Design Show in New York

This show's theme could be interesting for you designers and artists, some big design names are involved.

Control Print

A Collaboration with the Royal College of Art, London
Considering the Fate of Ink on Paper Through Explorations in Design, Craft, and Technology
Saturday, November 7 - Sunday, December 20, 2009
Opening Reception: November 6, 7:30-9 p.m.

What is the fate of print in a digital age? Parsons The New School for Design takes on this challenge with Control Print, a collaborative exhibition with the Royal College of Art (RCA), London, which explores the intersection of craft and technology. The exhibition will be on view from November 7 through December 14 at the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center. An opening reception will be held on November 6 from 7:30-9 p.m.

Control Print features works by a number of notable international artists and designers who play with the notion of digital technology. In this first American presentation, prominent members of the Parsons community create work in traditional, digital, and mixed media that extend the idea of ink on paper and showcase how machinery and technology can enter the representational process. First conceived by RCA as a research project investigating the possibilities of a customized future for digital art and design, Control Print also features the results of these experiments in a series of limited edition book spreads, large-scale artwork, and digital projections and renderings.

“The Control Print research project was an effort to elevate the digital press, and consider its place in the future of the printed page,” said Russell Warren-Fisher, co-organizer, designer, and lecturer in Communication Art and Design at RCA. “Partnering with Parsons has allowed us to keep this investigation alive through a reflective, cross-cultural dialogue.”

Among the featured artists are co-organizers Lucille Tenazas, Henry Wolf Professor of Communication Design at Parsons, Warren-Fisher, and Dan Fern, Head of the School of Communications at the RCA; Parsons-commissioned artists Andrea Dezso; Danny Durtsch, Jesse Hlebo and Arthur Ou; Zachary Lieberman with James Powderly, Evan Roth, Chris Sugrue and Tony Quan (TEMPT); Spylab (Benjamin Bacon, Glendon Jones, Kyle Li, and Sven Travis); and Allan Wexler; and RCA-commissioned artists Chris Bigg of V23; Sara Carneholm and Leah Harrison Bailey; Malcom Clarke, and Mark Wilson. Also participating remotely are designers Reza Abedini (Iran), Bruno Monguzzi (Italy/Switzerland), Leonardo Sonnoli (Italy), and Catherine Zask (France).

“We often think of digital technology as alienating, as removing us from the production process in some way,” said Tenazas. “Using the RCA project as a starting point, Parsons is exploring the notion that technology can also be a tool to re-engage, to adjust the tactile tradition of craft for the digital age, which is a particular focus of my work at Parsons.

In timing with Control Print, Parsons will present a series of related programs, including three intensive 24-hour workshops, where the public can view teams of Parsons students and faculty creating work that actively explores the boundaries between traditional and digital technologies. A symposium on November 7 will bring together a number of the participants, including Clarke, Tenazas, Warren-Fisher, and Wilson, as well as leading voices from the worlds of art and design, including Paola Antonelli, Senior Curator of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art, and Susan Yelavich, Assistant Professor in the School of Art and Design History and Theory at Parsons, who will discuss the future relationship of design, craft, and technology.

“This show is just the beginning of a long-term partnership between two world-class universities to explore urgent issues relating to all aspects of contemporary culture,” said Fern, who also chairs the RCA's International Development Group.

For more information on the symposium and other related programming, please visit the Public Programs page.


General Information:
Sheila C. Johnson Design Center


Parsons The New School for Design, 66 Fifth Avenue at 13th Street, New York


Gallery hours: Open daily 12:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. and late Thursday evenings until 8:00 p.m..; closed all major holidays and holiday eves.
Admission: Free


Info: Please contact 212.229.8919 or visit www.parsons.newschool.edu/events.