Photos: Arnaldo Morán
Uncomfortable Design is anything but a fluke. It’s been more than a year since, during the Design History Society Annual Conference in Barcelona, some people were cooking a unique project that would transcend the language barrier and it would be solved thanks to the talent of its creators, but above all, for the encouragement of dialoguing , interacting , opposing, thinking of other dimension.
This project includes a decade of graphic design of Cubans, who work in or out of the island, and Polish artists. From November 16th to 24th, the L Gallery of Havana’s University give life to its walls with colors, textures, refreshing shapes. Posters, CD covers, typography, interiors of magazines, books; formulas that are leading the way in the last 10 years of visual creation.
“The original intention was directed to form a project involving an exposition and a workshop. Later we thought of a design that would be different, transgressive, because our visual has always been revolutionary, opening doors, so it is recognized in the world, because it is more cultural. "Thus the idea was born, the curator of the exhibition for Cuba, Claudio Sotolongo, a graduate of Cuban Institute of Design tells us.
Curatorial criteria for selecting each of the artists went through a process somewhat sui generis: "knowing the work of these designers because we worked together at some point, and that was a starting point. Then other references began. Those who were interested handed me their portfolio and then I selected the works looking for iconoclast elements, hence the whole expo speaks of how Cubans dialogue with the visual from another point of view. "
Names like Jorge Rodriguez (R10), Alexis M. Rodríguez Diezcabezas, Eduardo Sarmiento, Darien Sánchez, Nelson Ponce, Arnaldo Moran, Giselle Monzón, Pepe Menéndez, Arnulfo Espinosa, Laura Diaz and the studios DeMilán Studio and Studio 99 are some of the participants in this idea by showing the way of this graphic design decade on the island of a thousand colors, images.
Poland is represented by the designers Jan Bajtlik, Dominik Cymer, Gravika, Tymek Jezierski, Alesandra Niepsuj, Karolina Kotowska, Bartek Kociemba, Fontarte, Kaja Gliwa, Marcel Kaczmarek, Hakobo and others to complete a 22-strong delegation.
Meanwhile, and it intends to work with the concept of extinction, "with all that that somehow is about to run or is running out in the world and not only has to do with biodiversity, but with ideas, ways of thinking, words, ways of making, production processes that eventually left. "
The climax will unite everyone’s ideas into a great piece that will respect the individuality of each of the designers, eventually they will return to the ancient school, of course, ignoring the potential of the digital age. Perhaps next year the experience is reprinted in Warsaw, until then, the pieces stay in Cuba with the desire to be exposed again under the same contemporary concept.
But "as any creative process we had differences, misunderstandings, conflicts, fights, but when the initial idea remains, it gets stronger, and then you can smooth things over. Besides, to work in a project online is different from doing physical; you can talk directly to the person; an extra communication that works, so it was difficult, complicated, and uncomfortable but the result was well worth it, " one of the key managers of the project told Oncuba magazine.
Uncomfortable Design. Ten years of Cuban/ Polish graphic design almost over its days of exhibition and workshops, but it has opened the door to a dialogue for visual art.
