2008 
Sold or sell-out ? The graphical contract

56th Graphic Culture Week, from August 17 to 23

The graphics « contract » : order placed, creation made, payment received. Sometimes it is not as simple as that.

When a graphic artist asks himself or herself « what is my creation really worth ? », he or she will often hear an inner, doubting voice adding « in the marketplace ? »
And thus this tantalising relationship with money can lead to embarrassing silences or feelings of awkwardness. Most of the time the most important question is avoided : is it just by chance that it is in the world of graphism that the tensions between the creative and the commercial seem at their strongest ? Perhaps the answer lies in studying the terms of the contract.

Graphism and typography seem to provide a special playing-field upon which the game of creativity and added-value is played out. And it is a game which can inflict dizziness on its players, through worry or intoxication.

Join in the game with its encounters and images, in words and in…figures, between graphists, typographers, photographers, historians, researchers and just the occasional surprise player.