Papers by Niki Sioki
Colonial Cyprus: A cultural history M. Hadjiathanasiou, A. Karyos, E. A. Solomou (Eds) , 2024
Posters, at their origin, are a medium for commercial advertising. They belong to the modern worl... more Posters, at their origin, are a medium for commercial advertising. They belong to the modern world as, right from their first appearance, they were meant to serve the needs of an industrialised economy and were mechanically reproduced in multiple copies. As design artefacts they were produced to fulfill a dual role: to deliver a message and have a direct visual appeal. During the late 1920s and the 1930s and after their widespread use as propaganda tools during World War I, posters became a powerful device for advertising campaigns in Britain and its colonies. This is evidently reflected in two promotional campaigns related to colonial Cyprus where posters were the primary communication channels: the first was a major promotional poster campaign inaugurated by the Empire Marketing Board (EMB) (1926-1933) with the aim to engage the British public in buying empire produce. In this context two posters promoted products of Cyprus. Two years later Cyprus’ colonial administration decided to produce a series of posters locally, as part of a tourist publicity campaign, with the aim to attract visitors from abroad to major cities on the island.
The present research draws upon posters identified at the Cyprus State Archives in Nicosia. The paper adopts a critical approach to the visual and material qualities of a small number of surviving works. The primary aim is to examine the socio-political conditions in which the posters were commissioned, and the artistic and technical practices involved in their production. In addition, a comparison between the works produced by the EMB and those by the British administration in Cyprus allows to study posters acting as mediators; thus it is discussed how both the metropolitan and the colonial administrations sought to use visual language and the aesthetic form of print to mediate local culture to specific audiences.
This paper argues that the history of design artefacts and practice can significantly contribute to bring to light important aspects of local cultural history during the colonial period. The posters produced by the EMB illustrate Cyprus’ representation in an advertising campaign that served Britain’s political agenda; similarly, the local posters provide evidence of the beginning of commercial art and the state of printing in Cyprus during the inter-war period and give direct access to the ways in which the policy and ideas of the colonial administrators shaped the design of a promotional campaign. Both cases exemplify the role of design as an active force with an impact on the culture of colonial Cyprus.
Hyphen, a typographic forum, Dec 2021
Hyphen, a typographic forum, was first published in 1998. It welcomes papers on ty pog ra phy and... more Hyphen, a typographic forum, was first published in 1998. It welcomes papers on ty pog ra phy and graphic communication and contributions at the meeting places between typography and other disciplines. Hyphen is pub lished with the support of the Institute for the Study of Typography and Visual Communication. Contributions are sent to the publisher's address. On acceptance, the editor will ask con tributors to supply the text of their paper as a word-processed file. Handwritten con tri butions are not accepted. Illustrative matter-in digital or conventional form-accom pa nying the text should be in an acceptable form to allow for the best possible reproduction. The editor endeavours to ac knowledge the receipt of contributions within twenty days after the contribution has arrived. Proofs are sent to contributors about two months before pub li cation. Contributors receive without charge one copy of the rel evant volume. ΗΥΦΕΝ βήμα για την τυπογραφία 2021 volume €15.00
Nuno Martins • Daniel Brandão (eds) Advances in Design and Digital Communication, Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Design and Digital Communication, Digicom 2020, November 5–7, 2020, Barcelos, Portugal, 2021
This article focuses on a critical evaluation of the design of ebooks.
In the post-digital era, t... more This article focuses on a critical evaluation of the design of ebooks.
In the post-digital era, the form of content of ebooks is still presented as a simple rendition of the books’ printed version. Over the past ten years or so, although ereaders have popularized reading on screens, digital technologies have made little progress in the design of texts on screens. The few business initiatives that dominate the market of e-readers tend to minimize the typographic quality of texts on screen to its basic components and merely promote the usability of ereading devices. Interesting experimentations with the form of texts on screen are introduced by independent stakeholders showing possible future directions that could serve new modes of digital reading by empowering the principal function of typographic design, i.e., to promote the nature of texts and enable readers to create meaning.
