August 9, 2024
In her role as curatorial and research intern, Alicia Derksen participated in the realization of the project BHLNTTTX by graphic designer Hezin O. Derksen describes how the installation process, visible to museum visitors, reveals the often-hidden labor behind exhibitions, thereby demystifying and humanizing the museum experience. In doing so, Hezin O glitches the prevailing hierarchies in both graphic design and the institutional space.
How many times have you opened a document only to find out that the whole format has been completely altered? Headings that no longer align, missing fonts, letters that have suddenly grown to out-of-proportion dimensions, pictures obscuring the text. We have all experienced the glitch. This is the main concept that Seoul-based graphic designer Hezin O experiments with in her project BHLNTTTX as part of the exhibition series POST/NO/BILLS (PNB). PNB presents different graphic design projects in the Stedelijk Museum’s historical staircase that respond to what is currently happening in society and in the discipline. Hezin O’s is the fifth and latest edition in the series.
Installation view Post/No/Bills #5 — Hezin O — BHLNTTTX, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, 2024. Photo: Peter Tijhuis.
The first encounter with the glitch in the installation is in its title, BHLNTTTX, an alphabetical rearrangement in which vowels have been stripped from the words “EXHIBITION TITLE.” The concept of the glitch appears in the different layers that comprise this installation: the first being the 264 individually hung A4s. Hezin O created these by collaging, enlarging, and copying some of her works made between 2019 and 2023 and then printing them with offset and risograph techniques. The installation’s second layer consists of the wall prints placed on the seven arches that surround the staircase. The abstracted pattern is composed of a series of grids of differing sizes combined with color divisions and gradients. The third layer placed on alternating arches consists of four screens. The works are based on a generative algorithm that uses images of Hezin O’s past pieces, and disassembles them. Those images are then randomly combined and accompanied by a fourth and final layer: a fragmented soundscape of Hezin O’s work in which she describes her works while her voice and her designs are being glitched.
By using techniques such as division, enlarging, and repetition, all fundamental to the graphic designer’s practice, Hezin O questions the traditional conviction that the discipline is just about translating words into simple shapes that communicate a specific message. Exploring the possibilities of abstracting, Hezin O frees herself and her work from this narrow conception of graphic design and challenges the hierarchical position of prevailing aesthetics.
This intricate process of creation is not only a testament to Hezin O’s artistic vision but also reveals the often unseen labor behind museum exhibitions. Having participated in the installation of this edition of PNB, another particularly interesting facet of this project is the fact that it exposes the materiality of the installation process. Located in one of the museum’s main arteries, the PNB space cannot be completely closed off during preparation. Contrary to other exhibitions in which the galleries are closed to the visitor’s curious eyes and are only opened again after every last detail has been taken care of, the PNB’s installation process is visible in its entirety to passersby. During the five days it took, visitors could look at Hezin O, accompanied by the many other people that made the set-up possible. A scarcely seen side of exhibitions was unveiled: the physical labor that goes into them, the messiness, the stressful timelines, the technical hiccups. The museum and the work that happens in it became more transparent and accessible to visitors, helping to dismantle the impersonal facade that many people see when they imagine a museum. An exhibition is made up of the hours a curator spends thinking about the story, an artist spends making their work, an intern’s assistance, the art handlers’ efforts, and the endless planning of a project manager to make sure everything runs smoothly.
