Exhibition poster by Antoine Abi Aad
Swiss chocolate is so famous in the whole world that it became a synonym of Switzerland; similarly, cedars symbolize Lebanon the best way possible. "Chocolat aux cedres" is a project where students from the Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts, University of Balamand, showed their vision of Switzerland; equally, students from Schule fuer Gestaltung Basel showed their vision of Lebanon. Guided by Dr. Abi Aad, the Lebanese students followed an intensive workshop in ALBA Beirut, from February 28th until March 11th and created 51 posters portraying Switzerland. Weeks later, the Swiss students of Basel, guided by Professor Muehlberg, had weekly sessions for a period of three months and created 42 posters portraying Lebanon. Two exhibitions of these posters are shown in October, one in Basel from 7 to 21 and one in Beirut from 21 to 28.
"Chocolat aux cedres" would not have been possible without the introduction, support and help of Professor Katarina Lang, the common friend of Professor Nicholas Muehlberg and Dr. Antoine Abi Aad. This workshop/exhibition exchange is a first step between SFGB, SGD and ALBA, and we hope it would open doors to future collaborations and exchanges between the two universities and the two countries.
Antoine ABI AAD
Lecturer - Coordinator, Advertising and Graphic Design
ALBA, Academie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts, University of Balamand
When Antoine Abi Aad enquired whether we would be kind enough to exhibit posters from his school project Switzerland—As seen by the Lebanese at the Basel School of Design, also completing the project from the opposite viewpoint with my class of graphic design students whose new semester had then just commenced, seemed to me an obvious thing to do. Graphic design students complete three quarters of their training in design studios and advertising agencies; only about one quarter of their training takes place within the school.
In past years I had always worked on producing a poster series with this group (students in the third of six training semesters), and—with two exceptions—we again adhered to this approach for the "Lebanon" project. In producing the posters, we concentrated primarily on their aesthetic aspects; the students were not required, above all, to realise an original intellectual idea, but by using the purely design tools available to them - colour, form, typography - arrive at a befitting visual expression for one of the themes that had explored in earlier research assignments.
Our fictitious or virtual clientele consisted of a tourism organisation or a cultural/political institution. This could either have been a Lebanese or a Swiss organisation. The "invention" of a credible underlying theme for his or her series of posters was left entirely up to each student.
Nicholas Muehlberg, July 2011
Basel School of Design
Swiss Graphic Designers Professional Association
