Course 2: Political posters? What Do Contemporary Art and Graphic Design Have in Common?
Course by Miran Mohar
July 16 – 20, 2018


Course description
“How to design political posters?” is a workshop that will underline graphic design as a tool for social transformation: the aim is to understand how to both transform political and critical ideas into the visual language of graphic design and learn practical skills and techniques. It will depart from two initial lectures, “What Have Contemporary Art and Graphic Design in Common” and “Political posters of New Collectivism”, and will use many visual references from the historical avant-garde to the present. Mohar will draw on his experience as a member of design studio New Collectivism (established as one of NSK’s department in Ljubljana in 1984), for which he co-designed several controversial political posters. One of the best-known examples is a poster for Josip Broz Tito’s birthday (Day of Youth, 1987); designers redesigned a Nazi painting by replacing Nazi symbols with socialistic ones, a powerful critique of Tito’s cult of personality. The poster was given 1^st place at a national competition, but was banned by Yugoslav authorities before it went to print. Participants in the course will work on their own poster, ideally loosely related to their respective political situation, with an emphasis on Kosovo. They will receive both conceptual and practical tutorial support (including instruction in InDesign, Adobe illustrator and Photoshop) from Mohar and his assistant; their posters will be shown publically with the chance for print in a limited edition publication.

Biography
Miran Mohar (born 1958 in Novo Mesto, Slovenia) is an artist based in Ljubljana. He is a member of the Irwin artist group and a co-founder of the Neue Slovenishe Kunst (NSK) art collective, the graphic design studio New Collectivism and the Scipion Nasice Sisters Theatre. Since 2008, he has held the position of associate professor and vice-dean at AVA, Academy of Visual Arts in Ljubljana and guest professor at UBT University in Prishtina since 2017. He is also a tutor at the SCCA World of Art curatorial school. Since 1983 he has made several set designs for theatre and dance companies including Randy Warshaw Dance Company, Scipion Nasice Sisters Theatre, Red Pilot and En Knap Dance Company. He is also a co-funder and member of architectural movement Maja Farol and a member of European Cultural Parliament since 2001. As a member of the New Collectivism graphic design team, he has co-designed numerous books, posters and other graphic design products for the following institutions: P.S.1/ MOMA New York, Museum of Modern Art Ljubljana, Kunst Werke Berlin, Irwin, Laibach, Scipion Nasice Sisters Theatre, En Knap Dance Company, Castello Di Rivoli, Kampnagel and others.