A clock-like mechanism residing on the façade of one of the towers of The Palace of Typographic Masonry, reflects the ever-evolving field of graphic design. This perpetually rotating instrument indicates the otherwise ungraspable structures of the field. When continuing crawling into the engine room, we arrive at The Mechanics of the Mediating Discipline.
Here, the intricate system of gears, balances, and pendulums reveals the forces and relationships that shape the field of graphic design. The main mechanism is set on two key axes: a vertical axis measuring a degree of the designer’s autonomy, and, on a horizontal axis, the spectrum between addressing a highly specialised audience and the general public.
The room’s collection reflects these contrary positions. In the drawer, for example, we find a self-initiated publication by Rietlanden Women’s Office, aimed at a very specific audience. By contrast, on the other side of the drawer, we see how the advertising agency Roorda developed a campaign to keep the Netherlands clean. The latter, designed on a commission basis, aspires to a much broader audience.
Despite appearing as opposites, they all have a place in the mechanism of a mediating discipline. Unscrewing the apparatus is what will help us better understanding it.
