DESIGN MADE IN AFRICA

An intriguing exhibition of contemporary African design, Design Made in Africa, is touring Europe and will hopefully find a venue in the U.S. in 2006. Currently on view at the Brunei Gallery in London, the collection of mostly furniture design features 45 objects by 30 designers from 14 African countries including Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Senegal. An alternate title might be Design About Africa, as the pieces here are meant to convey something about the often difficult life on the continent, as well as showcase the designers’ skills. Design Made in Africa features the work of artists like Senegalese Babacar Niang, who designs functional but brittlelooking tables with fragile and bowed legs that look like a giraffe taking its first steps; and Jules Bertrand Wokam of Cameroon who fabricates benches to look more like warped conveyor belts than a peaceful place to rest. In Cameroon, the work suggests, it can be a bumpy ride. A bilingual catalog (French/English) is available.

PHILADELPHIA FREEDOM

When Philadelphia’s largest ad agency, Tierney Communications, dismissed its chief creative director Kelly Simmons in August, the hometown Philadelphia Phillies quickly traded Tierney for free-agent Simmons. Since then, she’s hung out her own shingle and continued to produce the remarkable 400 or so TV commercials needed to motivate and entertain fans throughout the season. “Fans get tired of things quickly,” Simmons explained, adding that during a long season fans know when a spot is dated. But the most difficult challenge is getting footage of the players—and in a good mood. “It takes a lot of money to set up and shoot in the stadium and if the team loses the night before, well, we can control a lot of things but not the spirit of the players.” Even during the oÙ- season, the Phillies keep Simmons swinging. Her half-hour documentary of interviews with veteran Phillies fans who used to drive hours in packs to the stadium will air in November on Comcast Sportsnet. Group attendance is an old tradition Phillies management aims to revitalize, with Simmons’ help, in seasons to come.

CRIT: THE GRADUATE STUDENT DESIGN BLOG

The School of Visual Arts MFA Designer as Author program has launched CRIT, a weblog for graduate students by graduate students. Designed as a forum for students to discuss issues, events, and concerns pertaining to academics in the classroom, workplace issues, life after school, and visual culture, CRIT is open to the broad field of design, including graphic, industrial, product, motion, and web, as well as students engaged in cultural studies. A rotating group of authors will contribute articles on such critical themes as “Should Grad Students be Paid for Internships?” “Can Designers be Design Critics?” “How Much Education is Enough?” and more. CRIT is currently edited by Clement Wu, first-year SVA MFA Design student, who designed the format with Glenn Eaton, director of technology for MFA Design. The site aims to be a vigorous and expanding virtual education conference that will be open to all graduate students, prospective graduate students, and graduate design educators in various disciplines.

MARKETING MINDBENDERS

Before the Duke basketball team plays its first sold-out home game, the art department hopes to lure rabid Blue Devil fans into the university’s new museum. Formerly the Duke University Museum of Art (1969–2004), the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University opened on Oct. 2 in a new $23 million building designed by architect Rafael Viñoly. The dramatic 65,000-squarefoot facility houses the renowned contemporary art collection of the museum’s namesakes, alum Raymond Nasher and his late wife Patsy, and serves as a venue for performing arts with a 173-seat auditorium. The museum’s new executive director, Kimerly Rorschach, met the test and hired The Republik of Chapel Hill, N.C., to design the museum’s brand identity. The Republik is launching a local ad campaign including the creation of “mind-bending” posters which are hanging in, of all places, doctors’ waiting rooms and health clubs. Apparently, people striving toward physical fitness may also have a hankering for modern art. An odd media strategy perhaps, but one appropriate for a campus so immersed in athletics.