For A-list designers, scores of students and a curious public, Chaumont, France, is the place to see and be seen on the first weekend in May. European designers look forward to this annual event, and it is not unusual to find people who have attended the festival’s opening weekend in excess of half a dozen times.

Among longtime visitors and competition participants, there is consensus that the quality of work and design of the exhibitions have greatly improved since artistic direction was taken over by former Grapus members Pierre Bernard and Alex Jordon in 2004. It was then that the festival embraced the more inclusive label “graphic arts,” a decision that has resulted in the addition of increasingly diverse media to the exhibition offerings.

FROM LEFT: BORIS BUCAN, PETRICA KEREMPUH, 2006.CROATIA; JONATHAN PUCKEY, JEAN-MARC BUSTAMANTE, 2006.THE NETHERLANDS; ATELIER BUNDI, STEPHAN BUNDI, MEIN LEBEN ALS VERSAGEN, 2005.SWITZERLAND; ATELIER BLVDR, SILVIA FRANCIA, DANIEL KUNZI, LE RÊVE D’UN HOMME …, 2006.SWITZERLAND

Dutch designer and former competition contributor Max Kisman observes, “They are trying hard to maintain a status quo. This year everything is really great quality.” When asked what a visitor can expect from the festival, he suggests, “You can see trends in graphic design that are going on right now, including both the work of better-known designers and emerging talent.”

FIRST VENUE: THE POSTER COMPETITION
It is in a converted military barracks, a short walk from the center of town, that 180 posters culled from over 2200 entries are exhibited. While the competition draws submissions from Iran, Russia, Japan, China and Colombia, the majority of work comes from European countries—with a mere two posters (both designed by Doug Minkler) representing the U.S. … and the scarcity of work by Americans may be as simple as a lack of submissions.

Nevertheless, this collection of large-scale posters is an immediate reminder that, in the U.S., we lack both the history and physical spaces for the poster to be a true cornerstone of design. This judgment may seem hasty to those who most often view work in magazines or annuals where posters are displayed out of context—on white pages and with uniform dimensions. However, any designer traveling to Europe will be struck by the widespread use of oversized posters as a contemporary means of visual communication. It is almost impossible to compare these riveting pieces with their U.S. counterparts, which tend to be fairly small and often double as event brochures or mailers.

When asked about the relevance of the poster as a communication medium, Swiss designer and second-prize competition winner Niklaus Troxler readily agrees that the environment in Europe is very different than it is in the U.S. “It’s really a shame,” he says, adding, “[poster design] really exists in Europe and is still alive.” Troxler explains that when he is in New York, colleagues will comment, “‘Oh, the poster is just a designer’s favorite work for himself.’ But I say no, in Europe it really exists and clients want to have posters. Especially in the cultural field they need posters to advertise and to communicate.”

Festival organizers are sensitive to the cultural diversity represented by competition contestants, and they attempt to ensure that judging is fair and balanced by selecting international graphic designers to sit on the jury. This year’s jurors came from Argentina, France, Portugal, China, the U.S. and the Netherlands. Decisions were made by consensus rather than with ballots, and factors such as a poster’s ability to communicate across cultural boundaries and the environment in which the designer produced the work were considered.

Portuguese designer and juror Liza Ramalho observes that it is quite a challenge to put the work on a level playing field when the participants come from such varied backgrounds. Ramalho was inspired by both the contrasts and similarities between competition participants and jurors. “At this kind of event, I think it is interesting to see the differences between people, but also the points which are connecting them professionally and personally, given the very different kinds of lives that they lead.”

Another juror, Argentinean graphic designer Anabella Salem, explains that even though established designers took home almost all the prizes, jurors made a conscious attempt to evaluate the work without bias toward known or famous designers. “You always want to give new names the prize, to reward the young person or a person who comes from a place where everything isn’t so easy. Although we were very conscious of that, posters are posters, and they must still be judged on their individual merit.”

JACK USINE, TYPEFACES BANKRUTT, CONSUME AND ALUSINE FROM THE SMELTERY FONTS FOUNDRY

MAKING WAY FOR THE NEXT GENERATION
In an interesting juxtaposition of professional and emerging talent, the same venue that housed the competition posters also included a student exhibition. This year, young designers were asked to visually interpret the timely topic of global warming. When compared with the competition posters, the student posters were smaller, with some pieces professionally printed while others relied on more primitive production methods such as cut paper and stenciled lettering. The work of these young designers showed immense vitality, and several visitors—including Italian designer Armando Milani—observed that it was inspiring to see a collection of so much work by obviously excited young people.

