On Display. How Graphic Design Shapes Us
Food packaging, digital user interfaces, advertising spaces and wayfinding systems in public spaces: graphic design shapes our everyday lives and influences how we perceive and interact with our surroundings – often without us being consciously aware of it.
The exhibition “On Display. How Graphic Design Shapes Us” explores the social dimension of graphic design from 21 August to 8 November 2026, examining its influence in times of political, technological and social change. The exhibition is curated by Dr Jonas Deuter.
Design Between Knowledge, Change and Technology
How information is presented also influences what we know – or believe we know. Under the title “Design Macht Wissen” (Design Power(s) Knowledge), Robin Coenen and Danielle Rosales explore how graphic design shapes and communicates knowledge. Numbers, data and facts are never entirely neutral in their presentation: they are arranged, prioritised and visualised. Every design decision is therefore also a decision about content.
The tools used in the design process are not neutral either. The development of generative artificial intelligence is opening up new possibilities while also raising fundamental questions for graphic design. In their video installation “re constructed”, Aline Bavier and Sophia Becker process shared childhood and adolescent memories using generative image models. Here, media, methods and tools become co-authors of the resulting images.
With “Glossary of Undisciplined Design”, Anja Kaiser and Rebecca Stephany, together with other authors, ultimately challenge traditional ideas about graphic design. Rather than seeking fixed rules, the project advocates an open understanding of the discipline, shaped by collaboration, multiple voices and critical reflection.
