2018/09/26: Offener Brief führender Grafikdesigner*innen fordert die Stiftung Buchkunst heraus

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Anlässlich der bevorstehenden Präsentation »Deutschlands schönster Bücher 2018« auf der Frankfurter Buchmesse haben die Grafikdesign-Professoren Ingo Offermanns (HFBK Hamburg), Markus Dreßen (HGB Leipzig) und Markus Weisbeck (Bauhaus-Universität Weimar) einen offenen Brief veröffentlicht, in dem sie sich kritisch zur inhaltlichen Ausrichtung der Stiftung Buchkunst positionieren.

Die Stiftung agiere »wie ein nationaler Interessenverband der Druck- und Verlagsindustrie, nicht aber wie eine Kultur fördernde und von Kulturförderung bedachte Institution, die virulente buchkünstlerische/buchgestalterische Diskurse spiegeln sollte«. Vor allem in ihrer Rolle als Ausrichter des Wettbewerbs »Die Schönsten Deutschen Bücher« ignoriere sie experimentelle und künstlerische Entwicklungen.

Mehr als 20 Grafikdesign-Professor*innen führender deutscher Hochschulen haben den offenen Brief bisher unterzeichnet. Neben ihrer Kritik an bestehenden Strukturen verbinden sie damit aber auch das grundsätzliche Plädoyer für »einen alternativen und transnationalen buchästhetischen Diskurs«.

Wenn Sie den offenen Brief ebenfalls unterzeichnen möchten, besuchen Sie bitte die Seite https://secure.avaaz.org/de/petition/Stiftung_Buchkunst_Stiftung_Buchkunst_Wider_das_schoene_deutsche_Buch/?cFBbxnb

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Wider »das schöne (deutsche) Buch«

Gestaltung ist immer politisch. Grafikdesign in der heutigen Zeit anders zu denken, wäre verantwortungslos, denn (Grafik)Design beeinflusst unseren hyper-medialisierten Alltag so stark wie kaum eine andere ästhetische Disziplin.

Angesichts kapitalistischer Vereinnahmung und zunehmender populistischer Verzerrung von Sprache und Kommunikation muss Grafikdesign im Allgemeinen und Buchgestaltung im Besonderen, ein Ort differenzierter ästhetischer Verhandlung sein: Sie ist integraler Bestandteil unserer Sprach- und Schreibkultur; hier werden gesellschaftliche Übersetzungen entwickelt und umgesetzt. Das Wechselspiel zwischen Verhandeln, Erproben und Anwenden beschreibt einen offenen Prozess, der mindestens so viel Experiment wie Pragmatismus erfordert. Buchgestaltung primär affirmativ und in kommerziellen Verwertungszusammenhängen zu denken, ist eine unzutreffende und unverantwortliche Verengung, denn kritische Ästhetik trägt weiter als jede Marketingstrategie. Es braucht darum ein Forum, das diesen zentralen Aspekt kritisch-ästhetischen Kulturschaffens fördert und vermittelt.

Die Stiftung Buchkunst will ein solcher Ort sein. Lässt man die Stiftungsarbeit der letzten Jahre allerdings Revue passieren, drängt sich der Eindruck auf, dass die Stiftung »das schöne Buch« als marktgerechtes Erbauungsaccessoire mit Renditepotenzial missversteht und den nationalen wie internationalen Diskurs kritischer Buchästhetik systematisch ausblendet. Kurz gesagt: Die Stiftung Buchkunst agiert wie ein nationaler Interessenverband der Druck- und Verlagsindustrie, nicht aber wie eine Kultur fördernde und von Kulturförderung bedachte Institution, die virulente buchkünstlerische/buchgestalterische Diskurse spiegeln sollte.

Wir – die Unterzeichner*innen dieses offenen Briefes – plädieren deshalb für einen alternativen und transnationalen buchästhetischen Diskurs innerhalb und außerhalb der Stiftung Buchkunst, der die Bandbreite buchgestalterischer Reflexion und Innovation sowie das künstlerische Experiment spiegelt – egal ob dies am Markt, in Kulturinstitutionen oder an Hochschulen passiert.

Wir brauchen deshalb Jurys, die diese Kontexte nicht feindlich und hierarchisch voneinander abgrenzen, sondern herausragende Buchgestaltung aufspüren und zur Diskussion stellen. Sollte sich ein solcher Ansatz in der Stiftung Buchkunst nicht abbilden lassen, machen wir uns für eine alternative Institution buchkünstlerischen Diskurses stark, die Schulter an Schulter und auf Augenhöhe mit internationalen Jurys agiert.

