New at Pentagram
Harry Pearce - Eternal Optimist and Part-Time Nudist
Harry Pearce has undertaken a series of talks across the globe, including AGIdeas in Australia, Design Indaba, South Africa, Semi Permanent, New Zealand and Design Yatra, India. Speaking engagements have also taken him to New York and Chicago, as well as colleges, museums and the Typographic Circle in the UK. He has now been invited by the D&AD President to deliver the last in the autumn series of President’s Lectures on 24 November in London.
Having been asked to provide a title and description for this talk Pearce came up with the following;
Harry Pearce
Pentagram Partner
Part-time optimist
Failed vegetarian
Human rights activist
Dream diary keeper
Occasional nudist
Graphic designer
Accidentalist
The Schizophrenic Road Part 2: A design journey from a road in west London to a tree in Zanzibar.
The lecture takes place at 7pm on Wednesday 24th November at Logan Hall, Institute of Education, Bedford Way, London, WC1H 0AL and tickets are on sale now.
The full lecture will be available on the D&AD website for those who cannot make it to London.
Goodbye, Gormley
It’s almost time to say farewell to a friend: the figure installed on the rooftop of our New York office for the past several months will be leaving when the Event Horizon exhibition closes on August 15.
Event Horizon is the U.S. public art debut of the acclaimed British sculptor Antony Gormley, presented by the Madison Square Park Conservancy as part of its Mad. Sq. Art series. The installation of 31 life-size body forms of Gormley cast in iron and fiberglass has inhabited the streets and skyline around Madison Square Park since March. While some initially feared the figures might be mistaken for naked jumpers—only in New York, kids—the sculptures quickly became a popular addition to the Flatiron District. Indeed, soon after our silent visitor arrived and was properly welcomed, he became part of the Pentagram family.
Nazim Ali, the building superintendent at our New York office, came to know the Gormley figure especially well. He shares his thoughts about the sculpture and exhibition in an interview that will be included in the Event Horizon catalogue, out later this month from Mad. Sq. Art:
I remember getting an email from my building manager informing us about the project, and that we would have one of the sculptures on our building. I read about Antony Gormley and his exhibition in England, along the Thames River, so this was exciting to me. I like art—I have children, and I take them to museums. But a museum is a place you have to go to see art, and I prefer this, out in public. This way seems more natural to me—like you can see the artwork in nature, in a more natural state.
I can see many of the sculptures from my building and the park and I like to look at the other ones, but mine is my favorite. He’s a part of my life now, I never really forget about him. I come up here three, four times every week to check on him, to make sure he is okay, to make sure nobody abuses him. In a way I feel lucky to stand up here, next to him. Sometimes I like to look down at the people below on the street; they’re talking and pointing, asking questions, wishing they could come up here. They observe him, and he observes us.
Sometimes I wonder what he is thinking, or what he would be thinking. To me, it’s very simple—it’s just a person looking out at the world and announcing: “I am here.” But every person has a different exposure to this; everyone on the street has different questions and thoughts. People always say a picture is worth a thousand words and these sculptures are the same way—maybe more so.
Michael Bierut and Paula Scher at the Brand New Conference
Quick Link: Michael Bierut and Paula Scher at the Brand New Conference
Happy Birthday Pentagram!
Pentagram is 38 years old this month, having been formed in June 1972.
This year London’s birthday celebration consisted of a magical mystery tour from Needham Road to Thorpe Park, where staff and partners sampled the joys of Stealth, Colossus, and Nemesis, followed by lunch at Cliveden House. As with any birthday, of course there has to be a cake—ours was made by Kate Poulter decorated to match the print for the day, designed by Jeremy Kunze.
Meanwhile, in New York the office gathered for a fête in its favorite park, catered by Ilili. Pentagram’s own DJ Warm Red, aka designer Joe Marianek, curated 38 songs for the party, one each for the years 1972 to 2010, with bonus tracks thrown in for the pre-Pentagram years of Fletcher Forbes Gill (1962 to 1966) and Crosby Fletcher Forbes (1967-1971). Listen to the Pentagram 38 mix here or after the jump.
The Glass House and Farnsworth House Inspire ‘Modern Views’
Philip Johnson’s Glass House and Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House established one of architecture’s great formal dialogues. Both were designed and built during the same period—the Glass House between 1945 and 1949 (in New Canaan, Connecticut), and the Farnsworth House between 1945 and 1951 (in Plano, Illinois)—and Johnson and Mies were inspired by and responded to each other’s work, resulting in a pair of Modernist masterpieces. Both homes have been designated National Historic Landmarks and are now owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The Glass House was given to the trust by Johnson in 1986 and opened to the public in 2007 (with identity and visitors center designed by Pentagram), and the Farnsworth House was saved at auction in 2003 and came under the management of the trust earlier this year.
