Underscore designer Chris O’Leary summarises his top 6 favourite events of the past year.
The past year has been absolutely killer for creative events. As someone who is regularly crawling through blogs and Instagram accounts looking for to get hyped about a new piece of technology or a reimagined printing process, I haven’t had to look too hard. So to celebrate the (near) end of a great year of events, I’ve compiled a countdown of my top 6.
6. ‘Future Artefacts’ at Shoreditch Studio
A small but heavy hitting fair that questions the future of physical media. An absolute boundary pusher just behind Protein Studios in Shoreditch. The range of music, video and print all coming together and mixing was incredible. A special mention to REIFY for creating an interactive “totem” for the band Health that when viewed on an app brings the music to life.
5. ‘The Art of Burning Man’ and at Lights of Soho
A neon masterpiece of curation. Vivid, glaring and energetic. The exhibition showcases photos from the photographer NK Guy and sculptures from Shuster + Moseley. At every turn there were little coves of energy set up in a very demanding space.
4. ‘Guy Bourdin: Image Maker’ at Somerset House
This year Somerset House curated the largest ever exhibition of Guy Bourdin, the surrealist photographer created a massive stir with his editorial and fashion photography which was seen to be both vivid and violent. The exhibition was an amazing journey through his career as a protege to a master. Arguably one of the best set ups in the gallery was the projections of his work with sound played over it.
3. ‘The Chinese Photobook’ at The Photographers Gallery
An archive of rich, diverse and intriguing photobooks from a culture that in my opinion is absolutely killing it in the publishing world (see Daido Moriyama and Nobuyoshi Araki for inspiration). The exhibition curates a state of change in China from 1900 to present day.
2. ‘Off Print London’ at The Tate
The biggest travelling art publishing fair in London was never going to fail. Over 140 participants came and showcased everything from zines, posters and websites on every topic to keep you visiting every table twice. With special events by the likes of Self Publish Be Happy it was honestly one of my favourite events of all time.
1. ‘New York Art Book Fair’
at MOMA
This was a first for me, I’ve heard some pretty great things previously but nothing compared to what was happening out there. The sheer scale of the event put it miles above every other event. Encompassing every floor of MOMA PS1 and the courtyard it was close to a 3 day festival for the editorial obsessed. Special mention to Antenne Books for their stunning layered Araki prints.
I wish I could have listed every event this year. There were some incredible ones, and I look forward to seeing what 2016 has in store for the creative industry. Here are a few honourable mentions:
ELCAF, Pick me up, The Brutalist Playground at the RIBA, Serpentine Galleries summer courtyard exhibition, Human rights human wrongs exhibition at the photographers gallery, 100 years of graphic design exhibition at Protein Studios, the artist as collector at the Barbican, Safari Festival at Protein Studios.
Image credit to: Tristan Frewings, Getty Images for RIBA; Adam Ryder; The British Journal of Photography; and Chris O’Leary.