Events
Online / On hold / October 2020 / November 2020 / December 2020 / January 2021 / April 2021 /
DON’T MISS
30 September 2020 — 17 January 2021
Jean Dubuffet
Spanning more than four decades in the studio, this exhibition brings together powerful work by the French artist Jean Dubuffet (1901-1985). This show is the first in the UK in more than 50 years, highlighting Dubuffet’s radicalism as he experimented with materials.
Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS, UK
Above: Jean Dubuffet, Paysage aux Argus (Landscape with Argus, 1955. Courtesy of Fondation Dubuffet, Paris.
1 October 2020
The 21st Annual National Design Awards: Virtal Gala
Cooper Hewitt presents the winners of the 21st annual National Design Awards at their first-ever virtual gala, hosted by Bobby Berk. The gala will honor the winners, celebrate the power of design, and kick off National Design Month.
RSVP for free here.
7.30–8.30pm Eastern Time.
3 October 2020
Slow Looking: Olgaç Bozalp (online)
Join this online edition of Slow Looking featuring three photographs by Olgaç Bozalp. Depending on the discussion, this session should last 50 to 70 minutes.
Register here.
Above: Olgaç Bozalp, Boys photographed in Konya, from the series ‘Home: Leaving one for Another’.
to 25 October 2020
The Pre-Vinylettes’ Suffragette Centennial
Dozens of hand-painted signs from women around the world feature, exploring ‘political topics, topics of women’s, trans’, and post-binary empowerment, and themes of positive change for the world’.
Ford Gallery, 2505 SE 11th Ave, Portland, OR, US
Above: Anna Weber, Pre-Vinylettes Suffragette Centennial
to 7 February 2021
Pictograms, Signs of Life, Emojis: Society of Signs
This exhibition explores questions around the considerations, objectives, and hopes that are linked to the development of the modern language of images, such as emojis.
Leopold Hoesch Museum & Paper Museum Düren, Hoeschplatz 1, 52349 Düren, Germany
to 18 October 2020
Less Festival of Contemporary Collage
This inaugural festival presents twelve international collage artists working in print, sculpture and moving-image: Penny Slinger [UK/US], Sergei Sviatchenko [DK/UA], Nico Krijno [SA], Lucia Pizzani [BR/UK], K Young [UK], James Springall [UK], Donnachie + Simionato [AUS], Anna Bu Kliewer [GER/UK], DR.ME [UK], Kirsten Otzen Keck [DK], Juliet Casella [FR], and Noriko Okaku [JP/UK].
Set in the historic town of Viborg in Denmark, LESS festival explores how art can transform our visual and urban landscapes through radical art exhibitions and immersive installations. Curator: Faye Dowling. Artistic Director: Sergei Sviatchenko. Design: NEW Agency, London.
to 11 January 2021
Architecture for Dogs
An exhibition that features the works of celebrated architects and designers including Ban Shigeru, Kuma Kengo, Itō Toyō, Sou Fujimoto, Atelier Bow-Wow and Ma Yang Song amongst others. Each of the works offers guests a light-hearted and insightful exploration into architecture and design that can be joyful for both dogs and their human companions.
Japan House, 101-111 Kensington High Street, London W8 5SA, UK
to 14 February 2021
The Swiss Grid
The Swiss Grid explores the development and impact of the International Typographic Style, considered one of the most important movements in graphic design history, through a selection of posters and ephemera.
Poster House, 119 W. 23rd Street, New York, NY 10011, US
Above: Karl Gerstner & Markus Kutter, Citroën, 1958
to 1 November 2020
Barnett Freedman: Designs for Modern Britain
Pallant House Gallery, 8-9 North Pallant, Chichester PO19 1TJ, UK
Above: Barnett Freedman, Baynard Claudia book, 1935. © Barnett Freedman Estate.
to 1 November 2020
An Outbreak of Talent: Bawden, Marx, Ravilious and their Contemporaries
Pallant House Gallery, 8-9 North Pallant, Chichester PO19 1TJ, UK
Above. Edward Bawden, An Old Crab and a Young.
