Studio Tillack Knöll, Design Practice

Collaborating with director Stephan Rößler, we’ve crafted identities for Städtische Galerie Villingen-Schwenningen’s exhibitions since their 2021 reopening. These identities are reflected in posters, animations, websites, spatial graphics, and exhibition furniture. Our approach prioritizes the exhibition content. While adhering to the municipality’s design guidelines, we push their boundaries and fuse them with our innovative concepts.

Our design of the »Auf nach Japan!« [Off To Japan!] exhibition stands out through its diverse array of graphics, oil paintings, and woodcuts, all gathered under the theme of Japonism that prevailed around 1900. The narratives of the traveling artists, showcasing their imaginative or reality-shocking images, necessitated an extensive range of exhibition graphics and furniture.

Spanning eleven sections, we present a diverse array of artistic works through various communicative methods. Additionally, the exhibition is complemented by a catalog that adds an informative textual layer, providing a comprehensive exploration of the showcased pieces.

For »Auf nach Japan!« [Off to Japan!] we also designed a brochure with texts by director Stephan Rößler and curator Dr. Judith Knippschild. Furthermore, it elegantly presents the exhibition’s pieces alongside introductory texts.

Compact one-page websites serve as a pivotal element across various identities. Each exhibition features a digital exhibition reader in addition to traditional printed materials.

»Utopie Heimat« [Home, A Utopia] encapsulates the pervasive essence of the German term »Heimat,« akin to »home.« In celebration of Villingen-Schwenningen’s 50-year anniversary, this exhibition showcases artistic perspectives that converge to explore the heartfelt quest for a sense of homely refuge.

Poster and exhibition flyer/invitation card highlight the artwork »Mehmet E. im Alttanner Wald« by Ferhat Ayne (2013). Beyond print materials, these identities find expression in digital formats such as animations, employed both within the gallery and across social media platforms.

Current prevalence of digitalization has significantly influenced the concept of the future’s political agenda. Employing the euphemistic title of the Hamburg band Tocotronic’s song »Digital ist besser« [Digital is better], the exhibition features artists who explore the interplay between nature and technology’s spatial dynamics.

»How To Access Art«, curated by Stephan Rößler and Cora von Pape, showcased works that scrutinized the gallery – once an entrepreneurial villa – in terms of its architectural, social, historical, and political dimensions. This exhibition centered around the accessibility of art: How is art accessed? By whom? It delved into the physical and mental challenges that must be surmounted to engage with art.

Conversely, we examined visitors’ interaction with the exhibition using the media we devised, intentionally enhancing difficulty through typography and color. By overprinting fonts and glyphs specially crafted for the event, we crafted a fresh alphabet, contributing to a unique visual experience.