Press : Klaus-Peter Dienst

Klaus-Peter Dienst
Calligrammatic typography and poetic text images

His readers were supposed to learn to read again by spelling the words - from 24 November 2017 until 4 February 2018, as part of the “Dienstbeginn“ research project, the Design Faculty of the Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences will be presenting the work of the graphic designer and experimental calligrapher Klaus-Peter Dienst, at the NRW-Forum

Klaus-Peter Dienst’s lifework was one thing above all - a manic declaration of his love for letterforms. He arranged these in endless variations into veritable landscapes of words. In the course of a two-year research project, prospective communication designers at the Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences, under the direction of the professors Victor Malsy and Holger Jacobs, have now researched and showcased the oeuvre of this designer.

At the heart of the exhibition will be his three most significant and expansive works: the fully illustrated complete edition of the literary magazine “RHINOZeros“, the graphic text composition “Carmina Burana“ and the “Dictionaire Grapho-Grammatico“. The setting for the show is a specially designed and produced exhibition system that picks up on the geometric design principle of the showcased works.

The main thing for Klaus-Peter Dienst was not the message of the authors. Indeed, it was sometimes barely possible to decipher the texts that he had worked on. Their contents had to be subordinated to the characteristic style of the designer. These “poetic text images” fall somewhere on the spectrum between calligraphy and typography, between applied graphics and free art.

The experimental literary magazine “RHINOZeros“ was founded in 1960 by Klaus-Peter Dienst together with his younger brother Rolf-Gunter and published until 1965. Each of the ten issues was handcrafted by Klaus-Peter Dienst. The contents of the magazine were influenced by the experimental literature of the time as well as by the Beat Generation. Numerous initial publications appeared in the magazine by both (as yet) unknown as well as internationally esteemed authors, such as, Samuel Beckett, William S. Burroughs, Jean Cocteau, Allen Ginsberg and Franz Mon.

“Carmina Burana” is a medieval peasant song cycle that achieved new fame in the 1930s with a musical setting by Carl Orff. Dramatically enlarged pages from Klaus-Peter Dienst’s own interpretation of the collection of songs will be on display.

On display in the exhibition there will also be the “Dictionnaire Grapho-Grammatico“ - a book created by drawing on top of an old Professorenroman[1] as well as individual sheets on which Dienst crafted commissioned work or created it freely. Unlike the published works, of which originals and reproductions will be showcased in the exhibition, the individual works will be shown in the original.

Klaus-Peter Dienst was born in 1935, in Kiel, and studied from 1955 to 1960 at the University of Fine Arts of Hamburg and, from 1963 to 1965, at the State University of Fine Arts in Berlin. Following his State examination, he worked from 1969 until his death in 1982 as an art teacher in Itzehoe. A publication will accompany the exhibition that will document the research and review of the complete works of Klaus-Peter Dienst.

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It is permissible to use at no charge the pictorial material listed here for topic-oriented reporting (in print- and online-media as well as via social-media channels) and with inclusion of the indicated photo credit. The exemption from utilization fees expires six weeks after the end of the exhibition.

In the case of an article or reprint, we would be pleased to receive a copy at presse@nrw-forum.de or NRW-Forum Düsseldorf, Pressestelle, Ehrenhof 2, 40479 Düsseldorf. Thank you.