See ‘The crew with no name’ in Eye 95.
to 14 February 2021
Electronic: From Kraftwerk to The Chemical Brothers
Evoking the experience of being in a club, the exhibition will transport you through the people, art, design, technology and photography that have been shaping the electronic music landscape.
the Design Museum, 224-238 Kensington High Street, Kensington, London W8 6AG, UK.
Above: The Chemical Brothers, Got To Keep On, sensory spectacle by Smith & Lyall. Photo by Felix Speller.
to 8 November 2020
Diane Arbus: Photographs, 1956-1971
For the first time, images from the full sweep of Arbus’s career will be presented chronologically. Early works reveal an artist gripped by the range of humanity and life as it unfolded on the street, while later works created using a larger format mark her emergence as a mature and compelling artist.
Art Gallery of Ontario, 317 Dundas Street West Toronto, Ontario M5T 1G4
Above: Diane Arbus, Three female impersonators, N.Y.C., 1962, 1962. Gelatin silver print; printed 1962-63, 27.9 x 35.6 cm. Anonymous gift, 2016. Copyright © Estate of Diane Arbus. 2016/757.
to 6 September 2020
Sabotages par Mathieu Van Assche
An exhibition of works by graphic designer, illustrator, engraver and photographer, Mathieu Van Assche, who lives and works in Brussels. Van Assche draws his inspiration from working-class neighborhoods, the sacred imagery, the use of the masks in pagan traditions and even comics.
Les Chiroux, Place des Carmes 8, B-4000 Liège, Belgium
to 19 September 2020
Dorothea Lange: Words and Pictures
MoMA’s first major exhibition of Lange’s work in 50 years displays iconic works from its collection, alongside lesser-known photographs, to map Lange’s complex relationship to words.
The Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53 Street, New York, NY 10019, US
Above: Dorothea Lange, Kern County, California, 1938.
to 20 September 2020
Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2020
The Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize is an annual award, originated by The Photographers’ Gallery, to recognise and support the most innovative, original and relevant photography-based practice within a given year.
The Photographers’ Gallery, 16 – 18 Ramillies Street
London W1F 7L, UK
Above: Mark Neville, Parade #15, 2019
to 3 October 2020
Another Eye: Women Refugee Photographers in Britain from 1933
This exhibition celebrates some remarkable women who escaped Nazi persecution and helped to transform Britain’s photography scene. Among the 80,000 refugees escaping anti-Semitic and political persecution were a surprising number of women photographers, who women brought fresh, Modernist perspectives that opened up British photography in the decades that followed. ‘Another Eye’ showcases this group of women, which includes Dorothy Bohm, Edith Tudor-Hart, Elsbeth Juda, Gerti Deutsch, Elisabeth Chat, Laelia Goehr and Erika Koch.
Four Corners, 121 Roman Road, Bethnal Green, London, E2 0QN
Tues–Sat: 11.00–18.00; Thurs 11.00–20.00
to 11 October 2020
Linderism
Most well known for her photomontage, this exhibition explores the diverse range of Linder’s practice. It explores Linder as performance artist, zine-maker, musician, documentary-photographer, collaborator, muse, guru, medium and body-builder.
Kettle’s Yard, University of Cambridge, Castle Street, Cambridge CB3 0AQ, UK
Virtual tour of ‘Lidnerism’ with Curator Amy Tobin.
Above: Linder, Untitled, 2015.
See ‘Scalpel sharp’, Rick Poynor’s Photo Critique on the Eye site.
to 20 October 2020
Democracy and Its Eagles: National Branding in the Weimar Republic
An exhibition exploring the influence of Expressionism and Objective Modernism on the aesthetics of the first German democracy. Drawing from Redslob’s estate, this exhibition traces the decision-making processes, both political and artistic, and examines the conditions and necessities of this period.
