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Object Timeline

2013

  • Work on this object began.

2014

2024

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Poster, Werkschau 2013

This is a Poster. It was designed by Felix Pfäffli. It is dated 2013 and we acquired it in 2014. Its medium is offset lithograph on paper. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

This poster promotes an annual showcase of student work at the Lucerne University of Design and Art, called the Werkschau, and was designed by Felix and Mathis Pfäffli, brothers who are both graphic designers based in Switzerland. To represent the multimedia exhibition, they designed a symbol of artistic transformation. Felix Pfäffli describes the poster’s enormous squiggle as the first stroke of the artist, which begins in the lower left as spray paint, before morphing into paper, then plastic, and then changing back to its original form in the top right. For designers in the digital age, media is endlessly malleable—a simple click can transform textures and materials. The squiggle is itself subject to digital transformation. Using design software, the Pfäfflis simulated shadows and highlights, giving it the appearance of dimensionality. Printed in bright red, their squiggle is volumetric and a bit voluptuous. As Pfäffli explains, "A brushstroke isn’t just a stroke anymore. It can be whatever you want."

It is credited Gift of Felix Pfäffli.

Its dimensions are

H x W: 128 × 89.5 cm (50 3/8 × 35 1/4 in.)

Cite this object as

Poster, Werkschau 2013; Designed by Felix Pfäffli (Swiss, b. 1986); Switzerland; offset lithograph on paper; H x W: 128 × 89.5 cm (50 3/8 × 35 1/4 in.); Gift of Felix Pfäffli; 2014-30-4

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If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/68743567/ |title=Poster, Werkschau 2013 |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=19 April 2024 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>