If I could see all my friends tonight

Got an email about this today - anyone near London I reckon that this would be an interesting talk... where we see DUFI creatively just now

Erosion of boundaries? Check
Combined elements? Check
Artwork using Ikea? Check
Low attention span? (what?...) Check
An exciting new development? Check!

-FIN


SAATCHI GALLERY

ART AND DESIGN: FRIENDS OR FOES?


Alex Coles, Matthew Darbyshire, Scott King and Rick Poynor in conversation
7.30pm, Wednesday 2nd February 2011
Tickets: £10 / £6 students - Book now

A dominant feature in the recent development of contemporary art has been the erosion of boundaries and classifications. It is no longer unusual for artists to work across different mediums, combining elements from painting, photography, collage and sculpture into new forms. Even design, an area which has historically been regarded as a separate discipline, or even craft, has moved into the Gallery space and is being incorporated into the work of many hybrid designer/artists to wide acclaim. From graphic screen prints and radically sculptural furniture, to artwork which uses typefaces, iPods and Ikea, the dividing line between Art and Design is no longer as rigid as it used to be.

What separates Art and Design? What are the implications of a designer's use of a visual language in order to sell products and fulfil a brief? Is the increasing prevalence of Design a symptom of our low-attention span consumer culture? Is its intrusion into Art a threat or an exciting new development?

These are some of the questions that art and design critic Alex Coles, artist Matthew Darbyshire, artist/designer Scott King and design critic/curator Rick Poynor will discuss as they explore the contradictory and inspirational relationship between Art and Design.


Speakers:


Alex Coles
Alex Coles is an art and design critic. In 2002 he first used the term designart in an article, and since then it has become a major trend within the design world. He is the author of 'DesignArt' (Tate Publishing, 2005) and editor of 'Design and Art' (MIT/Whitechapel, 2007). His forthcoming book, 'The Transdisciplinary Studio', focuses on the studio models of Olafur Eliasson, Jorge Pardo, Abake, Martino Gamper and Konstantin Grcic.


Matthew Darbyshire
Matthew Darbyshire studied Fine Art at the Slade School of Fine Art and completed a Post Graduate Diploma at the Royal Academy. He has had solo shows at Herald St, London, Gasworks the Hayward Project Space and his work has been included in group shows such as Nought to Sixty at the ICA, Newspeak: British Art Now at the Saatchi Gallery and the British Art Show 7, a Hayward Gallery touring show. Matthew was commissioned by the Frieze Foundation to create a ticket hall for Frieze Art Fair 2010. His work is in collections internationally including the Kadist Art Foundation Paris, and the Arts Council Collection, UK. He teaches at Chelsea College of Art and at Kensington and Chelsea College. 2011 will see Matthew take part in The Shape We Are In, a group show at the Zabludowicz Collection in London and New York.


Scott King
Scott King trained as a graphic designer. He worked as Art Director of i-D and Creative Director of Sleazenation magazines. King occasionally produces work under the banner 'CRASH!' with writer and
historian Matthew Worley. King's work has been exhibited widely in London, New York and European galleries including the ICA, KW Berlin, Portikus, White Columns, Kunstverein Munich and the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Scott's first monograph 'Art Works' was recently published by JRP|Ringier, Zurich.


Rick Poynor
Rick Poynor is a writer, critic, lecturer and curator specialising in design, media and visual culture. He founded Eye, co-founded Design Observer and contributes columns to Eye and Print. His latest book is
Uncanny: Surrealism and Graphic Design, previous books include the bestseller Typography Now: The Next Wave and No More Rules: Graphic Design and Postmodernism amongst many others. In 2004, he was curator of a major survey exhibition 'Communicate: Independent British Graphic Design since the Sixties', at the Barbican Art Gallery, London. Poynor is a former Visiting Professor at the postgraduate Royal College of Art in London and has lectured and spoken about design and visual culture at public events and design schools throughout Europe, the US, Australia and China. Rick also appeared in the hit documentary Helvetica in 2007.

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