Fons Hickmann

Posters from today and before

 

03/10/—06/12/26

 

Fons Hickmann (born 1966 in Hamm, Westphalia) has established himself as one of Germany’s most distinctive and influential communication designers through Fons Hickmann m23, the design studio he founded in Berlin in 2001. This development was also shaped by his teaching career, which began remarkably early—first in Vienna and continuing to this day at the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK).

 

His entire body of graphic work consistently follows a single philosophy: „No two projects are alike, so it is only logical that each project deserves its own unique aesthetic,“ says Hickmann. Consequently, it is difficult to identify a single, immediately recognizable personal style across his work over the years. If anything, it is precisely this versatility and openness to the undogmatic use of a broad range of analog and digital tools that appear to be key to his international success.

 

This solo exhibition spans three decades, focusing on his poster designs—created either independently or within the agency context—which have garnered numerous international awards. These works were collected by the museum early on, and a recent extensive donation from Fons Hickmann has transformed the collection into a significant body of work that exemplifies a distinctive design signature while also reflecting the aesthetic trends of the times. Other printed media—such as card games, record covers, books, and New Year’s greetings from his UdK class—are interspersed throughout the exhibition, accompanied by objects such as a rug, a teacup, and an electric guitar. They also aim to broaden the perspective to include the diverse design landscape of poster creation—encompassing its preliminary stages as well as its primary and secondary paths—while also highlighting Hickmann’s activities as an exhibition curator, educator, political design advocate, and, since 2018, president of the „100 Best Posters“ association.

 

The exhibition is organized not so much chronologically as by formal and thematic criteria: early posters—created from the early 1990s onwards alongside his studies at the Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences (Photography/Communication Design) and the University of Wuppertal (Media Theory/Aesthetics)—hang alongside later works and contemporary pieces. His long-standing clients generally hail from the cultural sector; they are often collaborators—even kindred spirits—such as the pastor Thorsten Nolting. For Nolting’s experimental, participatory events at Düsseldorf’s Berger Kirche around the year 2000, Hickmann created a bold visual identity characterized by a sober black-and-white palette and the use of a single typeface. The compositional and conceptual toolkit he employed there seems to have revealed one of his recurring principles: stark reduction rather than an excess of detail. This is frequently complemented by a formal inclination toward the series or the triptych. At the same time, his body of poster work includes pieces that defy quick legibility; through the use of blur, optical illusionism, and an aesthetic of disappearance, they seek to engage the audience by provoking a sense of bewilderment. These posters are complemented by works of a self-reflexive and media-reflexive nature, as well as by self-initiated posters that address socio-political issues in the form of paper-based interventions.