Reimagining a short story by Jorge Luis Borges – The Library of Babel – Santa Cielava’s pop-up book is held within a 59-kilo bookcase, which was produced in Latvia by her father. The project demonstrates Cielava’s love of precision and minimalism, albeit disrupted by chaos and disorder.
“I took every word from the story and categorised them into alphabetical order,” explains Cielava. “And to take it to another level, I chose to write the words by hand.”
Inviting comparisons to German artist Anselm Kiefer’s work, Cielava’s sculpture perfectly expressed the multidisciplinary breadth and intellectual ambition that dominated this year’s shows.
Christian Gyde’s stunning posters advertise digital sound artist Ryoji Ikeda’s experimental installations, recreating the disorientating effect of the “incomprehensible amount of information” in his work via type.
The otherworldly typeface Neu Utility was inspired by “the lexicon of pavement utility markings, used by local authorities as a way of remembering what actually lies beneath the ground.”
Inspired by Ryoji Ikeda’s 2014 installation Supersymmetry to explore the potential of live data, Richard Underwood’s project features ball bearings on a light box, which is mounted on two servos. A camera above is also connected to the servos and a Raspberry Pi.
“Code, written in Python, calculates the position of the eight balls and moves the servos to balance the centroid of the balls in the centre of the light box,” says Underwood.
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The data was painstakingly recorded, then represented visually in four different ways to create background textures for the exhibition posters.
Haruka Hochin’s reinterpretation of a Jorge Luis Borges story – The Lottery in Babylon – explored the role chance plays in life. It’s an intricate, experimental typographic system ruminating on the theme of illogical corruption, and is woven across three formats: type, image and a combination of both.
The process involved continuous iteration and experimentation, but the resulting work has strengthened Hochin’s passion for creation.
“I have come to re-appreciate the physical, traditional print and craft of graphic design,” she says.
For her final project, Hannah Martin documented observations, occurrences, thoughts and emotions in the form of a daily art journal.
“I hope people are inspired by the raw truths and honesty within my work, and find reassurance in knowing that they are less alone in the worries they have and struggles they face,” she says. “I found the project a therapeutic way to channel my negativity, and used it as an outlet for my self-deprecating thoughts.”
Next page: Our pick of the talent from Chelsea College of Arts
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Nick has worked with world-class agencies including Wolff Olins, Taxi Studio and Vault49 on brand storytelling, tone of voice and verbal strategy for global brands such as Virgin, TikTok, and Bite Back 2030. Nick launched the Brand Impact Awards in 2013 while editor of Computer Arts, and remains chair of judges. He's written for Creative Bloq on design and branding matters since the site's launch.
