Reykjavík Grapevine - 12.09.2014, Blaðsíða 40

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The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 1 — 2011 40
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 14 — 2014ARCHITECTURE
The posters are Paolo Gianfrancesco’s
print show ‘Urban Shape,’ up now until
September 26. Each one is a map of a
different European capital, derived from
the open source project called Open
Street Map, which is like Google maps
but not run by a megacorporation that
suspiciously made its motto “Don’t be
evil.” As the name implies, it’s open for
editing by anyone, much like Wikipedia.
A closer look
Each of Paolo’s maps has the same
format, with a clean white border, the
name of each city in the language of
its respective country and a map key
indicating the different symbols used to
mark boundaries, railways, water, sport,
cemeteries, green spaces, military and
industrial zones. Paolo’s lines are thin,
precise, and without any unnecessary
flourishes. The aesthetic is clean like
Helvetica, as is the palette. The maps are
monochrome, each a Pantone colour. The
loosely rainbowish gradient they create
on the wall corresponds to population
density, which is also noted at the bottom
of each map.
The hashes and dots and zigzag
patterns of each topographical feature
are fitted together in Paolo’s maps like
puzzle pieces. Every map has at least
some of each of the symbols, so the maps
are aesthetically unified while maintaining
uniqueness. They point to how the cities
were shaped, either by physical constraints
like a mountain range, a lake or the ocean;
or a political division, arbitrary or not. The
uniformity of colour enables the viewer to
navigate the streets and neighbourhoods
and highways and other features of urban
planning with ease.
Comparing two cities side by side
is interesting, for example Reykjavík
next to London. Iceland’s capital city fits
easily into the frame, whereas London’s
map is so tightly packed into the 66cm
by 96cm rectangle that it’s bursting at
the seams. Reykjavík’s streets wend their
way away from the main one, Laugavegur,
dispersing the density of the city out into
the open green space. London is dense
everywhere, a haphazard crisscross of
streets and neighbourhoods and back
alleys all cut through by the Thames River.
These differences in the organization
of each city are easy to see when all the
clutter of a typical map is stripped away.
What’s this all about?
It all sounds like an elaborate infographic,
and in a way, it is. Paolo designed this
series to get the viewer thinking about
what makes a city a city. It’s a physical as
well as social and ideological construct.
Building cities and urbanization is the
extended result of humankind’s desire to
be close to one another. This is something
we’ve been doing since we were slightly
hairier primates, and in an exponentially
increasing fashion since the Agricultural
Revolution. Excluding the odd few who
want to live in the middle of nowhere
(I’m looking at you, ancient Icelandic
settlers), people have an innate desire
for community. Cities are inevitable
things that were simultaneously and
independently developed all over the
world. It’s worthwhile to think about how
their form influences their function, or
maybe follows it as the
case may be.
The context these
maps centre around is
an explicitly European
narrative. All of the
European capitals
are there, perhaps
drawing from Paolo’s
European experience
growing up. Europe’s
an important place,
no doubt, and
its development
and subsequent
domination of every
continent (save Antarctica) over the
course of hundreds of years remains
obvious. The capital city of a country
is unquestionably important for all the
intangible things it represents: politics,
economy, national identity. So it’s equally
important to look at the physical aspects
of what makes each city unique.
What’s art got to do with it?
The question that inevitably comes up
when looking at a show of graphic design:
is it art? The place
it’s housed in doesn’t
call itself a gallery,
but does being in a
gallery necessitate
something as art?
Graphic design has a
few main purposes,
seemingly: to make
something marketable,
aesthetically pleasing
and to shift units. But
then there are places
like Christie’s and
Sotheby’s auction
houses where pure,
real, true art is sold
for millions of dollars,
ostensibly to decorate the home of
someone rich enough to afford it. In a
traditional gallery, the price of every piece
for sale is usually listed on the title card. It’s
the same with graphic design, usually in a
less obvious way. A price is paid for each
piece of design, and sometimes graphic
designers make something just because
they want to, and don’t sell it.
Paolo’s show at Spark Design Space
is indisputably graphic design, but it’s
arguably also art. The definitions of such
things are blurry and frequently up for
debate. Maybe Paolo had no intentions
of any of this being seen as art, but
the function of art is to communicate
something and that’s exactly what this
series does. Yes, it’s going to be taken
down from the wall, and each piece will
probably be sold, along with the other
multiples of the pieces. But this is what
happens to pieces in a traditional white
wall gallery, too. Artists have to make a
living and really, galleries can be seen
as just stores that sell art. So distinction
really has to be made between graphic
design and art? I contend that in terms of
reviewing something hung up in a building
for the purpose of public viewing, no, a
distinction does not have to be made.
Each map that Paolo has designed
and printed is the pure city, displayed like
a cross section of a cell. At 1:20,000 scale,
they’re easily digestible as a collection,
and yet pleasingly intricate when viewed
up close. The prints raise questions
and provoke thoughtfulness about city
planning, urbanization and crowding,
among other issues that come along
with living in a city. These abstract urban
concepts rest alongside the physical
representation of each urban centre to
create a European narrative.
Spark Design Space has a clean minimalist facade, a wel-
come place to rest your eyes next to the garishly painted
corrugated tin front of its neighbour Kiki. The large glass
windows show the dozens of posters tiled on the back walls
of the building, each in a different colour and arranged to
make a gradient from purple to red to orange to green in
more subtle counterpoint to Kiki’s unsubtle rainbow.
Words
Rebecca Scott Lord
Photo
Nanna Dís
“The capital city of a
country is unquestion-
ably important for all
the intangible things
it represents: politics,
economy, national
identity. So it’s equally
important to look at
the physical aspects
of what makes each
city unique.”
Urbanization
On Paper:
A European
Narrative
Gourmet Experience
- Steaks and Style at Argentina Steakhouse
Barónsstíg 11 - 101 Reykjavík
Tel: 551 9555
argentina.is
Italian born, Reykjavík-based
Paolo Gianfrancesco (1976) re-
ceived a degree in architecture
from the University of Florence.
His work ranges from architec-
tural design to photography to
cooking to this showcase of his
design work.
www.paologianfrancesco.com
INFO
Spark Design Space sparkdesignspace.comUntil September 26Urban Shape
R E V I E W
ART