Proceedings of the 12th ICDHS Conference "Lessons to Learn? Past Design Experiences and Contemporary Design Practices", Zagreb, pp.75-83, 2020
The role of magazines as records of design history is well documented in the research bibliograph... more The role of magazines as records of design history is well documented in the research bibliography. This paper aims to contribute to contemporary graphic design history in Greece through the examination of trade magazine publishing. Specialised graphic design magazines first appeared in Greece in the 1990s and proliferated towards the end of the century in a market characterised by economic development and a turn towards the service sector. Acro (The Edge) (1996 – 2004) was a self-published graphic design magazine produced in Thessaloniki. It is presented here as a case study that provides insights into aspects of the development of graphic design practice in Greece during the 1990s. First, the beginning of writing and publishing about graphic design in Greece is discussed. Next, the magazine's publication is investigated as a venture indicative of the way technological advances challenged the established orthodoxies of graphic language and design practice. Finally, the magazine is approached as a record of the circulation of ideas about graphic design and dominant trends of that time in Greece. Published on the European periphery, Acro provides evidence of the strategy adopted by the local designer towards dominant design trends.
Free/Libre Technologies, Arts and the Commons, Unconference Proceedings, Phygital Project , 2020
Proceedings from the Unconference Free/Libre Technologies, Arts and the Commons that took place a... more Proceedings from the Unconference Free/Libre Technologies, Arts and the Commons that took place at the University of Nicosia, 30 May – 1 June 2019.
Edited by Evanthia Tselika and Niki Sioki
Part of the project Phygital-- https://phygitalproject.eu/
Phygital is an Interreg V 2014-2020 BalkanMed, EU-funded programme implemented in Greece, Albania and Cyprus which involves the development of makerspaces – one in each country – that work with local communities. In Cyprus, the project’s work is being carried out by the University of Nicosia Research Foundation in collaboration with the Municipality of Lakatamia and focuses on social art practices exploring the melding of open/free technology, art and design.
The Cyprus Review, 31(2), pp.207-228, Oct 2019
In Cyprus the introduction of printing coincided with the beginning of the British occupation. Th... more In Cyprus the introduction of printing coincided with the beginning of the British occupation. Thereafter, all printed documents had to address a multilingual audience as English, Greek, and Ottoman Turkish were in use. This article focuses on a distinctive characteristic of the local printing history namely the practice of multiscript printing and the visual appearance of multilingual documents that addressed a linguistically multifarious society. For comparative reasons two different kinds of documents are examined: multilingual administrative documents and advertisements. The analysis of the documents provides insights into the practice of multiscript printing, i.e. the technical resources (printing methods and available types), the skills of printers, and the typographic conventions applied on multilingual documents. In conjunction with archival evidence these documents become mirrors of political convictions, social norms, and commercial transactions that linked a peripheral printing trade with the European centres.
Journal of Educational Media, Memory And Society, 11 (1), 2019, pp.53-72, Jun 2019
In contrast to the countries of western Europe, the end of the Second World War did not bring pol... more In contrast to the countries of western Europe, the end of the Second World War did not bring political restoration, economic recovery or the emergence of a new social order to Greece. Subscribing to the view that the material form of books and their typography convey meaning, this article presents a comparative study of the design and production of a reading primer and a third-year reading textbook, both of which were published in a climate of political and social disorder. Drawing on surviving copies of the books, educational laws, teachers’ recollections and archival material, this article examines the ways in which the sociopolitical environment and technological conditions of a publication affect the ways in which texts are shaped into book form.