Werkbundarchiv - Museum of Things, Oranienstrasse 25, D-10999 Berlin, Germany
to 1 November 2020
Anja Kaiser Undisciplined Toolkit: Féminisme et design graphique
Her monographic exhibition ‘Undisciplined Toolkit’ features commissioned and more personal artistic work, all presented by Anja Kaiser as empowerment visuals.
Centre National du Graphisme, 1 Place Émile Goguenheim, 52000 Chaumont, France
Above: Anja Kaiser, Balance Club Culture Festival Poster Leipzig, 2020.
to 30 November 2020
Photography’s Last Century: The Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee Collection
This exhibition will celebrate the remarkable ascendancy of photography in the last century, and Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee's magnificent promised gift of over sixty extraordinary photographs in honor of The Met's 150th anniversary in 2020.
The Met Fifth Avenue, 1000 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10028, US
to 3 January 2021
Anette Lenz: à propos
In Lenz’s first large-scale exhibition in Germany, her graphic works transform the spaces into immersive graphic worlds that turn visual communication into a sensual poetic and thought-provoking experience. anettelenz.com
Museum Angewandte Kunst, Schaumainkai 17, 60594 Frankfurt, Germany
Tue & Thur to Sun 10 am–6 pm; Wed 10 am–8 pm
Photos: Jan Middendorp.
See ‘Fill the white space’ on the Eye blog.
to 21 January 2021
Op Art in Focus
Tate Liverpool, Albert Dock, Liverpool Waterfront, Liverpool L3 4BB, UK
Above: Walter Leblanc, Mobilo Static, 1960 © Estate of Walter Leblanc.
to 24 January 2021
Dóra Maurer
Tate Modern, Bankside, London SE1 9TG, UK
Above: Dóra Maurer Relative Quasi Image 1996 © Dóra Maurer Photo: Vintage Galéria / András Bozsó.
to 31 January 2021
In the Presence of Absence
In the Presence of Absence shows a selection of artworks and design projects that challenge the idea of collective knowledge and public consciousness through stories that remain unseen, have been ignored or may be told more often within large public institutions.
Stedelijk Museum, Museumplein 10, 1071 DJ, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Above: Sadik Alfraji, Sing like the Southerners Do, 2019.
to 14 February 2021
The Sleeping Giant: Posters & The Chinese Economy
An exhibition exploring China’s economic relationship with the world through poster design.
Poster House, 119 W. 23rd Street, New York, NY 10011, US
Above: Yang Jiabao & Cai Sheng, Cultural Revolution Glows, 1972
to 30 April 2021
Tillage: John Newling
This exhibition features works spanning Newling’s 40 year career, including new work responding to society’s need to evolve in the face of the climate emergency, and living through the global pandemic.
Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft, Lodge Hill Ln, Ditchling, Hassocks BN6 8SP, UK
ONLINE
Ongoing 2020
Langlands and Bell: Degrees of Truth (Online)
For over four decades, Langlands & Bell’s work has explored the complex web of relationships linking people and architecture and the coded systems of communication and exchange we use to negotiate a fast changing technological world. Their art ranges from film, video and digital media projects to sculpture, installation, and full-scale architecture.
Sir John Soane’s Museum, 13 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3BP, UK
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
MODA Online
The Museum of Design Atlanta has launched a range of online classes, workshops and meetups for both young and adult designers, as well as a series of online sessions, titled ‘Drink in Design’, with a range of creatives who will talk you through their work and career paths.
Ongoing
Whitney: Art History from Home
While the Museum is temporarily closed, the Whitney is offering range of online resources and events centred around American art of the twentieth century.
Above: Ana Mendieta, Untitled (Silueta Series, Iowa), 1979.
Ongoing
Design Interview 10Q
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
Virtual tour of ‘Léon Spilliaert’
This exhibition showcases some 80 works on paper – from images of Spilliaert’s home town and the coast, to later works capturing the tranquillity of the forest outside Brussels. You can explore these works online in this video tour.