Initiatoren:

Ingo Offermanns
Professor für Grafik
Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg
Markus Dreßen
Professor für Grafikdesign
Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig
Markus Weisbeck
Professor für Grafikdesign
Bauhaus-Universität Weimar

Unterzeichner*innen

Fons Hickman
Professor für Grafikdesign/Kommunikationsdesign
Universität der Künste Berlin
Ulrike Stoltz
Professorin für Typografie
Hochschule für bildende Künste Braunschweig
Roman Wilhelm
Vertretungsprofessor für Typografie
Hochschule für bildende Künste Braunschweig
Tania Prill
Professorin für Typografie
Hochschule für Künste Bremen/Department Kunst und Design
Andrea Rauschenbusch
Professorin für Kommunikationsgestaltung, Corporate Design
Hochschule für Künste Bremen/Department Kunst und Design
Ulrike Brückner
Professorin für Grundlagen der Gestaltung / Konzeption und Entwurf
Fachhochschule Dortmund
Lars Harmsen
Professor für Konzeption und Entwurf/Typografie und Layout
Fachhochschule Dortmund
Sabine an Huef
Professorin für Grafikdesign
Fachhochschule Dortmund
Andreas Uebele
Professor für Typografie, Buchgestaltung
Hochschule Düsseldorf
Victor Malsy
Professor für Typografie
Hochschule Düsseldorf
Sabine Golde
Professorin für Buchkunst
Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle
Matthias Görlich
Professor für Kommunikationsdesign/Informationsdesign
Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle
Andrea Tinnes
Professorin für Schrift und Typografie
Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle
Heike Grebin
Professorin für Typografie
Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften Hamburg
Dorothee Weinlich
Professorin für Kommunikationsdesign, Typografie/Corporate Design
Hochschule Hannover
Michael Kryenbühl
Professor für Kommunikationsdesign/Gestaltung mit digitalen und vernetzten Medien
Staatliche Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe
Sereina Rothenberger
Professorin für Kommunikationsdesign
Staatliche Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe
Ivan Weiss
Professor für Kommunikationsdesign/Gestaltung mit digitalen und vernetzten Medien
Staatliche Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe
Gabriele Franziska Götz
Professorin Visuelle Kommunikation/Redaktionelle Gestaltung
Universität Kassel | Kunsthochschule
Ludovic Balland
Professor für Typografie und Editorial Design
Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig
Stephan Müller
Professor für Type-Design
Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig
Sascha Lobe
Professor für Typografie
Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach
Uli Cluss
Professor für Kommunikationsdesign
Staatliche Akademie der bildenden Künste Stuttgart
Gerwin Schmidt
Professor für Kommunikationsdesign
Staatliche Akademie der bildenden Künste Stuttgart
Anna Berkenbusch
Professorin für Kommunikationsdesign
Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle
Stephan Müller
Professor für Type-Design
Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig
Dr. Roland Mönig
Kunst- und kulturwissenschaftlicher Vorstand/Direktor Saarlandmuseum
Stiftung Saarländischer Kulturbesitz
Indra Kupferschmid
Professorin für Kommunikationsdesign/Typografie
Hochschule der Bildenden Künste Saar, Saarbrücken
Renate Stefan
Buchgestalterin und langjährige Herstellungsleiterin des Berlin Verlages und der »Anderen Bibliothek« (nach deren Übernahme durch den Aufbau-Verlag)
Uta Kopp
Gastprofessorin für Typografie und Buchgestaltung
Kunstakademie Münster
Julia Blume
Institut für Buchkunst an der HGB Leipzig und Vorsitzende der Vereins zur Förderung von Grafik und Buchkunst zur Vergabe des Walter-Tiemann-Preises

Pressekontakt

Sabine Boshamer
Room:145a Le
Phone: +49 40 23 85 82 205
Mail:presse@hfbk.hamburg.de

Work by Clara Schmidt as part of the Annual Exhibition 2025; photo: Tim Albrecht

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Opening of the Graduate Show 2025; photo: Sinje Hasheider

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Pablo Torres Gómez, Earths's Ears, 2025; photo: Pablo Torres Gómez

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Maria Ignatenko, false movements, 2024, work in progress; Filmstill

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The cinema in the new film house, Finkenau 42; photo: Tim Albrecht

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Open Call: Redesign Democracy - Reimagine Voting; graphic design: Konrad Renner

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Park Ficiton, Palmen Feliz Nedra, 2003; photo: Margit Czenki/Park Fiction

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Blick in die von Nadine Droste kuratierte Ausstellung von Master-Studierenden im ICAT der HFBK Hamburg zur Jahresausstellung 2024 (im Vordergrund die Arbeit von Paula Hoffmann und Laura Mahnke); photo: Lukes Engelhardt

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Many people stand in front of a wall with portrait photographs

Work by Atu Gelovani at the opening of the Annual Exhibition 2025 at HFBK Hamburg; photo: Lukes Engelhardt

