Seminar Ⅸ - Shin Shin (Graphic Designer)

The workshop served as a platform to discuss the relationship between curators and designers, temporary intervention, and how to expand an exhibition’s visual scope. At Shin Shin, designers transcend the mere production of enticing images to become the interface planner for exhibitive spaces and correlated publications. Curator-designer collaboration can push the boundaries of an exhibition through a betrayal of their traditional roles as commissioner and supplier. Shin Shin emphasizes the importance of studying designers in depth, just as we would study artists as curators. I believe that by repeating and internalizing this process of research and materialization, I would secure a valuable resource that could aid in effectively planning the visual map of an exhibition.

- Seunga You (DCW 2023)

The seminar with the designers of studio Shin Shin (Donghyeok Shin and Haeok Shin) took the form of a Q&A session in which the three participating curators engaged the two designers in a dialogue over curator-designer collaboration, the most meaningful works out of their 10 year career and their work process, accompanied by a visual presentation of their work thus far. The two designers particularly stressed the importance of design publications as permanent records of an exhibition, sharing their thoughts and past works to demonstrate the use of publications as documentation, and the significance of the re-experiencing of exhibitions through such records. They also addressed the pitfalls of issues that arise in the process of working with curators and editors, lessons they’ve learned in the process, the different desires and misconceptions of each party, and the unexpected achievements made amidst mutual intervention, providing an insight into the potential scope and possibilities of collaboration and the necessary frameworks of approach to such.. The workshop ended with the participants discussing how to take advantage of an ever-evolving media environment and the diversified promotional channels of contemporary times, prompting contemplation on how novel and unorthodox results could be achieved.

- Sangyeop Rhii (DCW 2023)

The designers from Shin Shin talked about ways in which design can intervene, partake in, and cooperate with curation. They explained that their work was about transferring the invisible to a visible realm and constructing the interface of an exhibition, while their work process goes beyond producing an output of the curator’s intent. They offer detailed visions of the events to precede and follow the exhibition as they attempt to fine-tune and intervene in the curator’s attitude and perspective. One could consider them mediators of the balance between curation and the exhibition experience, endowing shows/installations with a design-based system to create an impactful experience. The workshop enabled me to envision the intimate ways designers and curators work together to expand the scope of an exhibition using materials and images.

- Jieon Lee (DCW 2023)