Research for Brief: Bloomberg New Contemporaries

About
Exhibition has been on, in some form, since 1949
First year it's been in Leeds
Showcasing work from 45 up and coming contemporary artists

My first impressions
Lacking explanations behind the artworks
Everyone viewing the works seemed a bit uncomfortable
No one was telling us what to think so we didn't know what to think
The art felt inaccessible
I liked some of the art but some pieces felt too pretentious. I think it's ok to be pretentious to a degree, but when you isolate 90% of your viewers, it's too far.
The pieces I liked the most were the satirical ones.

The building housing the exhibition is very interesting, dating back to the 1800s. They have a traditional collection along with pieces by contemporary artists such as Damien Hirst.
The exhibition it's self was housed on the first floor of the gallery, up a grand staircase. The room differed greatly to the classical collection downstairs; it was a lot more sparse and airy with lots of natural light in the space. The high ceilings and large open spaces made me feel like I was somewhere very important.

I want to create a typeface which is both inaccessible and sarcastic, that will say to art lovers: 'here's some of that weird art stuff you love' and will say to those less well versed in art: 'it's ok. i don't get it either'

I understand this is potentially a controversial view point and would like to say that I am not disrespecting any of the artists, I am simply reacting honestly to my first impressions.



Photos from gallery visit: notice minimal information on placards.
Some photos from the catalogue - this was very useful as it enabled me to understand why certain visual language has been used in the individual artworks.
photo of exiting typeface of LAG for reference.

Out of the 45 pieces in the exhibition, 9 are photographs, 15 are 'traditional' art methods eg paint or pen, 8 are sculpture, 9 are audio/visual and 4 are 'other'. This was interesting to observe as it shows just how varied the exhibition is. 

There are notes in my sketchbook with my reaction to each artist's individual work.

Here is a screenshot from the BNC website:
It's extremely minimalistic and simple, with an interesting pop of neon pink on some of the text. 


When google searching BNC this image also comes up:


It only appears in one place and is the closest I can find to an existing logotype.




There are pages on the BNC website containing a lot of information about the exhibition, which I have found useful to gaining an understanding of what the exhibition's intentions are. The whole point of the BNC exhibition is to give a voice to emerging contemporary artists who may otherwise struggle in getting their work seen. BNC has been established for a long time (since the 1940s) and is well respected as an institution.