Must-see graphic design and digital art exhibitions in 2023

As graphic designers and digital artists, we know that inspiration can come from anywhere. But there is something special about personally experiencing the creativity of others. That is why we have hunted down the must-see graphic design-related exhibitions that push the boundaries of design and digital art. From stunning installations to bold experiments with typography, these exhibitions celebrate the power of design to connect and inspire us all. So get ready to be immersed in a world of creativity, and discover the exhibitions that are making waves in the design world.

The Palace of Typographic Masonry

📍 Grote Kerk, Breda 🇳🇱
📅 through June 18, 2023
In The Palace of Typographic Masonry designer Richard Niessen collects objects characteristic of visual communication. From signs to ornaments, from methods and techniques to the history and practice of graphic design. The exhibition includes work by well-known Dutch designers such as Karel Martens, Hansje van Halem, Wim Crouwel, Harmen Liemburg, Experimental Jetset, Thonik, Moniker, and Irma Boom. In addition, designers Ott Metusala, Farah Fayyed, William Jacobson, Edgar Walthert, Benjamin McMillan, and Åbäke created new work.

Game Design Today

📍 Museum Gestaltung, Zurich 🇨🇭
📅 through July 23, 2023
The exhibition Game Design Today presents an overview of contemporary video game culture and a peek behind the scenes at the design processes involved in international productions. Visitors have the chance to try out various games and become inspired by the incredible array of characters, stories, and approaches.

UFO – Unidentified Fluid Other

📍 Nxt Museum, Amsterdam 🇳🇱
📅 through September 3, 2023
UFO – Unidentified Fluid Other cuts loose from physical life’s gravity and explores who we are becoming in virtual worlds. While artists detect the early tremors of our approaching digital existence, and developers maneuver bricks in the blockchain to build metaverses, public participants are gearing up to populate this next realm with post-human identities. In a world seemingly free from fixed social constraints, with no binary labels, everyone is ‘other’. Who we evolve into is – as yet – unidentified and fluid. Curated by Bogomir Doringer, with work from
Harriet Davey, Oseanworld, Julius Horsthuis, The Fabricant, Audrey Large
Jacolby Satterwhite, Lu Yang, Ksawery Kirklewski

Designing Peace

📍 Cooper Hewitt, New York 🇺🇸
📅 through 4 September, 2023
Designing Peace explores the unique role design can play in pursuing peace. Visitors will encounter a wide range of design responses from around the world that look at ways to create and sustain a more durable peace and will be encouraged to consider their own agency in designing peace through interactive installations, quiet moments of reflection, and opportunities for practical action.

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The Palace of Typographic Masonry. Photo: Graphic Matters
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Game Design Today. Photo: Museum Gestaltung
Foreign Nature - Nxt Museum
Explore ‘Foreign Nature’ by Julius Horsthuis in ‘UFO - Unidentified Fluid Other’ exhibition at Nxt Museum. Photo: Nxt Museum
Aerial view, Black Lives Matter Mural
Designing Peace. Photograph; Aerial view, Black Lives Matter Mural, Harlem; Designer: Harlem Park to Park. Photo: Alon Sichermon for New Kingston Media 2020

Digital Impact

📍 Design Hub Barcelona 🇪🇸
📅 28 April through 27 August, 2023
Digital Impact is an art and design experience between the physical and virtual worlds that will showcase the work of internationally renowned digital artists such as Refik Anadol, Universal Everything, Random International, Brendan Dawes, and Field, as well as local Domestic Data Streamers, Alba G. Corral and Antoni Arola.

Filipe Pantone - Prospective

📍 Kunsthal, Rotterdam 🇳🇱
📅 29 April through 1 October, 2023
For the exhibition at the Kunsthal Argentinian-Spanish artist Felipe Pantone has created a site-specific installation which, together with a selection of existing and new works. The exhibition Prospective transports you to Pantone’s futuristic world where technology and street art meet.

Give Me a Sign: The Language of Symbols

📍 Cooper Hewitt, New York 🇺🇸
📅 May 13, 2023 through September 2, 2024
From the STOP sign to the laugh-cry emoji, symbols play a critical and ubiquitous role in everyday life. As communication tools designed to break language barriers, symbols instruct, protect, entertain, connect, and communicate beliefs. Give Me a Sign: The Language of Symbols demonstrates how symbol design is a dynamic and collaborative effort through which individuals and communities have created, adopted, and redesigned symbols over time.

Biennale Internationale de design graphique

📍 Le Signe, Chaumont 🇫🇷
📅 22 May through 21 October, 2023
Le Signe, National centre for Graphic design in France, returns this year for the 4th edition of its famous Biennale Internationale de Design Graphique in Chaumont, France. Following from the emblematic Chaumont poster festival created in 1990, the Biennial celebrates graphic design for five months. Along with a rich program of workshops, events, lectures, meetings, and twelve exhibitions, the program will announce and exhibit the winners of the thirtieth International Poster Competition. Festive opening weekend is from 25 through 28 May, 2023.

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Infinity by Universal Everything. Photo: Universal Everything
PROSPECTIVE - Felipe Pantone
Exhibition poster for Felipe Pantone “PROSPECTIVE”. Photo: Felipe Pantone
Biennale internationale de design graphique
Biennale Internationale de Design Graphique. Photo: Le Signe
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Capture #2 at Le Pavillon.
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Skateboard at Design Museum

Capture #2

📍 Le Pavillon, Namur 🇧🇪
📅 23 September, 2023 through 14 January, 2024
Capture #2 is the second edition of a series of exhibitions conceived by the KIKK to make visible the diversity and creativity of digital arts in Belgium. The exhibition presents recent projects by artists who all use new technologies to capture the world in their own way. Curated by Marie du Chastel. [link to podcast]

Skateboard

📍 Design Museum, London 🇬🇧
📅 From October 20, 2023
The Skateboard exhibition charts the design evolution of the skateboard from the 1950s to the present. The Design Museum London showcases innovative skateboards and components, alongside skate photography and video, complete with original soundtracks. It tracks how skateboarders have taken over sidewalks, pools, and skateparks by designing new boards to match their performance, style, and environment. Curated and designed by industrial designer and skater Jonathan Olivares, this will be the first exhibition to explore the evolution of skateboard design in such detail. It charts how skateboarding has adapted to differen

We love to hear from you. Let me know what your favorite exhibition is or if you have other events you want to add, get in touch via email or on Twitter @neonmoire

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