Free to download until 15/9/2020 here: https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/jemms/11/1/jemms.11.issue-1.xml
Jaarboek voor Nederlandse Boekgeschiedenis, vol.19, pp. 101-116, 2012
""The composite nature of schoolbooks has already been the object of interdisciplinary research, ... more ""The composite nature of schoolbooks has already been the object of interdisciplinary research, but the visual articulation of their content on the printed page by means of the graphic language is a neglected research area. This article explores the typographic design of alphabet books printed in the Greek language during a historical period of particular significance.
The first printed Greek alphabet books, which introduced a specific method for the teaching of reading, started to appear in the last decades of the eighteenth century. The 'Mega alphavitarion' by Michael Papageorgiou constitutes an example of the typical alphabet book which was used for the next fifty years. It was produced in Vienna, the printing centre
of the Neohellenic Enlightment in that era and defined the ‘morphology’ of this particular book genre up to the first two decades of the nineteenth century. For this reason, we first analyse in detail the way in which the content of the Mega alphavitarion was graphically articulated, i.e. was made visible, through type and page layout. This analysis is complemented by the examination of a sample of similar books, and reveals a set of common patterns in the organization of the text; such text configurations were associated with the alphabetic method for teaching reading, functioned as mnemonic
aids, and were enabled by the technology of the time. The overall design of the books is evaluated according to the degree to which it addressed the needs of the intended readers. Finally two publications, distinct in their appearance, are discussed in order to show to what extent the knowledge and skills of the author was responsible for making typography
function as a significant part of the learning process.""
Hyphen, a typographic forum, 2014, 10 (16), 31-42
Το άρθρο είναι βασισμένο στην παρουσίαση που έγινε στο 5ο Παγκόσμιο Συνέδριο Τυπογραφίας & Οπτική... more Το άρθρο είναι βασισμένο στην παρουσίαση που έγινε στο 5ο Παγκόσμιο Συνέδριο Τυπογραφίας & Οπτικής Επικοινωνίας (ICTVC) στη Λευκωσία (2013).
This paper is an expanded and updated version of the talk given at the 5th ICTVC Conference, Nicosia 2013. The paper was published in January 2015.
Proceedings, ICDHS 10th+1, University of Barcelona , 2018
As the printed book is challenged by the various digital mutations of texts, it seems that the ti... more As the printed book is challenged by the various digital mutations of texts, it seems that the time is ripe for mapping the state of book design history and for discussing some thoughts about what its future could possibly be. In the first part of the paper I will concentrate on the following questions: a) Where can the history of book design be found? And b) how has the design of books historically been studied? My intention is to focus on contributions to the design history of the printed book made by design and book historians, bibliographers as well as typographers and book designers. The study will encompass works published in the 20th and the first decades of the 21st centuries. Nevertheless, my presentation would make a limited contribution to the main theme of the conference without addressing the potential future of book design history in a world where books are stripped from their traditional material characteristics, design features and typographic standards. In the second part of the paper I will discuss some initial thoughts about how design history could response to the new forms of text which also imply a reconfiguration of the reading experience.
various European countries, in both a comparative and a transnational perspective. We would like ... more various European countries, in both a comparative and a transnational perspective. We would like to thank the GEI and especially Simona Szakacs who coordinated the event. You will find more details on the issues discussed in Braunschweig in this newsletter, and we look forward to a book based on the conference proceedings, an annotated bibliography of 1945 primers published in European countries and to the future cooperation in primer research projects
Cyprus Bibliophilia, vol.2, no.5, 2008, p.1/8-19.
In: E. Aletra (ed.), On human nature, Anatomy and Physiology from antiquity until the beginning of the 20th century, Thessaloniki, 2002, pp.135-144.
In: E. Aletra (ed.), Medical Greek Incunabula, Thessaloniki, 1999, pp.32-37.
Books by Niki Sioki
Unconference Proceedings: Free/Libre technologies, arts and the commons , 2020
The Unconference was organized (Cyprus, May-June 2019) by the University of Nicosia Research Foun... more The Unconference was organized (Cyprus, May-June 2019) by the University of Nicosia Research Foundation as part of project PHYGITAL, and co-organized in collaboration with Lakatamia Municipality, the Fine Arts Programme, Department of Design and Multimedia, and hack66. The project Phygital was carried out at the local level as a collaboration between the University of Nicosia Research Foundation and Lakatamia Municipality.
