Exhibition poster
by Magdalena Frankowska & Artur Frankowski
FUTURE PERFECT
Start - Friday 25 November 2011 Open to public until 14 January 2012
Future perfect – a future tense in the English language with a perfective aspect, which, in an idiomatic fashion, expresses the intricate process of designing that is dependent on the author’s aspirations, the audience’s expectations, as well as an entire range of circumstances surrounding the implementation of a concept. The tense is used to talk about an activity that is to occur and be completed in the future, as a natural consequence of the present that results from actions and decisions that are taken. Expressions defining the “boundary conditions” for the future event, i.e. the suggested time of its completion – symbolically draws us closer only to the matters connected with designing. Each realization is encumbered with “objective conditions” that allow for even the craziest experiment to be tested. One of these conditions is time, understood both as a deadline, as well as a time limit within which the design has a chance to actually come into being.
The title of the exhibition also suggests a certain challenge, which is expressed by the inverse word order:
PERFECT FUTURE
Designing is the discipline that binds the present with the future. Each design constitutes a gauntlet that is thrown down to both the present moment, as well as to our future daily life. The fantasy of a “perfect tomorrow” has accompanied designers since the very beginning of design. The criticism of modernism and the ethos of a perfect arrangement of reality did not diminish the aspirations and intentions of designers. Each design naturally refers to the future in its paradoxical, completed version.
The exhibition by designers Magdalena Frankowska and Artur Frankowski from the Fontarte duo showcases their designs which refer to futuristic past, but also anticipate their own designing in the future. That is why the exhibition will feature works by Fontarte that belong to the still open and developed “Designs from the Future” series, as well as typographic designs, including typefaces that invoke some courageous and still expressively modern ideas from the times of avant-garde and modernism. The exhibition will focus on selected aspects of design, such as creating typefaces, posters, as well as design-art projects. We will present their work in a broad perspective of artistic fascinations and collectors’ interests. The open formula of the exhibition, which will feature meetings, as well as ephemeral and conceptual activities, is an attempt to challenge the traditional form of a “graphic exhibition”.
The FONTARTE studio was founded in Warsaw in 2004 by Artur Frankowski and Magdalena Frankowska. It specializes in publishing designs, typography, designing visual identification systems and creating visuals for exhibitions. The studio focuses on activities from the borderline between art and design. Fontarte has worked on graphic design projects for cultural institutions, museums and art galleries, such as the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Moderna Museet Malmö, Zache;ta National Gallery of Art, the Wilanów Poster Museum, CSW Znaki Czasu in Torun' and the Polish Institute in Brussels. Magda and Artur also co-authored the book “Henryk Berlewi” about the precursor of modern typography and functional graphics (2009).