This is an online stream, you can view here.
Ongoing
Poster House: Poster History videos
Videos on New York’s Poster House IGTV are hosted by curator Angelina Lippert. Subjects have included psychedelic posters, Paula Scher’s Public Theater poster and works by Armin Hofmann.
See ‘Reputations: Paula Scher’ in Eye 77.
Ongoing
Museum of the Moving Image: View from home
The Museum of the Moving Image are continuing to expand their online releases with titles including Pedro Costa's award-winning Vitalina Varela, the 2020 Academy Award nominee Corpus Christi, and Brett Story's prescient documentary The Hottest August.
Ongoing
Warhol at Home
To share the Andy Warhol exhibition at Tate Modern with you, the exhibition’s curators Gregor Muir and Fiontán Moran give a video tour to discuss Warhol through the lens of the immigrant story, his LGBTQI identity and concerns with death and religion. See more about the exhibition here.
See ‘Pop justice’ on the Eye blog.
Above: Andy Warhol, Self-Portrait, 1986,
Ongoing
Letterform Archive Online
The Letterform Archive have made their Online Archive public access. You can now enjoy unprecedented virtual access to nearly 1,500 objects and 9,000 hi-fi images (and counting!) from their collection.
See ‘Access all areas’ by Claire Mason on the Eye blog.
Ongoing 2020
As, Not For
A non-exhaustive historical overview of the work of African American graphic designers, proposed by graphic designer and curator Jerome Harris. This exhibition aims to promote the inclusion of the work of African-American and black graphic designers in the field of design and its mediation, but also to question the omnipresence of white and anti-black aesthetics in this same field.
Les Chiroux, Place des Carmes 8, B-4000 Liège, Belgium
Read Silas Munro’s ‘The critique goes on’ in Eye 100.
TBC 2020
Social Revolution: Women's liberation and gay liberation in the 1970s and 80s
An exhibition that marks 50 years since the beginnings of two significant social movements in the UK: the first women’s liberation conference in Oxford and the first UK meeting of the Gay Liberation Front at LSE.
LSE Library, 10 Portugal Street, London WC2A 2HD, UK
TBC 2020
Herbert Bayer: Bauhaus Master
This exhibition follows Herbert Bayer’s role as both student and teacher at the Bauhaus, as well as his illustrious career in the United States following his 1938 emigration.
Cooper Hewitt, 2 East 91st Street (between 5th and Madison Avenues), New York, New York 10128, US
Above: Herbert Bayer, Brochure, The Menstrual Cycle, 1939.
TBC 2020
George Him: A Polish Designer for Mid-Century Britain
Spanning George Him’s long and versatile career as both an independent designer and as one half of the prolific Lewitt-Him partnership (1933-1954), the exhibition will include iconic wartime propaganda posters for the Ministries of Food and Information, corporate branding for El Al airlines and adverts for clients like Schweppes, Technicolor, the Post Office and The Times.
House of Illustration, 2 Granary Square, King's Cross, London N1C 4BH, UK
TBC 2020
New Old: Designing for our Future Selves
This exhibition examines how innovation and design can reimagine how we live the later stages of our lives. Set against a backdrop of radical demographic change, the exhibition looks at how design can help people lead fuller, healthier and more rewarding lives into old age, asking the question: how can designers meet the challenge of a rapidly ageing society?
Pratt Manhattan Gallery, 144 West 14th Street, New York, NY 10011, US
Above: Yves Béhar, Superflex Aura Power Suit, 2017.
Ongoing 2020
Everyday Life: GDR
Dokumentationszentrum Alltagskultur der DDR, Erich-Weinert-Allee 3
15890 Eisenhüttenstadt, Germany
Ongoing 2020
Scenes from the Collection
The Jewish Museum, 1109 5th Ave at 92nd St, New York, NY 10128, US
Above: Mel Bochner, The Joys of Yiddish, 2012. Courtesy: The Jewish Museum, New York.
