What was the starting point of your research project?

Our involvement in graphic design education has led us to investigate the tools and platforms cities provide for disseminating ideas. Unfortunately, how one meets graphic design in the city primarily occurs in the service of advertisements or giving directions. It is rarely displayed in its most rogue form, free of commercial or informational responsibilities. A more specific interest in this subject arose when the pandemic hit us, closing all public institutions and workplaces. This turned our attention toward the cityscape and its potential to share ideas in the open air.

What approach did you take for the fellowship research project, and how does it relate to the role of research in your practice?

Our research project combined fieldwork, visiting archives, and conducting interviews—activities we’ve been previously busy with while working on publications and exhibitions. The research began with collecting historical materials concerning the display of graphics in the public domain from the Amsterdam City Archive, Amsterdam and the International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam.

As part of the fieldwork, we mapped public spaces, community art venues, vitrines, public poster walls, and other designated spaces and surfaces where designers and the general public could share their ideas and works. Finally, we interviewed Experimental Jetset, an Amsterdam-based graphic design collective, and graphic designer and educator Henk Groenendijk. We also met Valentijn Goethals, a graphic designer and organizer who has worked on several public space projects in his hometown of Gent.

How did your desire to work with—or maybe even collaborate with—students come to fruition?

The subject matter of our research has been an integral part of our teaching practices for the past few years. In the framework of the fellowship, we organized a workshop with graphic design students around exhibiting their work in the public space. Even though the workshop was practical in nature, we had many interesting discussions about the role of graphic design in our surroundings. Furthermore, by sharing the materials from our research with the students, we realized the importance of making this material available to connect to the histories of visual communication.