Design for visual communication: Challenges and priorities, 2019
The contents of this book are mostly based on ideas that have been discussed within the framework... more The contents of this book are mostly based on ideas that have been discussed within the framework of an international event, namely the 2016 International Conference on Typography & Visual Communication (ICTVC). ICTVC was initiated in mid 2002 in Thessaloniki, Greece, but its core idea was –and still is– based on osmosis that began in the 1980s...
K. Mastoridis, N. Sioki, M. C. Dyson (eds), Design for Visual Communication: Challenges and Priorities (Cambridge Scholars Publishing), 2019
Articles & ephemera by Niki Sioki
Total Armageddon, a Slanted reader on design, Mar 2019
TOTAL ARMAGEDDON is about design. And culture. And complexity, notably how we, as a global civili... more TOTAL ARMAGEDDON is about design. And culture. And complexity, notably how we, as a global civilization, deal with science fiction, taste, social media, the cities we live in, aesthetics, PowerPoint, burkas, Big Tech, full-contact sports, and other thorny topics. A collection of both essays that are brand new, as well as the very best essays from past issues of Slanted Magazine, written by the most vital and vibrant global voices in writing on design and culture today such as Steven Heller, Piotr Rypson, Gerry Leonidas, Yoon Soo Lee, Kiyonori Muroga, and a host of others.
The book celebrates 15 years of independent publishing and brings together the who is who of authors and essays from 32 issues of Slanted Magazine.
TOTAL ARMAGEDDON comes with essays by Can Altay, Eran Bacharach, Simon Baker, Emanuel Barbosa, Laure Boer, Gerda Breuer, Dr. Nadine Chahine, Doug Clouse, Olga Drenda, Jori Erdman, Marcus Farr, Kenneth FitzGerald, Charlotte von Fritschen, Amélie Gastaut, Martin Giesen, Jonathan M. Hansen, Steven Heller, Ilka Helmig, Will Hill, Lorena Howard-Sheridan, Natalia Ilyin, Mr. Keedy, Marianna Kellokoski, Matilda Kivelä, Toshiaki Koga, Iwona Kurz, Carolina Laudon, Yoon Soo Lee, Gerry Leonidas, Christine Lhowe, Tim Loffing, Mathieu Lommen, Ian Lynam, Dermot Mac Cormack, Georgios Matthiopoulos, Julia Meer, Silas Munro, Kiyonori Muroga, Randy Nakamura, Alexander Negrelli, Ingo Niermann, Panos Papanagiotou, Natassa Pappa, David Peacock, Louise Rouse, Piotr Rypson, Niki Sioki, Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès, Thierry Somers, Sonja Steppan, Agata Szydłowska, Aleksander Tokarz, Alexander Torell, Angela Voulangas, Rene Wawrzkiewicz, Wolfgang Weingart, and Onur F. Yazıcıgil.
Slanted, no. 30, pp.198-209, 2017
"In a globalized world Greek graphic design cannot but experience the impact of the change the fi... more "In a globalized world Greek graphic design cannot but experience the impact of the change the field goes through. This is probably more obvious in professionals’ every day practice as well as in publications, exhibitions and conferences. In times of change, historical knowledge can help us understand the evolution and complexities of the discipline and underpin decision-making, planning and strategies for the future. The aim of this article is to suggest that we now stand at a critical point where initiatives should be taken towards researching and compiling the history of graphic design in Greece. As design practice tends to be entangled in a variety of modern day pursuits and its conventional boundaries are regularly transcended, any strategy about how to move forward needs to be grounded on the knowledge and critical assessment of past experiences. My main aim is to raise questions than provide answers, to inspire discussion, reflection and critique about the past of Greek graphic design. From the standpoint of a design educator and researcher I would like to look at what we now consider as history of Greek graphic design and propose new ways forward in order to start exploring and studying it as a distinct subject."
