CRISS + CROSS design from Switzerland 1860 – 2007

Pro Helvetia - Swiss Arts Council invites you to a Swiss design exhibition in Ahmedabad and Bangalore. [ dated August 2008]

CRISS + CROSS has been curated by Ariana Pradal, Köbi Gantenbein & Roland Eberle

Ahmedabad
Partner: National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad
Venue: National Institute of Design, Paldi, Ahmedabad 380 007 Opening on Tuesday, 5 August 2008 at 5 pm Date: 6 - 14, August 2008 Time: 10am to 7pm (daily)

Bangalore
Partners: Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology & Goethe-Institut Bangalore
Venue: Goethe-Institut Bangalore, Max Mueller Bhavan Opening on Friday, 5 September 2008 at 6:30 pm Exhibition on view from 6 - 20 September 2008 10:30 am - 6:30 pm (Mon - Sat) 10:30 am - 5:00 pm (Sun)

The exhibition is made up of seven parts:

small + beautiful 
Switzerland is a small country and its engineers are masters of miniaturisation. The focus of miniature design has shifted hugely to now include apparatus such as hearing aids, pacemakers, digital cameras and computer mice etc. The objects are small, even tiny, and technically and aesthetically outstanding. A range of these tiny objects owe their distinctive appearance to Swiss designers.

the tiny helpers
Our arms, hands, legs and eyes are useful, but limited. The designer has constructed a range of implements and tools that enable us to clip and cut, dig and plough, scrape and stir. For use in homes, offices, kitchens and gardens.

up to the mountains
Featuring the tourist industry’s mountain railways, cable-cars, tunnels, chalets, hotels, posters, sports equipment, hats and gloves, all of which naturally has to be given an appealing design.

the longsellers
Swiss design goes back a long way: Toblerone, the Swiss army knife, the Swiss map, furniture by Willy Guhl, Le Corbusier or USM Haller.

hip + young
There is hard and fast competition among designers to create imaginative variations for apparatus, jewellery, clothes, books, food products, machines and everyday equipment. Many small studios design and produce goods and brands specifically for small, but dynamic sections, giving rise to a delightful range of colours and shapes.

a visual statement
In 1958, the designers Richard Paul Lohse, Josef Müller-Brockmann, Hans Neuburg and Carlo Vivarelli founded the magazine New Graphic Design, which quickly became internationally famous. These authors regarded graphic art as communication and no longer as applied painting. Thus they laid the foundation for corporate design, which quickly spread internationally. What began as New Graphics mutated into Swiss Style and later into International Style. A slide show presents about 300 recent works of graphic designers from various fields.

library
Switzerland has a long tradition as a book-printing nation. Books that boast not only about stimulating and intelligent content, but also so beautifully designed and are in demand across nations.

CRISS + CROSS is supported by: 
Pro Helvetia – the Swiss Arts Council 
National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad 
Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology , Bangalore 
Goethe-Institut Bangalore, Max Mueller Bhavan, Bangalore

The exhibitions in India are part of the jubilee celebrations commemorating 60 years of Indo- Swiss friendship. For more information click here.