LES ENTREMETTEURS

The Institut of Art and Design is an independent organization that works as a knowledge center and a platform of presentation for graphic design in Belgium. The Institut fills the gap left by the historical underestimation of graphic design.

The window displays a speculative view of the cloakroom and a library of the Institut. This exhibition questions the limits between art and graphic design that became hard to define. Rather than comparing them as two different disciplines, the Institut of Art and Design explores their similarities focusing on what unites them. It is no secret that these two disciplines come from the same source. One can’t survive without its creativity, the other can’t survive without its communication. The ambiguous position of the designer is due to his pivotal position, meeting point of several disciplines.

The different « entremetteurs » displayed in the window combine both practices by playing with the norms and the conventions of each of them. The entremetteurs often wear several hats : graphic designer, artist, textile designer, associate, entrepreneur, poet and much more. The different artworks, items and clothes displayed in a shop window, as part of an art exhibition, seem to have found their place. While combining different temporalities with older and very recent artworks, another speech is made possible by the association of graphic design with artistic artworks. The window gives the impression to enter into another interior where the content and its place enable us to imagine a new framework for both the history of art and the history of graphic design in Belgium.