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Papers by Niki Sioki
The present research draws upon posters identified at the Cyprus State Archives in Nicosia. The paper adopts a critical approach to the visual and material qualities of a small number of surviving works. The primary aim is to examine the socio-political conditions in which the posters were commissioned, and the artistic and technical practices involved in their production. In addition, a comparison between the works produced by the EMB and those by the British administration in Cyprus allows to study posters acting as mediators; thus it is discussed how both the metropolitan and the colonial administrations sought to use visual language and the aesthetic form of print to mediate local culture to specific audiences.
This paper argues that the history of design artefacts and practice can significantly contribute to bring to light important aspects of local cultural history during the colonial period. The posters produced by the EMB illustrate Cyprus’ representation in an advertising campaign that served Britain’s political agenda; similarly, the local posters provide evidence of the beginning of commercial art and the state of printing in Cyprus during the inter-war period and give direct access to the ways in which the policy and ideas of the colonial administrators shaped the design of a promotional campaign. Both cases exemplify the role of design as an active force with an impact on the culture of colonial Cyprus.
In the post-digital era, the form of content of ebooks is still presented as a simple rendition of the books’ printed version. Over the past ten years or so, although ereaders have popularized reading on screens, digital technologies have made little progress in the design of texts on screens. The few business initiatives that dominate the market of e-readers tend to minimize the typographic quality of texts on screen to its basic components and merely promote the usability of ereading devices. Interesting experimentations with the form of texts on screen are introduced by independent stakeholders showing possible future directions that could serve new modes of digital reading by empowering the principal function of typographic design, i.e., to promote the nature of texts and enable readers to create meaning.
Edited by Evanthia Tselika and Niki Sioki
Part of the project Phygital-- https://phygitalproject.eu/
Phygital is an Interreg V 2014-2020 BalkanMed, EU-funded programme implemented in Greece, Albania and Cyprus which involves the development of makerspaces – one in each country – that work with local communities. In Cyprus, the project’s work is being carried out by the University of Nicosia Research Foundation in collaboration with the Municipality of Lakatamia and focuses on social art practices exploring the melding of open/free technology, art and design.
Free to download until 15/9/2020 here: https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/jemms/11/1/jemms.11.issue-1.xml
The first printed Greek alphabet books, which introduced a specific method for the teaching of reading, started to appear in the last decades of the eighteenth century. The 'Mega alphavitarion' by Michael Papageorgiou constitutes an example of the typical alphabet book which was used for the next fifty years. It was produced in Vienna, the printing centre
of the Neohellenic Enlightment in that era and defined the ‘morphology’ of this particular book genre up to the first two decades of the nineteenth century. For this reason, we first analyse in detail the way in which the content of the Mega alphavitarion was graphically articulated, i.e. was made visible, through type and page layout. This analysis is complemented by the examination of a sample of similar books, and reveals a set of common patterns in the organization of the text; such text configurations were associated with the alphabetic method for teaching reading, functioned as mnemonic
aids, and were enabled by the technology of the time. The overall design of the books is evaluated according to the degree to which it addressed the needs of the intended readers. Finally two publications, distinct in their appearance, are discussed in order to show to what extent the knowledge and skills of the author was responsible for making typography
function as a significant part of the learning process.""
This paper is an expanded and updated version of the talk given at the 5th ICTVC Conference, Nicosia 2013. The paper was published in January 2015.
Books by Niki Sioki
Articles & ephemera by Niki Sioki
The book celebrates 15 years of independent publishing and brings together the who is who of authors and essays from 32 issues of Slanted Magazine.
