CGD

Established in 2013, the Parallel Practice studio's (Jan Brož and Michal Landa) first major project was to design the visual identity for the FUTURA Centre for Contemporary Art. Its visual system is organically created with each exhibition providing stimuli for new forms represented by uppercase letters of the alphabet: M (for Milovan Ferronato) features a stylised stellarator which confines hot plasma, C (for Cristina David) is based on a scan of the brain's activity during reading, 2 (for Pavel Sterec and Roee Rosen) refers to the installation design and joinery, K (for Karol Radziszewski) follows up on Radziszewski's work on the controversy surrounding artist Natalia LL in New York in the 1970s and F (for Graphic design) is for what was later to become the gallery's logo, etc. All solutions for the individual exhibitions were designed based on extensive research, the existing work of the individual exhibitors and graphic and visual references. The individual letters also serve as motifs for invitation cards, posters and promo materials. The Parallel Practice studio aims at erasing the differences between the fine arts and graphic design, by fulfilling the vision of original designer work in cultural and commercial sectors and highlights the theme of the ethical and social aspects and identities of cultural institutions, corporate brands and the graphic arts. In this sense and in the context of our country, this project is a very self-confident and exceptional work in that it ignores local practices and absents itself, to a certain degree, from both economic and organisational methods of self- preservation. It is also a major contribution to the international scene.

Pavla Pauknerová