The Design of Dissent

October 15, 2019 —February 15, 2020

Dissent is an essential part of keeping democratic societies healthy. Our ability as citizens to voice our opinion is not only our privilege, it is also a responsibility. Without dialogue, the rights we have fought so desperately for could crumble. The Design of Dissent, an exhibition presented by MODA in 2019, examined graphic work addressing social and political concerns in the United States and across the globe.

Speaking out against tyranny and injustice has been one of the political roles that graphic artists have embraced throughout history. The advent of the printing press in the 15th century gave graphic artists the means to disseminate their ideas widely. Since that time, designers and artists have used their skills to communicate dissent, a task made easier with the advent of the internet which makes distributing posters and other printed materials much easier.

The posters featured in The Design of Dissent were drawn from two sources: a body of work commissioned and crowd-sourced by Amplifier, and an exhibition curated by graphic designers Milton Glaser and Mirko Ilic that compiled contemporary posters and printed materials addressing various injustices.

Exhibition Design by Susan Sanders

Mario Fuentes

Mario Fuentes

Ernesto Yerena

Ernesto Yerena

Trudy Cole-Zielanski

Trudy Cole-Zielanski

Will Brown

Will Brown

Andrew Lewis

Andrew Lewis

Copper Greene

Copper Greene

Kate DeCiccio

Kate DeCiccio

About Milton Glaser

Milton Glaser (1929 - 2020) is among the most celebrated graphic designers in the United States, having had the distinction of one-man-shows at the Museum of Modern Art and the Georges Pompidou Center. He was selected for the lifetime achievement award of the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum (2004) and the Fulbright Association (2011), and in 2009 he was the first graphic designer to receive the National Medal of the Arts award. As a Fulbright scholar, Glaser studied with the painter, Giorgio Morandi in Bologna, and he was an articulate spokesman for the ethical practice of design. He opened Milton Glaser, Inc. in 1974, and he produced a prolific amount of work in many fields of design.

About Mirko IIic

Mirko Ilić (b. 1956) is from Bosnia, and while in Europe, he drew comics, illustrations, and art-directed posters, books, and record covers. When he arrived in the U.S., he became the art director of Time Magazine International Edition. Later he became art director of the Op-Ed pages of the New York Times. In 1995 he established his firm Mirko Ilić Corp. His company designs for a wide range of clients, from pro bono organizations to the high luxury hospitality clients.

Mirko is the co-author of several books with Steve Heller, including Genius Moves: 100 Icons of Graphic Design, Handwritten, The Anatomy of Design, Stop Think Go Do, Lettering Large, and Presenting Shakespeare. With Milton Glaser he co-wrote The Design of Dissent. He has received numerous awards and is in collections of institutions such as Smithsonian Museum and MoMA, New York. Mirko teaches masters degree illustration at the School of Visual Arts in New York, and he also organizes and curates shows and lectures around the world.

About Amplifier, Inc.

Amplifier is a nonprofit design lab that builds art and media experiments to amplify the most important movements of our times. Its experiments are built on a foundation of free and open source art, the unlimited possibilities within a human centered design process, and the potentials when analog and digital technology merge. Together with their social change partners in both the for profit and nonprofit worlds, Amplifier builds media campaigns that shift culture and change the national narrative by drawing from a diverse portfolio of artists to commission. They distribute the artists’ powerful visual storytelling in unparalleled numbers through a creative use of media, reaching huge audiences and driving real change.

Exhibition Participants Included:

  • Alex Briseno

  • Alice Drueding

  • Alireza Mostafazadeh

  • Andrew Lewis

  • Armando Milani

  • Ashley Lukashevsky

  • Ashton Taylor

  • Brooke Fischer

  • Bulent Erkmen

  • Cedomir Kostovic

  • Celeste Byers

  • Chanelle Librada Reyes

  • Chaz Maviyane-Davies

  • Chip Thomas

  • Chris Serrano

  • Chun-ilang Leo Lin

  • Civilization

  • Coco Cerrella

  • Copper Greene

  • Dalida Karić - Hadžiahmetović

  • Daniel Jasper

  • David Tartakover

  • Donal Thornton

  • Duqudus

  • Ernesto Yerena

  • Fang Chen

  • Gina Kiel

  • Gregg Deal

  • Guerrilla Girls

  • Götz Gramlic

  • HAWRAF

  • Herman Ibanez

  • Icy and Sot

  • Jackie Red Fawn

  • Jess X Snow

  • Joe Scorsone

  • John Creson

  • John Yates

  • Jon Key

  • Josh MacPhee

  • Kate Deciccio

  • Koy Suntichotinun-Act

  • Lex Drewinski

  • Margarita Sada

  • Mario Fuentes

  • Marty Neumeier

  • Mata Ruda

  • Michael Mabry

  • Mirko Ilić

  • Mohammad Sharaf

  • Molly Crabapple

  • Monica Schlaug

  • Munk One

  • Natalia Delgado Avila

  • Nenad Cizi

  • Nicholas Blechman

  • Paula Scher

  • Ramzi Moutran

  • Rena Chrysikopoulous

  • Robbie Conal

  • Robert Montgomery

  • Rommy Torrico

  • Sean Adams

  • Shepard Fairey

  • Shi-Zhe Yung

  • Stanley Eisenman

  • Studio Number One

  • Tan Kien Eng

  • Tatyana Fazlalizadeh

  • Teresa Tsang Teng

  • Toni Tomasek

  • Trudy Cole-Zielanski

  • United Unknown

  • Wesam Mazhar Haddad

  • Will Brown

  • Wishmini Perera

  • Woody Pirtle