How Modern Signs Have Become a Part of Modern Art

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How Modern Signs Have Become a Part of Modern Art



The world of modern art swirls in paintings, exhibits and impactful messages. This is an ever-evolving world that unsurprisingly changes with the times. So it’s rather an expected and pleasant turn of events that modern- and antique- architectural signs have become an integral part of the modern art space.

When someone thinks of a sign, it’s often side-lined or passed over as an afterthought- a flippant tag explaining the name, origin, intention, or relevance of an artwork, exhibition or building- but this is not always the case. Sometimes, and increasingly in recent times, signage has been adopted to become integral to the design of an artwork or building.

A brilliant example of signs being integrated into exhibits is the Worcester Art Museum where Director of Audience Engagement, Adam Rozen indulged in his love of signs in museums, using signage innovatively to revitalise the 117-year old gallery.

Describing signs such as the typical “Please Do Not Touch The Artwork” -that warns curious visitors to keep their hands to themselves- peppered around galleries as “truly one of his favourite things about museums”, Rozen is passionate about having friendlier, more interactive signs around his museum. Speaking at MuseumNext, Indianapolis in September 2016, he explained that signage has the unique ability as an art form to make visits to the museum more meaningful through its engaging design.

Signs which marry masterful typography with architecture brilliance tend to be eye-catching not only in the confines of a gallery, but on the streets lining the world. An unidentified building in San Francisco, California is the perfect instance where the beauty of type and the poignant art of poetry merges together to add an emotive air of mystery to what would otherwise be another mere man-made structure.

Another example of such architectural signs include the embellishment ‘In These Stones, Horizons Sing’ written in both Welsh and English at the Wales Millennium Center in Cardiff. This inscription written by Welsh poet Gwyneth Lewis is a bold reflection of the architecture of the arts centre which stages everything from opera and ballet to comedy and musicals. The message “that even the stones inside the theatre literally sing with opera, musicals and orchestral music” is so successfully conveyed by this clever use of signage.

The induction of modern signs into the art world isn’t confined to UK and Wales. The House of Terror in Budapest is a building – where the basement was used as a torture chamber- that was once leased by Hungarian Nazis, also housing two Communist organisations. In keeping with the sombre and dark history of this building, the word ‘TERROR’ is featured prominently on the roof. Though the choice of words may seem sensationalist, it is fitting as the cut-out of the word serves a purpose of enhancing the metallic overhang of the building; intimidating, foreboding and indicating the all too real horrors that took place within the confines of its architecture.

Going beyond borders, to Japan, the art world continues its innovation. The Fukutake House is a migrating project started by seven leading galleries in Japan to bring art to the rural communities of the country. Moving locations, and pushing reinvention, the project succeeds in eliminating the isolation that certain groups of people feel, but it’s 2010 incarnation stands out as the most memorable to date. Using a typographic installation stretching across the structure of an elementary school, the project once again proved the growing importance of signage in art.

Standard signs are vintage, and here to stay as they decorate buildings and star in their own exhibits. But when talking about evolution at any given time about any given industry, it’s hard not to mention the role of the digital age – the art world is no different.

Architectural and tangible signage have a charm of their own but they also tend to drive an artist’s budget up in an already expensive field of work. So the cheaper alternative? Digital signage. With recent technology, artists can enjoy low processing cost, while still maintaining high quality as well as engaging art lovers.

Services like Screenly, which provide affordable value digital options for signs, are a boon to the art sector; inducting them into the expanding digital signage market. A cloud-based service that uses software-as-a-service (SaaS) model of work, these kinds of websites use both videos arts and still images to convey the message as traditional signs.

The growth of what’s known as the Internet of Things (IoT) – described as the interconnection of everyday objects with computing devices via the Internet- makes the art sector the perfect breeding ground for transformation in signage-based art. Unlike traditional architectural signs that limit versatility, digital signs can constantly keep up with the trends, which allow the interaction between the art and viewer.

Keeping with the increased demand for interactive art, the digital signage market and the services employed within it, have managed to integrate IoT tools into signs by employing sensors triggered by physical movements such as temperature and movement.

Aside from low costs, the advantage of digital signage lies in its multiple uses. Moving from inside the gallery, to the external space, a successful instance would be Toronto’s Yonge & Dundas Square, where digital signage was employed not only to set forth art to viewers but also as a form of advertisement outside the usual space. These signs aside from being attractive and affordable, are sources of cultural and creative information, thus finding a permanent place in the hearts of the downtown community in Toronto. Additionally, The Canada Council for the Arts employed signage in a similar manner by using an enormous digital sign display to promote local artists as well as prompt people to display and share their art to visitors.

Moving away from the creative side of modern art, signage has the potential to play an important role in the managerial side of art exhibits- whether for presenting times/dates of the exhibits, artists’ biographies or notify visitors of special events and ticket information.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) in New York City incorporates digital signage in the similar manner. In particular, it was set out in the Met’s Breuer building, built by well-known architect Marcell Breuer, where without a need for renovation it was simply deployed and without damaging the walls of the building or the surrounding structures.

Even as it grows and expands, the existence of modern technology doesn’t negate the place of traditional signs. Huge companies like Google continue to promote creative interior signs that encompass the essence of both types of signage. An online image – with a digital sign- is great, but if an artist wants an edge in the competitive era, they require the artistic and sometimes nostalgic value of 3d signs and letters made of crafty materials like metals, acrylic, wood or anything else an artist can create with. Another great option for colourful signage are the light box signs with led illumination which can be seen across the streets of Los Angeles or at London’s famed art gallery Tate Modern.

Final Words
Modern art is a world that fits in no box and the modern signs – whether traditional or digital- that have found themselves intertwined with this world only serve to give it another creative path to go down and explore.










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