SECOND VENUE: IMPRESSIONS FRANÇAISES
“The Garage,” a large industrial space roughly fitted out with tables and cement block walls, provided a casual environment in which to view work by contemporary French graphic designers. Curators Etienne Hervy and Vanina Pinter gathered an eclectic combination of posters, publication designs, typography and identities. Hervy and Pinter’s choices included work that was fresh, energetic and highly individualistic.

French designer and president of the competition jury Alain Le Quernec concedes that France has neither as rich a history nor as great a contemporary appreciation for graphic design as can be found in other European countries. “France is and is not a great country of design. We don’t have a deep culture of graphic design like in Switzerland, Holland or Germany. We are more a country of a few design stars, like [Philippe] Starck, the Bouroullec Brothers [Ronan and Ewan, product and environmental designers] or M/M Design [the studio founded by Michael Amzalag and Mathias Augustyniak].”

Troxler, who says he hasn’t always been a fan of French design, was immensely impressed by the work he saw in Chaumont. “I see a great development in graphic design in France—the exhibition in The Garage was quite a surprise. There was a diversity, quality and overall high level of work, and it seems that France is now on its way to taking its place in the design world.”

THIRD VENUE: PHOTOGRAPHISME
Each year, work from the city’s permanent collection of over 25,000 posters is collected in an exhibition on a particular theme or topic. This year, German-born designer and artistic co director Alex Jordan chose 60 posters that rely primarily on photography to communicate their messages. The resulting selection was a springboard from which viewers could explore the relationship between design and image.

Jordan is disturbed that very few “photo posters” are admitted into the festival’s annual competition and observes that even fewer take home prizes. He postulates that designers’ love of typography and a real or perceived incompatibility between strong type work and photographic imagery may be to blame. The collection of image-dominant posters in Photographisme at the Hôtel de Ville (City Hall) was a poignant reminder of just how effective the marriage of photo, type and concept can be.

MUSING ON THE POSTER’S FUTURE
While visitors may appreciate the increased diversity of work now featured in the collected Chaumont exhibitions, the poster competition is still the mainstay of the festival and the event that most excites viewers. The competition’s awards ceremony was so well attended that it was almost impossible to get close enough to the stage to see which posters were given prizes, and the applause was deafening when a crowd favorite took home an award.

LABOMATIC, THEATRE POSTERS, NANTERRE-AMANDIERS, 2003–2007

Each year the number of posters submitted to the competition increases—as do the permanent holdings of the town of Chaumont. If new media is a trendy treat, then the poster—like that French classic, crème brûlée—remains a popular favorite despite all other communication options. Jury president Alain Le Quernec doesn’t deny that the poster faces challenges in the complex modern visual environment, and he acknowledges that the financial feasibility of poster design can be daunting to practitioners.

But Le Quernec and scores of designers like him continue to be enamored with the medium. “Even if it is obsolete,” Le Quernec says, “I will go on singing, ‘There’s no biz like show biz, there’s no biz like poster biz.’”

(ABOVE) TOP ROW: LES GRAPHISTES ASSOCIÉS, LA FAUSSE SUIVANTE, 1996.FRANCE; MICHEL BOUVET, LA FRANCE EN GUERRE D’ALGÉRIE, 1992/ FRANCE; M/M (PARIS), DU DÉSAVANTAGE DU VENT, 1997/FRANCE; MIDDLE ROW: WERNER JEKER, MUSÉE DE L’ELYSÉE, 1989/SWITZERLAND; PIERRE MENDEL, DROGEN, 1993/GERMANY; STUDIO DUMBAR, HET NATIONALE TONEEL, 1996/1997/THE NETHERLANDS; BOTTOM ROW: GUNTHER RAMBOW, SÜDAFRIKANISCHE ROULETTE, 1988/GERMANY; MICHAL BATORY, BERTOLD BRECHT, BERLINER ENSEMBLE, 1997/FRANCE; RONALD CURCHOD, RIVAGE À L’ABANDON, 1995/FRANCE