Talk by designer Julia Born

The design of a book and of an exhibition are two distinct yet interrelated practices. While both are spatial concepts through which narratives are articulated and displayed, they manifest under different physical and disciplinary conditions.

On her talk ‘Title of the talk’, Julia Born will explain how her practice encapsulates an inquiry into these formats, challenging them and expanding the notion of design across media and disciplines. Language and its ambiguous qualities are at the center of her project, which she explores through commissioned and independent work—for instance her recent solo show All Capitals at MACRO in Rome, or various collaborations with choreographer Alexandra Bachzetsis.

Julia Born is a designer and educator based in Zurich. Her work focuses on editorial design, exhibition design, and graphic identities for a variety of cultural institutions, including Stedelijk Museum and Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam; Kunsthalle and Kunstmuseum Basel; Guggenheim Museum in New York; HKW and Brücke-Museum in Berlin; and documenta 14 in Athens/Kassel.

She has designed monographs for artists such as Michel Auder, Miriam Cahn, Vivian Suter, and Elisabeth Wild. Born teaches editorial design at Master Type Design at ECAL, École cantonale d’art de Lausanne, and is a visiting lecturer at international art and design institutes. Solo exhibitions include All Capitals (MACRO—Museo d’Arte Contemporanea di Roma, 2022) and Title of the Show (Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst Leipzig, 2009). Born is the recipient of the Swiss Grand Award for Design, awarded by the Swiss Federal Office of Culture in 2021.