THE MASTERS ACADEMY (II) Preliminary design as part of the process Roman Modzelewski: a role model for everyone
Project “Roman Modzelewski: a role model for everyone”
The year 2022 marks the 110th anniversary of Prof. Roman Modzelewski's birth and the 25th anniversary of his death. As a painter, designer, sculptor and educator, he was one of the most important artists of the second half of the 20th century. To mark this occasion, the Museum of the City of Łódź initiated the Year of Roman Modzelewski. Numerous events and initiatives related to Roman Modzelewski were planned as part of the celebration. One of these was the project "Roman Modzelewski: a role model for everyone". Starting work on it, we set ourselves the goal of creating a comprehensive cultural and artistic educational offer for participants of all ages.
The Year of Roman Modzelewski is also being commemorated by the Academic Design Center in Łódź. To mark the anniversary, in addition to the many events planned at the Strzemiński Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź, the Academic Design Center has prepared an on-going exhibition "The ABC of Polish Design," an exhibition dedicated to Roman Modzelewski's jewellery in November, and other events as part of the Masters Academy (a series of conferences, workshops and exhibitions) on the subject of "Design as part of a process."
The wide range of materials which Roman Modzelewski used inspired us to lay out unique new paths for visiting the Museum of the City of Łódź, based on the motives of glass, metal, paper and wood. The booklets - educational aids prepared in cooperation with Łódź artists and based on the principles of universal design - were meant to guide visitors through them.
Our source of inspiration was the figure of Roman Modzelewski, to whom we dedicated a temporary exhibition at the Museum of the City of Łódź entitled "RM. Roman Modzelewski. The Boat Town Dream". As part of the educational activities accompanying this exhibition, we decided to focus on a concept that was significant to the Professor: comprehensive education of artists and designers. In order to accomplish this, together with the Academic Design Center, we began work on organizing workshops and a competition, the winners of which would create the graphic design for the new educational materials of the Museum of the City of Łódź. The results of their work can be seen at the exhibition.
Workshops of the Masters Academy
The concept of their workshops, carried out under the theme "Preliminary design as part of the process", was simple: four lecturers, eight students, working in groups, during which the participants were given the task of creating both the concept, as well as the design of educational materials for the museum. Moreover, all activities were to be carried out using the elements of the design thinking method, the basic assumption of which is to understand the problems and needs of the user.
The work routine, however, was meant to be different from that practiced in the academic teaching process, where the task often takes an entire semester to complete. In case of these workshops, the final projects were to be completed in four days. In design, such method is often referred to as Design Sprint, which is a kind of internal
co-creation, working within a team.
The first meeting included a visit by workshop participants to the Museum of the City of Łódź and a tour of the exhibition with museum educators. The essential goals, communicative and technological priorities of the project were specified. The students were given the task by their lecturers to prepare a conceptual sketch of a series of posters and a short presentation outlining the concept. During the subsequent 3 days of implementation at the Academic Design Center, the participants confronted their newest and best practices realised in the visual communication and product pre-design studios related to educational methodology and new thematic concepts.
As a result, the students came up with eight unique ideas on which subsequent activities were to be based. The initial concepts were presented, discussed and evaluated. One leading design was selected. As a result of the clash of various ideas, the concept of a poster that also served the function of origami was created. It was to be the stylistic starting point for identifying the whole series.
The next step was the division of the participants into task teams. Each team worked under the supervision of one of the lecturers on one of the competition entries: maps, typography, illustration and poster. The following stages of the workshop were spent on intensive implementation work. On individual days, work was divided into two-hour modules. Each module was followed by discussion and brainstorming. This was due to the fact that new concepts and changes affecting the overall project kept emerging.
Each component of the final design was discussed and thought through: from the color signature to the typography, all its components, layout, illustration design and maps. All this was accomplished in four days!
The works created during the workshop were evaluated by a committee of experienced educators. The best submissions, creatively tackling both the legacy of Professor Roman Modzelewski and the task of targeting the youngest visitors, were awarded prizes in the competition.
Ultimately, four unique booklets - concerning glass, metal, paper and wood-were prepared for our visitors. The young artists designed creative educational solutions to help visitors explore the museum's exhibitions and interact with the objects on display. All the individual student presentations will be saved as part of a compendium of the latest knowledge on the subject and also as the second chapter of the entire publication entitled "DESIGN IN PROCESS" and will also be presented during the final exhibition summing up the series of the Masters Academy.
and development of cultural resources.
Workshop trainers: Mariusz Andryszczyk, Jakub Balicki, Łukasz Chmielewski, Przemysław Hajek.
Workshop participants : Wiktoria Bajka, Katarzyna Chramiec, Anna Kliniewska, Daria Łuka, Małgorzata Markowska, Julian Pawlak, Nina Symonowicz, Michał Szwarc.
6 pm – opening the exhibition "Roman Modzelewski: a role model for everyone"
6:20 pm – panel meeting with the workshop praticipants “Preliminary design as part of the process”
the Museum of the City of Łódź
st. Ogrodowa 15
91-065 Łódź
Exhibition is opening form 15 October to 31 December 2022
Organizers:
Academic Design Center in Łódź, the Museum of the City of Łódź
The task "Roman Modzelewski: a role model for everyone" - a programme of events accompanying the exhibition "RM. Roman Modzelewski. The Boat Town Dream" was co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage as part of the "Culture - Interventions" - 2022 programme of the National Centre for Culture.
The task of Academic Design Center in Łódź implemented under the Program Infrastructure And Environment Operational Programme 2014-2020, PRIORITY: VIII Protection of cultural heritage and development of cultural resources ACTION: 8.1 Protection of cultural heritage