4 Seoptember 2003: 19.00-21.30 hours F L A G  V S  B A N N E R MORE INFO Symposium on corporate identity and the network society with Max Bruinsma, Thonik, Jorinde Seijdel, Daniël van der Velden and Mieke Gerritzen. Location: Nederlands Architectuur Instituut, Museumpark 25, Rotterdam. Language: Dutch. No admission. Reservation before September 1 at kim.thehu@janvaneyck.nl At one point identity was a lucrative problem for graphic designers, always with the same solution: being unequivocal. Companies, organisations, foundations, governing bodies, museums, aeroplanes, letterheads, stations, and who or whatever else came to be in the hands of a graphic designer: everything was given ‘MADE-TO-MEASURE IDENTITY’. Make all trains yellow, it grabs the attention. Stick a logo on everything, people know what they are dealing with. Generations of top designers used the house style as their manifesto: Paul Rand for IBM, Wim Crouwel for the Stedelijk Museum and Gert Dumbar for the railways, post and police. Those identities were made for a world in which a good cleanup seemed to make sense; the designer could create order in that world; once this order was in place, the competition between identities would of itself lead to new principles for yet more house styles. In the meantime, the identity of the Netherlands had been given shape to a great extent: money by Ootje Oxenaar, stamps by Peter Struycken, Wim Crouwel and Jan van Toorn. How orderly is this world now? How does a graphic designer know for sure that he really means identity when he uses that often-heard phrase yet again? Graphic design is no longer above the processes it once pretended to control and survive; design, good or bad, becomes garbage faster than ever, is a mass-consumer product, appears and then disappears again. With regard to identity, the NETWORK SOCIETY, with the Internet as its backbone, degenerated into a shadow world of fictions. Does not such a society, the society we live in, require a different type of corporate identity? During Flag Vs. Banner renowned designers and theoreticians will discuss the concept of IDENTITY. Flag Vs. Banner is part of the Meta Haven: Sealand Identity Project. For more information contact kim.thehu@janvaneyck.nl or +31 (0) 43.350.37.21 Max Bruinsma Design critic and writer, author of several publications, including ‘Deep Sites’ (2003), the survey on innovative design for the internet, and ‘Image against Image’ (1993), catalogue of the complete works of design group Wild Plakken. Former editor-in-chief of Eye, international magazine on graphic design. Thonik, or graphic designers Thomas Widdershoven and Nikki Gonnissen. Trendsetting design studio which tackles the everyday visual chaos with a cast-iron yet playful approach. Cultural signature, among other things because of long-standing collaborations with Centraal Museum Utrecht and Droog Design. Corporate tendencies, for instance through their recent house style for the Municipality of Amsterdam, in collaboration with Eden Design. Jorinde Seijdel Art historian and freelance publicist. Teaches media theory at the HKA, Arnhem. Publishes in such magazines as Mediamatic Magazine, Metropolis M, De Witte Raaf and Flash Art about the implications of new media for the perception and experience of art and culture; researches the (digital) archives as a cultural model. Mieke Gerritzen Graphic designer, together with studio NL-Design responsible for leading design projects and penetrating manifestos in the areas of design and network culture, such as ‘Catalogue of Strategies’ (2002). Co-initiator of the Maatschappij voor Oude en Nieuwe Media (Society for Old and New Media), and De Waag. Developed the identity of TV channel Netherlands 3. Designer for Paul Frissen’s book ‘De Lege Staat’. Daniël van der Velden Graphic designer and text writer. Makes experimental, editorial design work such as architecture magazine Archis and the flyers of exhibition space ROOM, together with Maureen Mooren. Initiator of Meta Haven – Sealand Identity project, in which a national identity (stamps, coins, notes, passports, et cetera) will be developed for mini state Sealand, together with the designers of the Jan van Eyck Academie. Flag Vs. Banner is part of the Meta Haven: Sealand Identity Project. For more information contact kim.thehu@janvaneyck.nl or +31 (0) 43.350.37.21