Swatch, Incubate Festival, the Venice Biennale… The possibilities are endless for Sigrid Calon. To mark the end of the three-month exhibition PRINT – Curated by Sigrid Calon, we talk to the artist and ask her how she has experienced WOW and what she has been up to in the meantime.

as time goes by

Sigrid isn’t afraid of a challenge and happily takes on pretty much anything that allows her creativity to flow freely while overcoming practical difficulties – always balancing neatly on the verge of art, design, print and, as of now, products. Well-known watchmaker Swatch got in touch after seeing To the Extend of / \ | & –, the 2013 book that caused a stir in the world of graphic design. They asked her to create some designs, invited her to New York for an art project and finally commissioned an Art-Watch.

‘’Produced in limited edition, the watch is the result of my thinking, ‘What kind of watch would I wear?’. It seemed a nice challenge to do something different from the usual layout with the hands indicating time. So I asked them if it were possible to have rotating images instead; because they’re transparent and carry a printed pattern, small shifts are visible as time goes by. This concept is unique and technically quite difficult (ironically, we were pressed for time). I’m thrilled we succeeded!’’

flying the flag of graphic design

In another recent project for Incubate Festival in her hometown Tilburg, Sigrid produced forty flags using the national colours red, white and blue. Using fabric samples from a local textile wholesaler, she combined the three hues in a proud manifestation of the power and subtlety of colour. The flags were first displayed on an immense terrain in town, before moving to the edges of the city. ‘’I wanted to define the identity of Tilburg, so in order to choose the right spots I cycled and drove around extensively. During the festival, the flags hung on private flagpoles, schools, a windsurf society and so on. An ode to autonomous art.’’

At pretty much the same time, Sigrid exhibits at the Venice Biennale, where reactions from the international crowd are very positive, despite the isolated location: ‘’It takes either a boat trip or a really long walk to get there but it’s wonderful nonetheless.’’

what’s next?

Back to WOW: PRINT is in its final days. ‘’I loved the way I was able to present print in such a diverse way and to show the significance of the graphic workshops in this country. It was a lot of work, I can’t do that too often! I wouldn’t have time for my own work anymore. But I worked on PRINT with passion as it is something I fully support.’’

‘’Next projects are more clearly my own work: for instance, I’m working on an exclusive series of risoprints for a New York gallery and on two books, one together with Willem van Zoetendaal (also part of PRINT). In September a beautiful set of double notecards is released, based on my first book. For the same publisher, I’m also working on a memory game. Plus, yesterday I was invited to do a project in San Francisco. How amazing is that?!’’

Click here and here for more about PRINT and here for the PRINT book.

On the picture above Sigrid Calon wears one of her own designs in a jacket by Sanne Jansen.