AIB DESIGN EXPO

Seniors’ show grows larger, longer

By COLIN ASHER

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The Art Institute of Boston's graduating seniors were given a lot of rope this year. Every year the Institute has a show to display the work of their graduating class. This year they handed control of the affair to the students; they gave them the opportunity to sink or swim. They swam.

"We gave them permission and we got out of the way," Nathan Felde, chair of the design department, says. "It's a great motivator." The end result of the students' efforts is the first AIB Design Expo, entitled "tag: we're it." The Art Institute's senior show is normally a small affair, held on school grounds. This year it will be held at the theater in Fort Point Channel, and it will span an entire weekend.

Because design is "a method of action, not a medium," as Felde says, there will be a huge range of work shown. (Students in the show will be displaying digital, screen-printed, letterpress and offset-printed work.) The art displayed will be created by using design methods from "500 years ago, til 500 years from now," Felde jokes. The piece that is getting the most attention so far is an interactive re-design of the advertising component of a standard bus kiosk.

The show is a way for the school's graduating students to step out into the world, a debutante's ball for new design professionals. Twenty six students will be showing their work at the Expo, including a few who completed classes in December and will be returning to show alongside newer graduates. Creating the exhibition was a bold enterprise whose success was not guaranteed, but as it nears D-Day, it is "gathering speed and momentum and has catalyzed the whole class," Felde says.

The entire show, in a way, was a design problem for the students to solve. Each graduate had to ask themselves, "How do you want to present yourself to the world?" Felde says. "That becomes a design decision all on its own." Each student was given a booth to do with as they pleased; the remaining space was collectively designed. There were also mundane details like money and logistics—for the show to take off the students needed to track down and confirm sponsors and volunteers. In testament to their business acumen, they were able to secure serious sponsorship.

The keynote speaker will be Randy Hunt, founder of Citizen Scholar, a design consulting firm that works with non-profits, artists and social entrepreneurs. Choosing Hunt was appropriate, Felde says, because "design has changed from being simply about form and function to being complex and about context and connections."

The show is garnering much more attention than any Art Institute graduate show has in the past, Felde says. Its success has inspired next year's graduates, who are already beginning to think about 2009's Expo.

THE FIRST ANNUAL AIBOSTON DESIGN EXPOSITION

SAT.-SUN. 5.10-5.11

SAT. 6PM-10PM, KEYNOTE 8PM

SUN. NOON-5PM

MIDWAY THEATER

15 CHANNEL CENTER ST.

FORT POINT CHANNEL

BOSTON

617.460.6898

WEB.LESLEY.EDU/AIB