TOTAL ARMAGEDDON comes with essays by Can Altay, Eran Bacharach, Simon Baker, Emanuel Barbosa, Laure Boer, Gerda Breuer, Dr. Nadine Chahine, Doug Clouse, Olga Drenda, Jori Erdman, Marcus Farr, Kenneth FitzGerald, Charlotte von Fritschen, Amélie Gastaut, Martin Giesen, Jonathan M. Hansen, Steven Heller, Ilka Helmig, Will Hill, Lorena Howard-Sheridan, Natalia Ilyin, Mr. Keedy, Marianna Kellokoski, Matilda Kivelä, Toshiaki Koga, Iwona Kurz, Carolina Laudon, Yoon Soo Lee, Gerry Leonidas, Christine Lhowe, Tim Loffing, Mathieu Lommen, Ian Lynam, Dermot Mac Cormack, Georgios Matthiopoulos, Julia Meer, Silas Munro, Kiyonori Muroga, Randy Nakamura, Alexander Negrelli, Ingo Niermann, Panos Papanagiotou, Natassa Pappa, David Peacock, Louise Rouse, Piotr Rypson, Niki Sioki, Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès, Thierry Somers, Sonja Steppan, Agata Szydłowska, Aleksander Tokarz, Alexander Torell, Angela Voulangas, Rene Wawrzkiewicz, Wolfgang Weingart, and Onur F. Yazıcıgil.
The present research draws upon posters identified at the Cyprus State Archives in Nicosia. The paper adopts a critical approach to the visual and material qualities of a small number of surviving works. The primary aim is to examine the socio-political conditions in which the posters were commissioned, and the artistic and technical practices involved in their production. In addition, a comparison between the works produced by the EMB and those by the British administration in Cyprus allows to study posters acting as mediators; thus it is discussed how both the metropolitan and the colonial administrations sought to use visual language and the aesthetic form of print to mediate local culture to specific audiences.
This paper argues that the history of design artefacts and practice can significantly contribute to bring to light important aspects of local cultural history during the colonial period. The posters produced by the EMB illustrate Cyprus’ representation in an advertising campaign that served Britain’s political agenda; similarly, the local posters provide evidence of the beginning of commercial art and the state of printing in Cyprus during the inter-war period and give direct access to the ways in which the policy and ideas of the colonial administrators shaped the design of a promotional campaign. Both cases exemplify the role of design as an active force with an impact on the culture of colonial Cyprus.
In the post-digital era, the form of content of ebooks is still presented as a simple rendition of the books’ printed version. Over the past ten years or so, although ereaders have popularized reading on screens, digital technologies have made little progress in the design of texts on screens. The few business initiatives that dominate the market of e-readers tend to minimize the typographic quality of texts on screen to its basic components and merely promote the usability of ereading devices. Interesting experimentations with the form of texts on screen are introduced by independent stakeholders showing possible future directions that could serve new modes of digital reading by empowering the principal function of typographic design, i.e., to promote the nature of texts and enable readers to create meaning.
Edited by Evanthia Tselika and Niki Sioki
Part of the project Phygital-- https://phygitalproject.eu/
Phygital is an Interreg V 2014-2020 BalkanMed, EU-funded programme implemented in Greece, Albania and Cyprus which involves the development of makerspaces – one in each country – that work with local communities. In Cyprus, the project’s work is being carried out by the University of Nicosia Research Foundation in collaboration with the Municipality of Lakatamia and focuses on social art practices exploring the melding of open/free technology, art and design.
