Remai Modern Introduces Web Commissions and Visual Identity

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Remai Modern

Remai Modern announced its first web commission, My validation through my association, 2016, by internationally renowned British artist Ryan Gander. The project is curated by Gregory Burke, Remai Modern Executive Director & CEO, and Sandra Guimarães, Director of Programs and Chief Curator.

“Art comes first at Remai Modern, a commitment that is expressed through the launch of our website this month and the associated launch of a series of online art commissions,” Burke said. “The online realm has the potential to unsettle hierarchies, and in this sense Ryan Gander’s innovative conceptual work, embracing curiosity, mystery, and experimentation, is a perfect fit.”

In association with its pre-launch program, prior to the museum opening in 2017, Remai Modern is inviting artists to realize original projects exclusively for viewing online. On the first day of every month, new work will appear at remaimodern.org; past commissions will remain accessible in the online archive. Through these commissions, the museum considers its website an extension of its physical space and onsite program. Mobile and experimental, this online gallery allows for direct, personal encounters with art, while connecting artists and audiences across the globe.

Gander’s artwork makes use of a chair connected to Picasso, the definitive collection of whose linocuts is in Remai Modern’s permanent collection. In 2014, the Frederick Mulder Foundation in London added to the collection by donating 23 Picasso ceramics, along with a chair from the Madoura pottery, the studio in Vallauris, France, where Picasso produced his best-known ceramics.

Gander’s project is a Twitter feed by a ghostwriter he has engaged to create imagined musings from the “Picasso chair.” Follow the chair’s reflections @Picassos_Chair and join in the conversation.

Remai Modern’s new website and visual identity, also revealed this week, were created by karlssonwilker. In relation to the logotype, the New York designers explored a wide range of approaches. Very gradually, the “lower/UPPER” direction emerged as the best expression of Remai Modern’s intention to embrace critique and constantly question itself.

“The Remai Modern team is conscious that we are starting a new museum from scratch,” Burke said. “We are seeking to rethink traditional ways of doing things and thereby disrupt the expected. Karlssonwilker’s design helps define our personality as a thoughtful and progressive modern art museum.”

The logo system also incorporates Cree syllabics, representing the word “Saskatchewan.” Saskatoon has a large Indigenous population, and Remai Modern is on Treaty 6 territory. The museum aims to be a leading centre for contemporary Indigenous art and discourse, and a culturally diverse space.

The award-winning karlssonwilker design team works with an eclectic international mix of cultural and commercial clients, including MoMA, The Museum of the Moving Image, Creative Time, Nintendo, Warner Bros., Capitol Records, and Time magazine.

Report courtesy Remai Modern.