Modern Views: A Project to Benefit the Farnsworth House and the Glass House is a new yearlong initiative to raise $1 million to help preserve the residences. The trust’s Center for Modernism asked 100 artists, designers and architects to create works that continue the dialogue between the two iconic designs. Among the participants are Norman Foster, Zaha Hadid, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Thom Mayne, Daniel Libeskind, David Adjaye, Tadao Ando, Richard Meier, Michael Graves, Cesar Pelli, Ken Smith, Vito Acconci, Maira Kalman, Robert Morris, Ed Ruscha, Yves Behar, Annie Leibovitz, Constantin Boym and Pentagram’s James Biber and Paula Scher.
The works will exhibited in New York and Chicago this fall, culminating in an auction in each city. Proceeds from the auction will be used to restore the Brick House at the Glass House site and to repair damage to the Farnsworth House from a 2008 flood. Modern Views is being underwritten by Sotheby’s and was introduced at an event at the Four Seasons earlier this month.
Paula Scher’s print, titled Modernism USA, uses the footprint of the two houses at various scales to construct a map of the United States. The design will appear on the cover of a book of the collected works for Modern Views, to be published this fall by Assouline.
James Biber, who designed the visitor center for the Glass House, was inspired by the homes’ relationship to their environments: the Glass House is built of dark materials and is close to the earth, while the Farnsworth House is white and seems to float above ground, a world in itself. Biber’s drawing, called There It Begins, takes its title from a 1959 quote by Mies: “Architecture starts when you carefully put two bricks together. There it begins.” The drawing brings the two “bricks,” or houses, together.
Paula Scher Chairs 2nd Chicago International Poster Biennial
The jury of the 2nd Chicago International Poster Biennial convenes this weekend and the Second City will be celebrating with a series of poster-related events. Paula Scher is serving as the chair of the biennial jury and has designed the official biennial poster, an op-art rendition of the number two inspired by a rolled poster. Jury Weekend programming includes an exhibition of works by the members of the jury; a charity auction of dresses printed with iconic posters by the jury designers (including Scher’s “Best of Jazz” poster); a screening of “Freedom on the Fence,” a new documentary about the history of Polish posters; and lectures by legendary poster designers Rafal Olbinski and Takashi Akiyama. The winning posters in the juried competition will go on public display later this summer.
The biennial is presented in part by the Society of Typographic Arts and ICOGRADA; more info here.
WITNESS and Peter Gabriel at Pentagram
Pentagram’s London office welcomed WITNESS last night for an intimate dinner with Peter Gabriel. Co-hosted by Harry Pearce and Michelangelo Volpi the evening provided an opportunity to raise awareness of the work WITNESS does using video to open the eyes of the world to human rights violations.
Harry Pearce has been working with WITNESS for the last 17 years producing some of his most acclaimed work including the award-winning “Infantry” and “Burma” posters. He is a member of WITNESS’s advisory board.
Peter Gabriel describes working with Harry as “a mixture of good karma and great design”.
The L!brary Initiative Gets Its Own Book
Since it launched a decade ago, the L!brary Initiative, the program to build or refurbish libraries in New York City public schools, has made books accessible to thousands of kids. Now the initiative has a book of its own. The L!brary Book: Design Collaborations in the Public Schools (Princeton Architectural Press) documents the unique partnership between the New York City Department of Education, the Robin Hood Foundation, and architects, designers, artists and illustrators that has produced 56 libraries (to date) in schools across the five boroughs. Written by Anooradha Iyer Siddiqi, a former director of the initiative, and designed by Pentagram, who created the graphics for the program, the book features case studies on the design of a dozen of the libraries, a look at the art created for the library walls—murals compared by The New York Times to those of the Works Progress Administration—and a highly readable account of the remarkable process that made it all happen, with interviews with architects, designers, librarians and students.
Tonight the Architectural League of New York hosts a special presentation about the L!brary Initiative featuring several of the project’s participants discussing its origins and incredible response. Details and registration information here.
A look inside The L!brary Book after the jump.
Shepard Fairey Hits Pentagram
Last night, artist/designer Shepard Fairey’s crew hit our building at 204 Fifth Avenue, posting two works on our façade. The installation is one of about 20 that have gone up around New York in the past two weeks, all timed to May Day, Fairey’s solo exhibition opening May 1 at Deitch Projects. Other installations include a mural on Houston Street and postings at the Ace Hotel and Cooper Square Hotel. Fairey’s pieces join the Antony Gormley figure on our roof for an especially art-filled spring here at 204 Fifth.
More pics after the jump.
Lisa Strausfeld at See Change
Quick Link: Lisa Strausfeld at See Change
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