What do performance and graphic design have in common? For example, testing communication, i.e. looking for ways to overcome cultural and social barriers, to persuade and surprise. The exhibition Always Avoid Discussions, Never Discuss by the collective The Family, formed by the tandem Tereza Rullerová and Vít Ruller, focuses on the intersections between artistic approaches and graphic design through the concept of performative design. This approach transcends the traditional boundaries of applied art and design as a technical discipline and opens up a space for dynamic, time-based communication with the audience. Performative design builds on the viewer's immediate experience, interaction and emotional engagement, thus transforming conventional ideas about the role of graphic design in artistic practice.
The exhibition attempts to legitimize these experimental approaches and present them as specific artistic genres that reflect contemporary trends and issues in visual culture. On the borderline between communication design and action art, the exhibition overcomes the binary division between artistic autonomy and functionality, thus transforming the existing structures of the visual and social world. The central theme of the exhibition is conversation - not just as an object of investigation, but as a mode of expression itself. The installation will create a space for a genuine dialogue that departs from the competitive nature of discussion as described by philosopher Gilles Deleuze. While discussion can be seen as a "waste of time", conversation carries the potential for transformation that the exhibition seeks to explore and encourage.
The performative installation will be facilitated by Tereza Ruller, who will actively engage viewers in the action, shaping an environment where dialogue actually occurs. This exhibition aims to become a playground for sharing and transformation, and to stimulate reflection on the new possibilities of communication design as a tool for social emancipation and artistic innovation. Following last year's exhibition by micro-influencer and tick-tocker Jakub Polách, Living in Society is another example of an exhibition collaboration with graphic design figures that confirms the futility of the essentialist division between applied and free art.
