Design exhibition offers shallow distraction

Miriam Rosner's Semper fortis Photo: Cercle Cité

Cercle Cité's latest exhibition sees ten designers from Luxembourg examine the current crisis, with new pieces released every week online to create an artwork fit for the Covid-19 pandemic.

In their roster of designers, Cercle Cité boasts artists such as Joe Leiner, illustrator Lynn Cosyn, award-winning graphic designer Miriam Rosner, motion designer and director Steve Gerges, and more.

The exhibition, entitled Design Decameron, takes its name from Giovanni Boccaccio's 14th-century literary work The Decameron, a story in which ten travellers share tales to distract themselves from the threat of the Black Death.

While our current pandemic is in no way comparable to the severity of the plague, there is something to be said for the need for distraction.

Since 14 May, Cercle Cité has released a new work by one of the exhibition’s designers every Thursday on their social media platforms and website using the hashtag #designdecameron.

The works released so far in the series cover a diverse range of design techniques, from Rosner's use of 18th century monochrome print to Gerges's cyberpunk-inspired video installation The Future Is Now.

Using different techniques and media, each design sheds its unique light on the current pandemic.

Rosner’s Semper fortis, for example, presents an anachronistic canvas replete with old-timey motifs of hot air balloons, bats, surgical-masked maidens and, of course, toilet paper.

Juxtaposed with Rosner's ahistorical escapism, Gerges's The Future Is Now reflects a sense of dystopian angst, with Covid-19-related hysteria funnelled through the Blade Runner-esque display of a smartphone.

Other designs by Lynn Cosyn and Joe Leiner use more striped-back visuals, employing stark and solemn geometry to represent the odd dualism of isolation and solidarity during lockdown.

Michael Reinertz is the culture critic of the Luxembourg Times Photo: Guy Jallay

Other designs by Lynn Cosyn and Joe Leiner use more striped-back visuals, employing stark and solemn geometry to represent the odd dualism of isolation and solidarity during lockdown.

While each design creates an interesting dialogue around the current pandemic, their contributions ultimately feel sparse and shallow. The commercial aspect of these artworks cannot be overlooked, they feel more interested in turning the viewer's attention toward their respective designer's firm rather than away from the current pandemic.

To frame these artworks, which make the pandemic their subject, as whimsical distractions comparable to the tales in The Decameron is misleading; however, perhaps this says less about the presumptive nature of the exhibition and more about our reduced capacity for art as sanctuary.

Either way, be sure to check out current and upcoming works on Cercle Cité's website and judge for yourself. The exhibition continues until the end of July.

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