czech fresh design

Art is often defined as objects or works for aesthetic rather than utilitarian purposes. Design, on the other hand, encompasses subjects and products like advertising, architecture and automobiles, essentially driven by function and performance.

In spite of different intents, these two fields share many methods, approaches and practitioners.

If these intersections interest you, then the current exhibit “Czech Fresh Design” is your treasure trove: it includes works by artists from a school that teaches Visual Communications, Photography, Audiovisual Media, Animation, Marketing Communications as well as the Design of Graphics, Products, Architecture, Glass, 3D, Fashion and Shoes. What makes it even better is that school is based in Zlin, the 10^th largest city in the Czech Republic and home to the Tomas Bata University. Visitors to the gallery have a chance to see what the next generations are making in other parts of the globe.

 In a fitting nod to successful design, the university is named in honor of the entrepreneur Tomáš Baťa who built a footwear empire, Bata shoes. The Institute of Advertising, Marketing and Communications was founded in 1997, and the Multimedia Communications School was created in 2002. The motto of the university is to educate and to create.

The exhibit on view at the Czech Embassy spans the different subjects within its Multimedia Communications School. The students’ creations are fresh, whimsical, thought-provoking. An ice-cream cone doubles as the stiletto of a newfangled shoe. Is this both a comment on the trendiness (and disposability) of high fashion shoes as well as the craving women have for footwear trends?

In an introduction to the exhibit, a Brief hangs on the wall with the exhibit’s mission and intended audience. In the form of a memo, it states that the visitors will mostly be Americans, people who may not know anything about Zlin, and then added in handwritten script: but they know a lot about advertising and marketing. This is one captivating part of cross-cultural exchange: to not only see designs from other areas, but also how people in the USA are perceived by those living in other parts of the world. (For those who wish to know more about Zlin it is the cradle of functionalist architecture as well as birthplace to Ivana Trump and the playwright Tom Stoppard who was born Tomas Straussler in Zlín in 1937).

The cross-fertilization of people and ideas brings me back to the boundaries between the subjects like design and fine art. Andy Holtin, assistant professor of Sculpture at American University, commented on this most perceptively at the exhibit when in a casual conversation he pointed out that design programs tend to strategize to position their students for significant opportunities. He added that there tends to be more attention to visibility within design rather than fine art programs. Close by to where we were standing there was a book displayed by a student of Tomas Bata University which won the award for the most beautiful book made by a student in the Czech Republic in 2008. Holtin said that the vocational aspect of the design profession may drive these differences between activities in the different departments, but as he looked around the room he smiled and noted that design programs “borrow” the visual arts format by displaying their wares in such a gallery-like context. It is a fascinating space to visit before the exhibit closes June 30.