Free to download until 15/9/2020 here: https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/jemms/11/1/jemms.11.issue-1.xml
The first printed Greek alphabet books, which introduced a specific method for the teaching of reading, started to appear in the last decades of the eighteenth century. The 'Mega alphavitarion' by Michael Papageorgiou constitutes an example of the typical alphabet book which was used for the next fifty years. It was produced in Vienna, the printing centre
of the Neohellenic Enlightment in that era and defined the ‘morphology’ of this particular book genre up to the first two decades of the nineteenth century. For this reason, we first analyse in detail the way in which the content of the Mega alphavitarion was graphically articulated, i.e. was made visible, through type and page layout. This analysis is complemented by the examination of a sample of similar books, and reveals a set of common patterns in the organization of the text; such text configurations were associated with the alphabetic method for teaching reading, functioned as mnemonic
aids, and were enabled by the technology of the time. The overall design of the books is evaluated according to the degree to which it addressed the needs of the intended readers. Finally two publications, distinct in their appearance, are discussed in order to show to what extent the knowledge and skills of the author was responsible for making typography
function as a significant part of the learning process.""
This paper is an expanded and updated version of the talk given at the 5th ICTVC Conference, Nicosia 2013. The paper was published in January 2015.
The book celebrates 15 years of independent publishing and brings together the who is who of authors and essays from 32 issues of Slanted Magazine.
TOTAL ARMAGEDDON comes with essays by Can Altay, Eran Bacharach, Simon Baker, Emanuel Barbosa, Laure Boer, Gerda Breuer, Dr. Nadine Chahine, Doug Clouse, Olga Drenda, Jori Erdman, Marcus Farr, Kenneth FitzGerald, Charlotte von Fritschen, Amélie Gastaut, Martin Giesen, Jonathan M. Hansen, Steven Heller, Ilka Helmig, Will Hill, Lorena Howard-Sheridan, Natalia Ilyin, Mr. Keedy, Marianna Kellokoski, Matilda Kivelä, Toshiaki Koga, Iwona Kurz, Carolina Laudon, Yoon Soo Lee, Gerry Leonidas, Christine Lhowe, Tim Loffing, Mathieu Lommen, Ian Lynam, Dermot Mac Cormack, Georgios Matthiopoulos, Julia Meer, Silas Munro, Kiyonori Muroga, Randy Nakamura, Alexander Negrelli, Ingo Niermann, Panos Papanagiotou, Natassa Pappa, David Peacock, Louise Rouse, Piotr Rypson, Niki Sioki, Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès, Thierry Somers, Sonja Steppan, Agata Szydłowska, Aleksander Tokarz, Alexander Torell, Angela Voulangas, Rene Wawrzkiewicz, Wolfgang Weingart, and Onur F. Yazıcıgil.
[The history of the poster which was designed for the promotion of Cyprus Airlines in 1939]
Politis newspaper, 14.9.2014
Nicosia, 9 - 10 April 2021
history and unveil aspects of local printing practice and tradition. For the time being they are exhibited as agents of local history without attracting any interest from historians. In this talk I will examine representative examples, discuss which of their aspects attracted the collecting interest of museums and the attention of curators, and provide suggestions for their use as primary sources for the history of the local printing trade and as teaching material for design students.
Published online: http://www.aepm.eu/past-conferences/2017-making-history/niki-sioki-outside-the-printing-museum/
Today, the benefits of using collections in teaching design students in higher education are widely acknowledged. At the same time, the development of teaching collections of artefacts by university departments in the UK accentuates the importance of ‘hands-on learning’ in design teaching.
In this paper I will discuss how artefacts in collections of Cypriot museums and galleries can significantly contribute to the education of students in local design schools, mostly tertiary institutions. In their majority these artefacts, which can be classified as ‘ephemera’, i.e., material which survive only through the day, have been already acknowledged by researchers as ‘persuasive graphic witness to their time’.
The main argument underlying the paper is that the ephemeral artefacts found in local collections provide narratives about the design culture and history of the society which produced and consumed them. Accordingly, they can be used as sources of inspiration, vehicles of exploring design as important part of the society’s cultural heritage, and tools to gain a deeper understanding of the role of design in everyday life in a diachronic context. The focus will be on artefacts in the collection of the Centre of Visual Arts and Research (CVAR) in Nicosia and suggestions will be made about the development of pedagogic actions which will engage students in a deeper understanding of their local design culture.