TBC 2020
Working Together: The Photographers of the Kamoinge Workshop
Whitney Museum of American Art, 99 Gansevoort Street, New York, NY 10014, US
Above. Anthony Barboza, Kamoinge Portrait, 1973. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Eric and Jeanette Lipman Fund. © Anthony Barboza.
OCTOBER 2020
1 October — 11 October 2020
Graphic Days: Transitions
The fifth edition of the annual Graphic Days festival will feature top-class reflections with experts on the most current issues of the system in which we live. ‘Graphic Days® Transitions’ will host a series of events involving institutional bodies, associations and an international panel of professionals and visual design studios committed to investigating, through the systemic approach, new paradigms and possible scenarios related to our society and living environment.
Toolbox Coworking, Turin, Italy
1 October — 31 October 2020
Cooper Hewitt: National Design Month 2020
In 2020, National Design Week expands to a monthlong virtual celebration, gathering the country’s leading designers and communities around the country to celebrate the power of design in our everyday world. Held in conjunction with the National Design Awards, National Design Month will highlight the work of Award winners through a series of free virtual education programs throughout October including talks, tours, workshops, a professional development training, a college fair, and a career fair.
RSVP here.
6 October 2020 — 3 January 2021
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
The annual exhibition of art at London’s Royal Academy, this year slightly delayed into the Autumn. Coordinated by artistic duo Jane and Louise Wilson RA.
Royal Academy, 6 Burlington Gardens, London W1S 3ET, UK
7 October 2020 — 10 January 2021
Kai Althoff goes with Bernard Leach
Whitechapel Gallery presents the first major UK survey of figurative painter and creator of poetic mise-en-scenes, Kai Althoff (b. 1966 Cologne, Germany; lives and works in New York, USA and Cologne, Germany). The exhibition brings together more than 130 works spanning Althoff’s career, from childhood drawings and photographs to textiles, sculptural installations and new paintings, presented as part of three immersive environments.
Whitechapel Gallery, 77-82 Whitechapel High St, London E1 7QX, UK
Above: Kai Althoff, View of Kai Althoff, Michael Werner Gallery, London, 2014.
8 October 2020 — 19 November 2020
Blumen sind geil (Flowers are wicked)
In the exhibition a new wall installation with multiples is on display: Kummer & Melzer have transformed flower petals into patterns in collaboration with the Wolfensberger Zurich lithographic printing house. In the book “Blumen sind geil”, literary short texts come together with a series of photographic scenes, complementing, disturbing and distorting each other.
A—Z Gallery, Torstr. 93, 10119 Berlin-Mitte, Germany
9 October 2020 — 24 January 2021
From Here to Eternity, Sunil Gupta: A Retrospective
‘From Here to Eternity’ is the first major retrospective of UK based photographer, Sunil Gupta (b. 1953, New Delhi India) and offers a complex and layered view of Gupta's unique transcontinental photographic vision.
The Photographers’ Gallery, 16-18 Ramillies Street, London W1F 7LW, UK
11 October 2020 — 28 February 2021
Leila Alaoui: Rite of Passage
This exhibition is the first major UK retrospective of works by Leila Alaoui, a celebrated French-Moroccan photographer who died tragically at the age of 33 from injuries incurred during a terrorist attack in Burkina Faso in 2016, whilst working on a photography project for a women’s rights campaign for Amnesty International. The exhibition opens in collaboration with 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair and showcases striking large-scale photography and video work created by Alaoui between 2008 and 2015.
Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 1LA, UK
17 October — 27 February 2021
Art Deco by the Sea
The show celebrates iconic examples of seaside architecture, from hotels and apartment blocks, to piers, cinemas and lidos, and reveals how Art Deco became the key style for pleasure, leisure and entertainment.
Laing Art Gallery, New Bridge Street, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8AG
Mon-Sat 10am-4.30pm
This exhibition has been developed by The Sainsbury Centre at the University of East Anglia, Norwich. Watch a short film about the exhibition.
