Co-produced with Blair Thomson, Founder and Creative Director of Believe in
Part of DesignTO Festival 2021
Over 40 artefacts
Including posters, corporate identity manuals, brochures, badges, postage stamps, annual reports, and ephemera
Created bymore than 30 graphic designers
From Canada and Europe
Active in the years 1960 - 1985
The inaugural exhibition of the Canada Modern collection, a physical and digital archive of Canadian modernist graphic design founded by creative director/collector Blair Thomson.
“Canada Modern” features a selection of artefacts by trailblazing designers, active in the years 1960-85, who contributed to the emergence of Canada’s bold new visual identity during an exciting period of modernization for the nation. These designers honed their creativity and design philosophy through commercial work, as Canada experienced a cultural coming-of-age with major global events like Expo 67 and the 1976 Summer Olympics.
In the exhibition, a striking assortment of posters, publications, corporate identity, and ephemera come together to reveal a familiar sense of Canadian identity and belonging, with many recognizable symbols that have lasted in our national consciousness and urban environment through to the present day.
The exhibition is complemented by commissioned works by two Canadian designers selected through an open call, which seek to expand and disrupt a singular reading of the archive. Shelby Guergis’s design practice explores the visual language of nationhood, inviting the public to contemplate the role of personal histories in our conceptions of national belonging and home. Juan Saavedra approaches design through the lens of queer theory, presenting an overlooked history of LGBTQ discrimination in the workplace in the era concerning the archive.
Acknowledging creative reciprocity and innovation across borders that emerges throughout the archive, the exhibition also includes works by guest American designers, Antonio Carusone of Aisle One / Superlunar and Julian Montague.
