#BoS17

I’m working for the 17th Biennale of Sydney…It’s a sweet gig and I’m working very hard. On a completely objective level, have you seen the Biennale’s visual identity? Holy shit it’s good. Designed by font nerd extraordinaire and all round nice guy Barnbrook.

Currently the whole of Sydney is covered in sleazy Biennale pink (pantone #C1003E, indelibly etched in my mind). Barnbrook studio created a series of blocks inspired by the work of Harry Smith, who is a major point of reference for David Elliot’s theme ‘The Beauty of Distance… Songs for Survival in a Precarious Age’. It’s so striking en masse all over the CBD, and inevitably typography enthusiasts everywhere are pretty excited by it.

Barnbrook’s theme includes graphic blocks, irregular fonts and is an intentionally awkward mish mash bricolage of images and texts. I love it, I was initially reminded of Monty Python (and NOW, for something completely stupid…) and with some further research found out that those pythons had borrowed heavily from Harry Smith initially.

Not to get too gushy but the exhibition catalogue is a gorgeous book that I feel pretty privileged to have a copy of.