The infinite memory of trees and their testimony, as well as the many voices that become a choir in the shelter of the treetops – a class from Schule für Gestaltung Basel explored these metaphors during three busy mornings in the exhibition Time as a Shiled by Sandra Mujinga. After an intense oral exchange in front of the exhibition’s construction, the students approached what they saw with different drawing exercises, looking for unique structures and materials. Strong simplifications and drawing abstractions gradually led to a visual language discussed, revised, and refined within an exchange. In teams of two, the class developed shapes and symbols inspired by the many patterns they had already encountered in the exhibition. From the resulting graphic products, the Kunsthalle Basel team selected the four most expressive positions, which were then available to a broad audience as silkscreen prints at the Flâneur Festival in September 2024:
Over 900 interested visitors of all ages participated in the public workshop during the Flâneur Festival. They printed the freshly designed motifs on bags, T-shirts, or jackets they had brought along. In addition to the four motifs available as screen prints, all of the class’s results were produced as temporary tattoos and were available for anyone interested in taking them home:
The Flâneur Festival provided a suitable platform for the design project: the forms of expression of the young people, who were about to embark on intensive design studies, were presented to a broad audience for the first time and had to prove themselves publicly. Form and content were tested – could the exhibition reference still be recognized? Was it reproduced, or were their ideas also processed?
The participants left the project with a wealth of experience, composed of newly discovered works of art and artistic positions and the development of their creative reaction and formal language to what they had seen.
The project was realized with the active support of Susanna Filep, a teacher at Schule für Gestaltung, Gaspard Weissheimer, a Graphic Designer and owner of Druckbus, and Aurel Fischer, an artist and designer.
Contributors:
Aklin Aimée
Buess Salome
Campbell Eileen
Eich Frédéric
Fazli Alena
Franov Elin
Gallay Filomena
Gloor Miranda Cristal
Hersberger Alina
Hummel Sarah
Konrad Leandra
Kurdi Yasmin
Löhnert Smila
Mannstadt Nina
Pfäffli Nico
Rufer Marc
Schneider Silvio Natalio
Sotto Corona Valeria