Where To From Here
12–31 July 2022
No Vacancy
34–40 Jane Bell Lane
Melbourne

Counterparts
Karen Fermo and Martin Musiatowicz (Co-Curators)

Where To From Here

Part one in the Counterparts series is titled ‘Where To From Here’ and showcases the work of a selection of Australian and internationally based graphic designers with art-based parallel practices: Eva Dijkstra // Design by Toko (NL), Catherine Griffiths // Studio Catherine Griffiths (NZ), Paul Fuog and Uriah Gray //U-P, OOD, Field Experiments (AUS), Sean Hogan // Trampoline (AUS), Lee James Owens // Applied Artists (AUS).

The title theme ‘Where To From Here’ acknowledges the challenge and complexity of the past two years with each designer-artist reflecting on notions of past, present and future in a post-pandemic world or at least a period which is emerging with a sense of new normalcy. For some, the response has led to further exploration and iteration on previous, related works; and for others this reflective task has led to completely new work.

The diverse streams of artistic practice and lines of inquiry across the collection of designers demonstrate why reflecting on the world around us to acquire new knowledge has purpose. Collectively, they are a powerful reminder that there is no one way to conceptualise, create and make. They each define the ebb and flow of their creative practice in different ways but what is common is that there is a dedication of time and effort to creative projects or practices which parallel or differ from their everyday work and which sees many of them learning through making. It is through this process combining passions, seeking new collaborations and working across and in new fields or mediums that new threads appear.

What is common amongst this work is that these parallel practices allow the designers to carve out a new space removed from the inherent constraints of their ‘main’ creative practice and business such as budget, time and clients' needs. This can sometimes be as simple as a change in task or returning to manual processes as opposed to being computer bound. Being self-initiated, the freedom in decision making and creative control is a great incentive for those seeking respite from the rigours of commercial design practice, or for a way to extend it.

Context: This project captures our studio’s ongoing interest in cultural production, the value of design and the way designers are expanding disciplinary boundaries. Exhibitions and writing offer a way for us to delve into these interests and give form to the insights which are unpacked. While architecture is our core practice, we are also curious about all else that design culture encompasses – inspiration, ways of thinking and working, as well as personal and collaborative journeys. For us, exhibitions incorporate both physical and digital display of artefacts but more importantly, they also weave in personal narratives so that there is an opportunity for multiple perspectives to emerge outside of our understanding and interpretation; and to enable dialogue around identified themes, that is both present and emerging.

This latest project, Counterparts, is a three-part exhibition and conversation series. The term counterpart refers to “one of two parts that complement or correspond to each other”[1] and provides the starting point for our exploration into designers with parallel practices or those blurring disciplinary boundaries in some way, picking up on an earlier exhibition, Makette (2013). Our intention is to investigate what the threads of creative practice are (two, three, more); to what degree they relate to each other; whether their practices are complementary and correspond to each other; the way in which they dedicate time and effort to this work; as well as their intrinsic motivation.

Each part in the Counterparts series will focus on one design discipline to frame the exploration into what parallel practice is within individual creative practices, alongside cultural matters. Part one focuses on the expanded field of graphic design and the theme ‘where to from here’; part two will take us to the work of architects reflecting on ‘here and now’; and part three will aim to look at furniture and industrial designers and a response to the notion of ‘back and forth’.

For the designers exhibited through the series, initiating parallel practices offers an opportunity to search for new ways of exploring ideas, techniques, materials and ways of working beyond the familiar and tested, through this developing their individual creative practice. Parallel practices can be intended and driven, or come about in search of opportunity for distraction, curiosity or freedom be it serious or just for fun. In relation to designers' work, the notion of something parallel implies ’other’ or in addition to a primary or core design practice. It may be an activity that is subsequent in space or time, both physically and/or mentally, and adjacent projects can in themselves allow a separate space or an escape in which to explore new problems, unpack old ideas, find new ones and link making and designing; not always trying to reach a defined outcome.

— Karen Fermo and Martin Musiatowicz (Kart Projects)