Exchange Image & Language with EESAB's 'design graphique'

In 8+8 the second year students from Rietveld's Image and Language department collaborate with students in 'design graphique' from the École Européenne Supérieure de Beaux Arts (EESAB, Lorient and Rennes, France).

For this exchange EESAB’s RISO printer is key. The students reflect upon the artists’ publication experimenting with the RISO’s possibilities and experiencing its capriciousness. The publication 8+8 is centered on ‘mountains’ as a topic, them being absent from Holland as well as Brittany while dressing our art historical background. Mountains symbolically pertain to contemporary political discussions reconsidering territorial lines of demarcation. They evoke (possible) cultural differences between two institutions as well, sometimes experienced as “insurmountable” obstacles, especially when confronted with each other’s language. 8+8 expands upon these and other aspects of mountains, thinking through the often paradoxical intertwining of artistic, cultural, scientific and political debates.

Later this year, the French students from EESAB will visit the Rietveld Academie.

Photos and text by Anouk Hoogendoorn