Environmental Graphics
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UDEM Exhibition

UDEM is the University of Monterrey in Nuevo León, Mexico. On the campus of the university is a Tadao Ando-designed building that houses the school of art, design, and architecture. The Centro Roberto Garza Sada de Arte Arquitectura y Diseño invites a designer each year to fill its two gallery spaces. karlssonwilker was offered to set up a retrospective, which quickly morphed into a combination of past work and custom made pieces for the show.

Gallery 1

 

 

 

The exhibition design followed both the restrictions of the Tadao Ando building, and the decision to dedicate the majority of the overall exhibition budget to free giveaways. Using standard 4’ x 8’ panels of MDF, the wall space of both galleries was filled with a variety of work. Building on past exhibitions in Sweden and Iceland, a timeline of 17 years of our projects—and personal events—filled the first floor gallery walls. Piled at the center was a series of t-shirts designed for the occasion, the mount of shirts being replenished with a new design every two weeks. Similarly, the second floor gallery walls were filled with a series of illustrative posters featuring 12 creatures from Mexican myths and fairy tales (including one very contemporary species). Visitors were encouraged to take home a t-shirt and their favorite animal poster.

12 Posters

 

Tour of Mr. Maussan’s house

 

 

Suit collaborators: Luis Othon & Miguel de la Garza (hat), Alejandro Magallanes (jacket, front), Jorge Alderete (back), Gabriela Rodríguez (pants), Flaminguettes (boots)

We also created a collaborative piece—Un traje por Jaime Maussan—culminating in the display at the center of the second floor gallery. Jaime Maussan, an infamous Mexican ufologist, was selected as the recipient of a special gift: a custom-designed suit. Complete with boots, hat, and elaborately embroidered shirt, each piece was sent to designer friends in Mexico City and Monterrey. Using heat-pressed vinyl and spray paint to apply their designs, the suit tells little stories about Mr. Maussan and his precious aliens.

 

Gallery 2

T-shirts
Jan and Hjalti being photographed for the local newspaper