed and digital art, who pioneered a new era of immersive sensory installations and automatically-generated works. Electric Dreams will offer visitors a rare chance to experience incredible works of vintage tech art in action - from psychedelic environments created in the 1950s and 60s, to early machine-made art from the 70s and 80s, which has paved the way for today’s experiments with AI. Bringing together an international network of artists who used machines and algorithms to create mesmerising and mind-bending art between the 1950s and early 1990s, the exhibition will show how these groundbreaking figures imagined a visual language for the future.
Admission: General £22, concessions available
Tate Modern, Bankside, London SE1 9TG
28 November – 5 December 2024
International Assembly Conference
An unmissable all-day design and creative conference with some of the most exciting thinkers, makers and movers in design, branding, illustration, animation, art, advertising and beyond. The International Assembly Conference has an incredible line up of speakers including Marina Willer from Pentagram (see Eye 99), Mitch Paone from DIA (see Eye 104), Angela Kirkwood, Eric Hu, Metahaven (see Eye 71), Joseph Lebus from PORTO ROCHA, and Liza Enebeis from Studio Dumbar/DEPT® (see Eye 100 and 104).
Tickets starting at £326. See event site for more info.
Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, Scotland
29 November 2024
TypEd: Defining Visual Narratives with Type
Workshop with Astrid Stavro
Using typography to create engaging editorial design, this workshop offers a unique opportunity to combine literary wit with visual storytelling. Join Astrid Stavro (See Eye) in an immersive journey of discovery inspired by Ambrose Bierce’s timeless satirical work, The Devil’s Dictionary. Through a combination of lectures, hands-on exercises, individual and group discussions, participants will gain insight into editorial design principles while honing their skills in crafting compelling visual narratives.
Time: 2:00pm-7:00pm, Tickets: £200, £175 (Friends), £125 (Students)
St Bride Foundation, 14 Bride Lane, Fleet Street, London EC4Y 8EQ
DECEMBER 2024
JANUARY 2025
FEBRUARY 2025
ONLINE + ONGOING
Ongoing
Philip Sayer: A journey through East Anglia
A digital exhibition presenting an extended series of photographs taken by Philip Sayer between 2005 and 2023 within a thirty-mile radius of his Norfolk home.
Through Sayer’s lens, the viewer is transported into a richly atmospheric vision of the region as an impressive sequence of images that sweep across its varied terrain. In his distinctive style – developed over the course of a professional photography career that spans six decades – deep darks meet fluctuating patches of vibrant light and between them a dynamic interplay of bold contrasts emerges.
Ongoing
The 39th Graphic Design Exhibition of the Turkish Graphic Designers Association
This year the annual GMK Graphic Design Exhibition, a recollection of graphic design in Turkey since its debut in 1981, is being held online. The GMK Graphic Design Exhibition Digital Archive will also be publicly accessible in the coming months, displaying this recollection and allowing closer examination of the work and shifting tendencies in Turkish design over the past 39 years.
Ongoing
A community-focused, multi-sensory installation exploring the nature of communication through the interactive deployment of sound. Curated by Alter-Projects and designed by sound artist, designer, and electronic musician, Yuri Suzuki.
Brown Hart Gardens, North Mayfair, London.
Free access
Online
Reverting to Type 2020: Protest Posters
Reverting to Type 2020 is an exhibition of letterpress artwork with something to say, an international exhibition showcasing progressive letterpress artwork by 100 artists from seventeen countries, alongside the work of specially invited collaborators, including John Anstiss, Shelley Bird, Sarah Boris, Dennis Gould, Peter Kennard and Stewart Lee. (See Word play in Eye 101).
The full exhibition contents can be seen at: revertingtotype.com
Ongoing
The Letterform Archive have made their Online Archive public access. You can now enjoy virtual access to nearly 1500 objects and 9000 hi-fi images from their collection.
See ‘Access all areas’ by Claire Mason on the Eye blog and ‘Letterform Archive: Objects of inspiration’ in Eye 100.
Ongoing
A series of design talks – with Matteo Bologna, Erik Brandt, Dafi Kühne, Thomas Kronbichler and Niklaus Troxler, with more to come – curated by graphic designer Fabio Mario Rizzotti. You can watch the interviews on the @designinterview10q IGTV and YouTube channel.
See ‘Sticks in the mind’ in Eye 69.
Ongoing
Soho Photography Quarter is a permanent new outdoor cultural space, presenting the very best of contemporary photography, for free. A tranquil and accessible cultural space only seconds from Oxford Street, Soho, Photography Quarter will present a rotating, open-air programme of site-specific and interactive artworks, which will change twice a year. The presentations will feature a significant art frieze in the main square, large-scale over street banners, plus moving image projections, soundscapes and other interactive works depending on the project.
Soho Photography Quarter, 16-18 Ramillies Street, London, W1F 7LW
Ongoing
Barbara Kruger, Untitled (Questions)
MOCA has reinstalled the monumental wall work by Los Angeles–based artist Barbara Kruger, Untitled (Questions) (1990/2018). The emblematic red, white, and blue artwork was originally commissioned by MOCA in 1989 for the exhibition A Forest of Signs: Art in the Crisis of Representation, and was last installed in 1990 on the south wall of MOCA’s building.
MOCA Gaffen, 152 North Central Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90012
See ‘Barbara Kruger: Reputations’ in Eye 5
Above: Barbara Kruger, Untitled (Questions), 1990/2018, on view October 20, 2018–November 2020 at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, photo by Elon Schoenholz.
Ongoing
Ruben Pater of Untold Stories at Insights 2020
Focusing on the ethics of design, this lecture discusses the unspoken realities of designers working remotely across the globe, and from there dives into social and political issues such as climate change, surveillance, and affordable housing.
See Peter Buwert’s ‘Design’s ugly truths’, a review of Ruben Pater’s The Politics of Design, in Eye 93.
ongoing
The decade marks a historic turn in art history for photography. No longer was traditional landscape and documentary photography the same. Photography shared the spotlight with painting.
Online exhibition on the website of the PDNB Gallery.
Above: Bill Owens, Our House is Built with the Living Room in the Back, 1971.