Three years after the seminal Project Versus exhibition,
About Versus Even if they’re not aware of it, every institution utilizes graphic design to pass on information—say, through well-executed posters, a recognizable logo, or the organization’s website. Though it is lauded mostly as an effective advertising crutch, graphic design is also recognized as a contemporary art form, not just in its industry, but by urban communities as well. Now, after witnessing firsthand how interest in the medium as a lucrative career and art expression has taken hold in the Philippines, the original proponents of Project Versus have come together once again to present a body of work that represents their ever-evolving craft, alongside stalwarts whom we’ve always looked up to even before the computer became an indispensable design tool, and young bloods who continue to push the boundaries of graphic design. Versus I The concept of Versus has always been about design collaborating with another tangible discipline. For our seminal 2006 exhibit, Versus: Design and Music Collide, graphic design studios paired with musicians to create visual representations of these aural artists’ compositions. Besides the exhibition, Project Versus also produced limited edition designer kits containing a CD of the featured songs and merchandise from graphic design’s best. Versus II This exhibit is dedicated to art advocacy, a catch-all term for promoting the arts. This is inline with renowned American designer, Milton Glaser’s Designism movement. An “articulate spokesman for the ethical practice of design,” Glaser and his Art Directors Club fellows birthed the movement in 2006, believing that design has a social intent to create a better world. Giving form to intent, artworks created for the exhibit will be inspired by the United Nations’ eight Millennium Development Goals (MDG). These goals– “which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015 – form a blueprint agreed to by all the world’s countries and all the world’s leading development institutions. They have galvanized unprecedented efforts to meet the needs of the world’s poorest.” VS2: Design Changes will prove two things: that graphic design is an ever-evolving art form, and that—as an engine of modern communication, it is an excellent platform for social change. VS2 is a satellite event of Manila Design Week. Venue and Duration VS2: Design Changes will run from August 13 until September 4 at Alliance Francaise de Manille. The cultural institution and gallery is located at 209 Nicanor Garcia Street, Bel-Air II, Makati City.
