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A-Z Galerie, Berlin
Counter Session #1 “Ever since the days of Mrs. Gutenberg …” with MMS
Thursday 18/08/2022, 19:00
“Ever since the days of Mrs. Gutenberg …”
MMS (Maryam Fanni, Matilda Flodmark, Sara Kaaman) in conversation with Gerda Breuer and Madeleine Morley
Departing from their book “Natural Enemies of Books – A Messy History of Women in Printing and Typography”, feminist graphic design research collective MMS invite colleagues to the A—Z Counter Sessions for a conversation on graphic design histories beyond the male-dominated canon.
“Ever since the days of Mrs. Gutenberg, women have been involved in the art of printing” writes the group Distaff Side in 1937 in their preface of the book “Bookmaking on the Distaff Side” offering a satirical, feminist, re-writing of book history. Decades later, design historian Martha Scotford responded to patriarchal and capitalist design history writing by inventing the concept of “messy history”, which could serve to acknowledge many more experiences and trajectories than those fitting into conventional design history books. Not only have individual women designers been structurally obscured in written design history, but also social relations and collective activities that deny or go beyond individual success stories.
This evening is dedicated to a collegial conversation about experiences from attempts made to contribute to graphic design history with names and stories that can allow for more accurate ways of understanding the past, present and future of the field. Invited guests are design historian and writer Gerda Breuer, co-author of “Women in Graphic Design, 1890–2012”, and design writer Madeleine Morley, for a discussion on women and labor histories of graphic design, collective struggles, research strategies, and history writing today and tomorrow.
The panel will be followed by a workshop where copies of “Natural Enemies of Books – A Messy History of Women in Printing and Typography” can be coloured along the edges using the traditional technique of marbling paper.
MMS is a Stockholm-based group of graphic designers Maryam Fanni, Matilda Flodmark and Sara Kaaman, collaborating since 2012 on investigations and writings on graphic design histories from feminist and labour history perspectives. They are the editors of “Natural Enemies of Books – A Messy History of Women in Printing and Typography” (Occasional Papers, 2020).
Gerda Breuer is a historian of art and design history and a writer based in Aachen. She was a professor at the University of Wuppertal until her retirement, along with a number of teaching positions and guest professorships in Germany and abroad. Her research and publications are devoted in particular to applied art, design, architecture and industrial culture of the 19th and 20th centuries. She is, together with Julia Meer, the author of “Women in Graphic Design, 1890–2012” (jovis Verlag, 2012).
Madeleine Morley is a Berlin-based writer, editor, and researcher originally from London. She is especially interested in histories of design, media, and feminism, often seeking to combine the tools of journalism and archival research. She was previously senior editor at AIGA’s Eye on Design, founding editor of Futuress magazine, and has also worked as an editor for magCulture and It’s Nice That.
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