The designers republic
The designers republic, Workshop, lecture, retrospective
Maribor Art Gallery, Strossmayerjeva 6
KID DOG and the Maribor Art Gallery (UGM) are preparing the first intensive meeting in Slovenia with the world-known designer group The Designers Republic (tDR). Some small, specific projects in Slovenia are to be followed by the long anticipated retrospective of their works including a workshop with tDR's founder Ian Anderson, who will also be a guest at the Magdalena Festival 2004.
Retrospective
14-31 May 2004, Maribor Art Gallery, Strossmayerjeva ulica 6, Maribor
From the 1980s on, the British graphic design studio The Designers Republic uncompromisingly developed their own graphics language and became an inevitable reference for all graphic design fields: graphic text, web design and video.
tDR are typical anti-heroes of the designer establishment. Compared to other famous names from the eighties, their work is not so analogue or excessively obsessed with typography. Their office in Sheffield, a post-industrial town in the north of England, represents an antithesis to the established school of clean street design; they don't take themselves too seriously and flatly refuse to move their studio to an attractive location in London.
tDR is not so much a graphic design studio than a fabric of ideas, and Ian Anderson is not a classical graphic designer, but rather a creative person. He rejected South London in favour of Sheffield to study philosophy, but there he soon ended up in the music scene, mainly as a DJ and promoter. It was then, that he realized it is much cheaper to design one's own flyers, something that gradually brought him into design. The group he managed failed, but the demand for his flyers grew steadily. Today, Anderson has the image of a great politician of British graphic design. He published a book about tDR's work, organized tDR exhibitions and in the last few years lectured to over 60,000 people in Europe, USA and Australia.
Today, tDR is 17 years old. They are still a small team, at this moment consisting of Ian Anderson, Nick Bax, Matt Pyke, David Bailey, Bob Sanderson, Abby Ribbands and Mark Cashman.
The retrospective at the UGM will present a selection of best graphic, video and web designs by tDR. Be prepared for entertaining solutions, powerful slogans and a lot of recycled culture!
Workshop
13 May 2004 at 10:00-18:00, Maribor Art Gallery, Strossmayerjeva ulica 6, Maribor
The workshop is lead by: Ian Anderson, founder of tDRThis workshop on creative design will be mostly creative brainstorming. The theme is not set in order to prevent preparation or field research. Participants need to bring a laptop computer, paper, pencil and open minds. In the words of tDR's slogan "... for fuck's sake think for yourself!"
Registration:
Matej Koren, mkoren@mac.com; Send personal data and two works in jpg format.
Restriction and selection:
10-15 participants; Participants will be chosen according to their entered work.
Deadline:
1 May 2004
Payment:
23,000 SIT or 100 EUR per person. Payment must be transferred to the Umetnostna galerija Maribor Bank Account Number: 01270-6030358319 by 5 May 2004 at the latest. Send personal data (name, address, tax no.) after payment to tatjana.kosi@ugm.si.
A receipt will be sent when payment is received.