Karol Śliwka Exhibition

book designer Exhibition history modernist Mural purple violet

KAROL ŚLIWKA

During the fifth exhibition in the Polish Design Polish Designers series, the Gdynia City Museum presented the work of Karol Śliwka (1932–2018), an outstanding graphic designer, the creator of over 400 logos that have been a part of Polish everyday life for the past sixty years, shaping the iconosphere of the public space. This was the largest monographic exhibition on Karol Śliwka to date, including designs, sketches, notes, photographs, pictures, and pieces from his private archive that have never before been made available to the public. Added to this, there are works from institutions and museums from around the country, and pieces from private collections.

Karol Śliwka was a very multifaceted designer. His work has included packaging, book and record covers, stamps, and posters. Yet logos occupy a special place in his career, such as those created for the Institute of Mother and Child, the National Library, Adamed, and School and Educational Publishers. Some of these are presently considered cult classics – it would be hard to find someone in Poland who does not recognize the characteristic logo for PKO Polish Bank.

GraphiC DESIGN: Patryk Hardziej
BASED ON: Karol Śliwka

Book DESIGN: Patryk Hardziej

TYPESETTING: Patryk Hardziej, Ada Zielińska

EDITORIAL OFFICE: Agata Abramowicz, Agnieszka Drączkowska, Patryk Hardziej, Jacek Friedrich

TEXTS: Agnieszka Drączkowska, Patryk Hardziej, Jens Müller, Paweł Śliwka, Marcin Wicha, Sean Wolcott

PUBLISHER: the Gdynia City Museum

PRINT: Misuro

Size: 220x270 mm
Pages: 200
Publication: 2018
Binding: casebound book with belly band

organizer: The Gdynia City Museum

curators: Agata Abramowicz, Agnieszka Drączkowska, Patryk Hardziej

EXHIBITION DESIGN and stands: Dominika Janicka

Graphic design: Patryk Hardziej

production: Anna Lipińska

stands production: DS Smith / Stolmar

exhibition photo: Yassen Hirstov, Marek Swoboda

object photo: Leszek Żurek

2018 / 2019 tour:

1. The Gdynia City Museum, Gdynia. PL

2. Institute of Design, Kielce, PL

3. Palace of Culture and Science, Warsaw, Pl

4. Institute of Industrial Design, Warsaw, PL

5. BWA Bydgoszcz, PL

special thanks to: Dorota Brzezińska, Damian Dudek, Anna Gawron, Mateusz Kozielecki, Mateusz Koy, Dorota Lewandowska, Anna Lipińska, Marzena Markowska, Michał Miegoń, Jens Müller, Dariusz Ogrodowczyk, Weronika Szerle, Tomasz Sosnowski, Anna Śliwa, Karol Śliwka, Paweł Śliwka, Marcin Wicha, Sean Wolcott, Ada Zielińska