The Good 50x70 Social Communication Project Exhibition 2009 featured 210 posters (out of almost 4500 submissions!), selected by a prestigious international jury: including Timo Berry (Finland), Yossi Lemel (Israel), Alain Le Quernec (France), Woody Pirtle (USA), Leonardo Sonnoli (Italy), and Lourdes Zolezzi (Mexico), to name a few. My poster,
“Empty Calories,” was selected. The Exhibition took place in the courtyard
of the Triennale Design Museum in Milan, Italy (June-July 2009). The Exhibition traveled throughout Europe, shown in such locales as the Green Social Festival in Bologna, Italy; the Norrbottens Museum in Lulea, Sweden; and Beit Meirov Gallery in Tel Aviv, Israel.
I was responsible for bringing this Exhibition to MSU for an American premiere (pictured to the right)— which I was able to do with a grant from the Montana Arts Council, and additional help from the School of Art. It was installed on the campus mall, in front of Montana Hall and Renne Library for two weeks. I brought in visiting artist/designers, Pasquale Volpe, the founder of Good 50x70, and Tommaso Minnetti and I organized the corresponding Good 50x70 Symposium, held at The Ellen Theatre, and a Good 50x70 Workshop for students.
Graniph, a Japanese t-shirt online retail shop, in a joint venture with Good 50x70, chose six concepts from the 210 posters that were in the Good 50x70 Exhibition 2009. My poster concept “Empty Calories” was one of those six. The sale of these shirts raised money for Good 50x70 outreach projects around the world. Graniph paid ¥50,000 (approx. $630) to Good 50x70 as the licensing fee for “Empty Calories”. The “Empty Calories” shirt sold almost 1000 units at ¥2300 (approx $29) and a portion of those shirt sales were also donated back to Good 50x70.
The Good 50x70 Social Communication Project Exhibition 2010 featured 210 posters, selected by a prestigious international jury including Woody Pirtle (USA), and Massimo
Vignelli (USA). 81 countries were represented. My poster “Poverty is Over” was one of only 29 posters by an American designer. The Exhibition took place in the Piazza Cordusio, in the heart of Milan, Italy from October 15–31, 2010.
This poster suggests human rights equality is a way to end poverty. It expresses through wordplay two things: we wish poverty would end, but also that poverty as a concept is passé.
On the right: Another socially-driven poster, this one raises awareness about the dwindling tiger population.
In December 2012, I was invited by Pasquale Volpe of the Good 50x70 Social Communication Project to lead a week-long social poster workshop at NABA in Milan. My students were MFA students and our project brief was to raise awareness about the global issue of land grabbing. At the end of the week, the students put up a show of their work and during Summer 2013, their work was exhibited at the flagship Feltrinelli bookstore gallery, Milan.
