Shaping protest

: From Otl Aicher to Today

On the occasion of the 100th birthday of Otl Aicher (1922-1991), one of the most influential communication designers of the 20th century, the Museum Ulm presents an exhibition that focuses on the design of opposition and protest in international contemporary culture.

Protest and civil disobedience were strong traits of Otl Aicher’s political thinking. Already as a youth he developed a resistant attitude, initially against the appropriation by the National Socialist regime of injustice. Later, his opposition developed into a public confession. It was formative for his design work.

In connection with Otl Aicher’s concerns and the major protest movements of the recent past, the exhibition also shows works and series of works by international artists and graphic artists. In paintings, drawings, image montages, poster and flyer campaigns, neon signs, billboards, videos and animations, they deal with slogans, symbols, gestures and signals of resistance, enlightenment and protest on the topics of environment, peace, democracy, consumption, health, human rights, equality and diversity.

Via the platform nextmuseum.io, artists, creative opinion leaders, activists, students and pupils have also been invited to submit their central ideas and motifs of indignation, contradiction and opposition in imaginative formulations and visualisations, which will be given a forum in the exhibition.

With works by

Otl Aicher, Noma Bar, AA Bronson, Jeremy Deller, (Frank) Shepard Fairey, Parastou Forouhar, Grapus, Guerilla Girls, Tina Hage, Jenny Holzer, Jeff Hong, Mitsuo Katsui, Barbara Kruger, Luba Lukova, Tine Melzer, Pierre Mendell, Csaba Nemes, Mohamed Ben Soltane, Klaus Staeck, Jinoos Taghizadeh, Oliviero Toscani, Tomi Ungerer, Jan Wilker

Funded by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes (German Federal Cultural Foundation)

Funded by the Beauftragte der Bundesregierung Kultur und Medien (Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media)