100 Best Posters 22 Germany Austria Switzerland – Kulturforum| 16.06.-09.07.2023

In its 22nd round, the competition “100 Best Posters. Germany Austria Switzerland” presents new graphic trends in cultural posters, from neo-purism to visual poetry. The winning posters will be on display at the Kulturforum for three weeks from 16 June 2023 before going on a worldwide exhibition tour. Admission is free.

Fig.above: Franz Frommann (A), KillingYou Softly, Plakatarbeit aus der Klasse für Ideen in Grafik und Werbung, Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien, Digitaldruck, 2022, © Franz Frommann

Digitally generated or hand-drawn, typographic or image-based, loud or quiet – the graphic solutions with which the “100 Best Posters 22” communicate their messages show their usual great diversity. Nevertheless, a new trend is emerging in this round: an increased turn towards purist aesthetics and creative concentration.

Concrete poetry

The graphic design scene is currently particularly taken with typewriting, the aesthetic of the typewriter: “typed” and “stamped” letters are lined up, stretched, staggered, nested and overprinted until a visual poem in DIN format is created. At literary events such as Bibliotopia (Omnigroup) or a fairy tale festival (Mattia Marchese, Lukas Lüdi), the letter look is used just as much as in the visualisation of algorithms (Off Office). The letters of “Giselle” have formed themselves in a choreographic line-up (claudiabasel), “Re-Flex” goes round and round (Sylvan Lanz) and the art scholarship of the Helmhaus Zurich radiates in all directions (Skala Design).

Great pictorial gesture

The new purism also finds expression in the image: the reduction to a figure or an object goes hand in hand with formal minimalism. The rabbit from “Alice in Wonderland” (poster series Theater Magdeburg, Neue Gestaltung) and the drinks from the New Year’s festival Neubad (studio lindhorst-emme+hinrichs) appear as brightly coloured silhouettes, pearls and car tyres become format-filling circular forms (BANK™, Franz Frommann,) and plaits become fists (Golden Cosmos).

Competition, Jury, Tour

The competition “100 Best Posters Germany Austria Switzerland“, which has existed in its current format for 22 years, is evaluated by an annually changing jury. In 2023, 663 entrants participated with a total of 2,298 posters, of which 1,074 were individual posters and 335 were series. The international jury this year consisted of Yvo Hählen (Balmer Hählen, CH-Lausanne), Barbara Kotte (Kollektiv Scrollan, D-Berlin), Thomas Kronbichler (Studio Mut, I-Bolzano), Wolfgang Ortner (OrtnerSchinko, A-Linz) and Antonia Terhedebrügge (Studio Terhedebrügge, D-Berlin).

The competition will be accompanied by an exhibition tour. As has become a tradition, the first event will be the presentation in the foyer of the Berlin Kulturforum. It will be on display here until 9 July 2023. Admission to the exhibition is free of charge.

The exhibition will be accompanied by the yearbook “100 Best Posters 22” with all the winning motifs – details at 100-beste-plakate.de.

WO?

Kulturforum, Zentrale Eingangshalle
Matthäikirchplatz
10785 Berlin-Tiergarten

WANN?

Friday, 16. June – Sunday, 09. July 2023

Tuesday – Friday 10 am – 6 pm
Thursday 10 am – 8 pm
Saturday + Sunday 10 am – 18 pm