God does not play dice, as the saying goes. But time spent playing games has often been among humanity’s greatest moments – and puzzles are fun!
Visitors were challenged by the task to decode the individual lines of symbols from my »Genesis« on 7 m² and tell which parts of the text they belong to. The corresponding line from the text could be found on the back of the puzzle pieces. It was provided in English, as well as all the languages being spoken in Switzerland: German, French, Italian, and even Rhaeto-Romanic.
stirring up an old story
In our digital world, the number of pictorial symbols is growing rapidly. You decode myriads of them every day. You usually tend to do this semi-consciously and yet remarkably fast, even on very small screens – thanks in large part to the successful design of these visual miniature messages. However, very few symbols are universally understood – too large are the differences between cultures as well as individual environments. Still, stories have been told in pictures from ancient times to the present, in spite of and because of their freedom of interpretation.
In my translation of the biblical story of creation, I made full use of this freedom. That is why I was delighted that quite a few of the visitors of the MfG seemed to forget the time in this small and temporary area of freedom.
Again being a guest of this marvellous, venerable and renowned design museum in that way was definitely one of the highlights if my occupational life. That the Museum of the Printing Arts Leipzig presented an even larger version of my puzzle one year later made me really happy.
made in heaven
Alongside and matching this show my poster »made in heaven« was being produced. So if you wish to bring a highlight into your life too: reach for these stars and place your cosmic order here.