Erik Adigard des Gautries (born 1953), is a Congolese-born French and American communication designer, multimedia artist, and educator. He is based in the

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, and a co-founder of M-A-D, a

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-based design firm. Adigard is a former design contributor and art director to

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Biography

Adigard was born in

Republic of the Congo The Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo), is a country located on the western coast of Central ...

where his French father was stationed, as a French foreign correspondent. His grandfather is , a noted French historian and a Legion of Honour recipient. When Adigard was ten his family returned to Paris. He began his university studies in English literature, semiotics, and fine arts in France, before coming to the United States to obtain a BFA degree (1987) in graphic design at

California College of the Arts The California College of the Arts (CCA) is a private art school in San Francisco, California. It was founded in Berkeley, California in 1907 and moved to a historic estate in Oakland, California in 1922. In 1996, it opened a second campus in ...

(CCA). While a student, Adigard's first designs earned him national awards for their experimental mix of iconography and offset printing techniques. Upon graduation, with Patricia McShane, he established M-A-D—also known as "madxs", a brand and communications design studio. Since creating his first digital images for Macworld magazine in 1989 he has been exploring the limits of the graphic design discipline as it continues to be redefined by shifting relationships with technology and social phenomena. His activities range from branding, print, web, video and multimedia, to consulting and exhibits—always with a concern for conceptual accuracy and creative innovation. In 1992 he participated in the launch of Wired magazine by conceiving its first visual essay, and then continued to develop a visual vernacular specific to Wired and often labeled "Wired look". In 1996-1998 he served as design director for WiredVentures where he designed new web offerings, including the Hotbot search engine, WiredNews and the ground breaking LiveWired. His short documentary, ''Webdreamer'', a portrait of fellow web designers, was featured in international film festivals such as

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and the Sundance Film Festival. In 1999 he co-authored ''Architecture Must Burn'' with Aaron Betsky. From 2000 until 2004 Adigard developed brand strategy for IBM software, creating a graphic system that allowed for five distinct brands; DB2, Lotus, Tivoli,

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, and

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, to combine into an integrated offering. This brand system included a visual campaign that was in continual use throughout the decade. ''AirXY: From Immaterial to Rematerial'' was a 2008 immersive multimedia installation incorporating digital, architectural, light and sound effects to form spaces and architecture that disappears as quickly as it is formed. This concept, by Erik Adigard and artist Chris Salter was directed by former San Francisco Museum of Modern Art design and architecture curator Aaron Betsky. This work was commissioned by the Venice Architecture Biennale. Since 2011 Adigard has been teaching in the undergraduate and MFA design program at California College of the Arts in San Francisco and Paris, France.

Exhibitions

Among many exhibits, his main commissions include ''Catalysts!, Engage for ExperimentaDesign2005'', Bienal de Lisboa and ''AirXY: From Immaterial to Rematerial'' for the

Venice Biennale of Architecture The Venice Biennale of Architecture ( Italian: ''Mostra di Architettura di Venezia'') is an international exhibition showcasing architectural works from around the world, held in Venice, Italy, every other year. Originally held in even-numbered ...

2008. At the

2012 Adigard created the graphic design and a floor exhibit for Spontaneous Interventions, the American Pavilion installation that was awarded a special mention for National Participation by the Biennale Jury. Adigard’s creations have been shown in major international exhibitions, film festivals and publications, such as the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

, the Pasadena Museum of Art, the

Denver Art Museum The Denver Art Museum (DAM) is an art museum located in the Civic Center of Denver, Colorado. With an encyclopedic collection of more than 70,000 diverse works from across the centuries and world, the DAM is one of the largest art museums betwe ...

, the

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern art, modern and contemporary art museum and nonprofit organization located in San Francisco, California. SFMOMA was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th-century art ...

, the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, the

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in London, the

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(2008), and Meggs’ History of Graphic Design.

Awards

Among his top awards is The Chrysler Award for Innovation in Design in 1998. Erik Adigard was the 2012–2013

American Academy in Rome The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo in Rome, Italy. The academy is a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers. History 19th century In 1893, a group of American architect ...

, Katherine Edwards Gordon

Rome Prize The Rome Prize is awarded by the American Academy in Rome, in Rome, Italy. Approximately thirty scholars and artists are selected each year to receive a study fellowship at the academy. Recipients must be American citizens. Prizes have been aw ...

Fellow in Design.

Memberships

He belongs to the

Alliance Graphique Internationale Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI) is a club of the world's leading graphic artists and designers. There are 510 members from 46 countries. Its members have been collectively responsible for the identity design of most of the world's top cor ...

and from 2009 to 2011 was a board member of Adobe Design Achievement Awards. Other academic activities include advising and teaching in graphic design, media design and architecture, and lecturing in the US and abroad on emerging design subjects.

References

External links

M-A-D
Adigard's Sausalito-based design studio
AirXY
An immersive media installation for the 2008 Venice Architecture Biennale
Dualterm
: Installation running simultaneously in Second Life & Toronto's International Airport
Chronopolis
An immersive installation in the Grand Halle, Parc de La Villette, Paris and Muffathalle, Munich
Architecture Must Burn
2001 book by Aaron Betsky and Erik Adigard
SpontaneousInterventions
The American Pavilion Exhibit at the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale {{DEFAULTSORT:Adigard, Erik 1953 births Living people American new media artists People from Brazzaville California College of the Arts alumni California College of the Arts faculty Artists from the San Francisco Bay Area