23 — 24 October 2020
Blanc! N.12
An online festival of design, featuring Vince Frost, Yarza Twins, Anton & Irene, Mark Brooks, Blo que, Tres tipos gráficos, Hey, Belén Torregrosa, Jesús Gallent, and Gris o la ‘Mestre’ Toni Miserachs.
Access to streaming will be limited to 150 places, and virtual tickets purchased before July 31 will be discounted. Tickets can be purchased here.
25 October 2020
London Street Signs
Hiding in plain sight, London’s street nameplates represent a unique visual history. Join Alistair Hall, art director and author of London Street Signs, for an illustrated talk exploring some of the capital’s most beautiful and curious nameplates. From Bloomsbury and beyond, he will share fascinating stories behind these unassuming treasures. Taking a stroll through the streets of London will never be the same again.
London House, Goodenough College, Mecklenburgh Square, London WC1N 2AB, UK
Tickets are available here.
28 October 2020 — 21 February 2021
Jasper Johns: Mind/Mirror
Filling almost 30,000 combined square feet across the two venues, the exhibition will contain nearly 500 works. It is the most comprehensive exhibition ever devoted to Johns, creating an opportunity to highlight not only his well-known masterpieces but also many works that have never been exhibited publicly. Conceived around the principles of mirroring and doubling that have long been a focus of the artist’s work, this two-part exhibition, which follows a loose chronological order from the 1950s to the present, offers an innovative curatorial model for a monographic survey.
Whitney Museum of American Art, 99 Gansevoort Street, New York, NY 10014, US
Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2600 Benjamin Franklin Parkway
Philadelphia, PA 19130, US
Above: Jasper Johns, Summer, 1985
30 October 2020 — 10 January 2021
Ed van der Elsken: Crazy World
An exhibition focusing on the personal archive that sheds new light on the most celebrated 20th century photographer in the Netherlands.
Rijksmuseum, Museumstraat 1, 1071 XX Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
NOVEMBER 2020
9—14 November 2020
AIGA Virtual Design Conference 2020
After postponing the conference in March, the 2020 AIGA Design Conference will now be held entirely online. AIGA will be sharing more information over the coming weeks about event details, speakers, giveaways, and more.
Register here.
24 November 2020
Type Tuesday
Come to Eye’s quarterly event about type, graphic design and visual culture. Speakers, presentations, films, panel discussions and a chance to chat with friends and buy rare bargain back issues of Eye magazine.
6.30 for 7pm start at Bridewell Hall, St Bride Printing Library, 14 Bride Lane, Fleet Street, London EC4Y 8EQ
Tickets £8-£12.50. All profits support the St Bride Foundation.
DECEMBER 2020
3—7 December 2020
Addis Foto Fest, sixth edition
The Addis Foto Fest (AFF) was established in 2010 by award-winning photographer and cultural entrepreneur, Aida Muluneh. The festival is organised by Desta for Africa Creative Consulting PLC. AFF is a biennial international photography festival held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It has previously featured exhibitions, portfolio reviews, conferences, projections and film screenings in many different renowned venues. It is also the first and only international photography festival in East Africa.
JANUARY 2021
22 Jan 2021 — 20 Jun 2021
AI: More than Human
Explored through prominent and cutting-edge research projects, and special commissions and projects by international artists, ‘AI: More than Human’ is an unprecedented survey of the relationship between humans and technology.
World Museum, William Brown St, Liverpool L3 8EL UK
See ‘Thinking machine’, Darryl Clifton’s review of AI: More Than Human in Eye 99.
Above: Justine Emard, Co(AI)xistence, 2017, video installation, with Mirai Moriyama & Alter (developed by Ishiguro lab, Osaka University and Ikegami Lab, Tokyo University), © Justine Emard / Adagp, Paris 2018.
APRIL 2021
20—30 April 2021
Düsseldorf Exhibition Centre, D-40474 Düsseldorf, Am Staad (Stockumer Höfe), Germany