Niina Turtola takes a critical design and practice-led approach to discuss design and its role in the society. Her latest project in the context of the fictive Ministry of Truth and Typography is titled This is (just) a teacup. 

Turtola brings 28 objects from everyday life to the gallery. These objects were found in second-hand shops across Namibia and South-Africa. Turtola has created 28 layouts that represent the objects through a scanned image and through text. The objects represents themselves. All the objects have text in them that represents the client or a brand. Graphic design represents the object and/or the brand. What if the teacup represented graphic design? How? Is the teacup a teacup? Are the texts real? Should they be real? What do we see when we see an object?

This is (just) a teacup directs the viewer to think about the interpretation of objects and design in our everyday life and to review that in the context of graphic design. Graphic design generally acts as a representative of commercial entities, corporations and clients. Through this project Turtola asks can graphic design be more than a support function? Can graphic design be autonomous? Can graphic design be a design object? Should it? Is graphic design subjective presentation? Can a designer be a neutral intermediary? How is visual reality constructed? Should graphic designers be motivated by financial gains only and have the crucial role of creating how we think about the world and about design?

This exhibition is a thinking journey of design, neutrality, subjectivity and the act of world-making. Design for Jan van Toorn means subjective narratives and interpretation. Design for Yuriko Saito means world-making where designers influence people’s actions and perceptions of the world. Dunne and Raby coined the term critical design to offer alternatives of how things are. Through This is (just) a teacup Turtola continues to push the envelope of the graphic design discipline in order to create discussion around design and its ubiquitous and non-neutral role as creator of reality. If there is design there should be discussion about design. 

Niina Turtola is a doctoral candidate, critical graphic designer and text artist who is currently working on her practice-led research and writing a theory of design as a producer of dissonance at the University of Lapland, Faculty of Art and Design.

The Hermes 30000 represents a dadaist machine that produces all the work of the Ministry of Truth and Typography.