Annual Exhibition 2025 at the HFBK Hamburg

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A sculpture of a small elephant that functions as a climbing frame in a park in Hamburg

Der Elefant im (öffentlichen) Raum Hamburg

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Exhibition view on the occasion of Hiscox Art Prize 2024; photo: Tim Albrecht

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The cinema in the new film house, Finkenau 42; photo: Tim Albrecht

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"The New Woman - How Female Artists and Designers shaped the Image of Modernism", graphic by Liudmila Savelyeva, Karla Krey, Amira Mostafa (Klasse Digitale Grafik)

The New Woman

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Detail: Installation by Mark Morris; photo: Tim Albrecht

Graduate Show 2024 - Letting Go

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Julia Scher, Territorium, 2024, installationview at ICAT of HFBK Hamburg; photo: Tim Albrecht

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Sharon Poliakine, Untitled, 2023, oil on canvas, detail

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Work by Franziska Koepsel at Annual Exhibition 2024; photo: Lukes Engelhardt

Annual Exhibition 2024 at the HFBK Hamburg

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photo: Tim Albrecht

(Ex)Changes of / in Art

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photo: Miriam Schmidt / HFBK

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A disguised man with sunglasses holds a star-shaped sign for the camera. It says "Suckle". The picture is taken in black and white.

photo: Honey-Suckle Company

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Jahresausstellung 2023, Arbeit von Toni Mosebach / Nora Strömer; photo: Lukes Engelhardt

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Non-Knowledge, Laughter and the Moving Image, Grafik: Leon Lothschütz

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Amna Elhassan, Tea Lady, oil on canvas, 100 x 100 cm

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Merlin Reichert, Die Alltäglichkeit des Untergangs, Installation in der Galerie der HFBK; photo: Tim Albrecht

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Grafik: Nele Willert, Dennise Salinas

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Renée Green. ED/HF, 2017. Film still. Courtesy of the artist, Free Agent Media, Bortolami Gallery, New York, and Galerie Nagel Draxler, Berlin/Cologne/Munich.

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Amanda F. Koch-Nielsen, Motherslugger; photo: Lukas Engelhardt

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New studio in the row of houses at Lerchenfeld, in the background the building of Fritz Schumacher; photo: Tim Albrecht

Raum für die Kunst

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Martha Szymkowiak / Emilia Bongilaj, Installation “Mmh”; photo: Tim Albrecht

Annual Exhibition 2022 at the HFBK

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Annette Wehrmann, photography from the series Blumensprengungen, 1991-95; photo: Ort des Gegen e.V., VG-Bild Kunst Bonn

Conference: Counter-Monuments and Para-Monuments.

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23 Fragen des Institutional Questionaire, grafisch umgesetzt von Ran Altamirano auf den Türgläsern der HFBK Hamburg zur Jahresausstellung 2021; photo: Charlotte Spiegelfeld

Diversity

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ASA Open Studio 2019, Karolinenstraße 2a, Haus 5; photo: Matthew Muir

Live und in Farbe: die ASA Open Studios im Juni 2021

Since 2010, the HFBK has organised the international exchange programme Art School Alliance. It enables HFBK students to spend a semester abroad at renowned partner universities and, vice versa, invites international art students to the HFBK. At the end of their stay in Hamburg, the students exhibit their work in the Open Studios in Karolinenstraße, which are now open again to the art-interested public.

Studiengruppe Prof. Dr. Anja Steidinger, Was animiert uns?, 2021, Mediathek der HFBK Hamburg, Filmstill

Unlearning: Wartenau Assemblies

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Ausstellungsansicht "Schule der Folgenlosigkeit. Übungen für ein anderes Leben" im Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg; photo: Maximilian Schwarzmann

School of No Consequences

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Annual Exhibition 2021 at the HFBK

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Katja Pilipenko

Semestereröffnung und Hiscox-Preisverleihung 2020

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Exhibition Transparencies with works by Elena Crijnen, Annika Faescke, Svenja Frank, Francis Kussatz, Anne Meerpohl, Elisa Nessler, Julia Nordholz, Florentine Pahl, Cristina Rüesch, Janka Schubert, Wiebke Schwarzhans, Rosa Thiemer, Lea van Hall. Organized by Prof. Verena Issel and Fabian Hesse; photo: Screenshot

Teaching Art Online at the HFBK

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Alltagsrealität oder Klischee?; photo: Tim Albrecht

HFBK Graduate Survey

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Ausstellung Social Design, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg, Teilansicht; photo: MKG Hamburg

How political is Social Design?

Social Design, as its own claim is often formulated, wants to address social grievances and ideally change them. Therefore, it sees itself as critical of society – and at the same time optimizes the existing. So what is the political dimension of Social Design – is it a motor for change or does it contribute to stabilizing and normalizing existing injustices?