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Object Timeline

2012

  • Work on this object began.

2014

2025

  • You found it!

Poster, WERK No. 20

This is a Poster. It was designed by Theseus Chan and made for (as the client) Ginza Graphic Gallery. It is dated 2012 and we acquired it in 2014. Its medium is hand-distressed offset lithograph on paper. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

In 2012, Theseus Chan was invited by the Ginza Graphic Gallery in Tokyo, Japan to design a poster for a solo exhibition of his work. At this time, Chan was preparing to design and publish the twentieth volume of his magazine Werk, whose theme was "The Extremities of the Printed Matter." The magazine is issued in a limited edition of 800 to 1000 copies, and each copy has a unique appearance, a reflection of the handcrafted nature of its production. Chan designed both the cover of the Werk volume and the exhibition poster at the same time. Both designs use Helvetica Neue font and feature the text in bold, black letters laid out across the space of the paper. For the poster, Chan added a representation behind the lettering of aGinza map, with the appearance of flaking paint and highlighting the precise location of the Ginza Graphic Gallery with a white speck. Once the posters had been printed, Chan’s team at WORK crumpled each individual poster by hand, adding a physical dimension to the piece that suggests a distressed wall.

This object was featured in our Object of the Week series in a post titled Lovingly Crumpled.

This object was donated by Theseus Chan. It is credited Gift of Theseus Chan.

Our curators have highlighted 2 objects that are related to this one.

Its dimensions are

H x W: 102.9 × 72.9 cm (40 1/2 × 28 11/16 in.)

Cite this object as

Poster, WERK No. 20; Designed by Theseus Chan (Singaporean, b. 1961); Client: Ginza Graphic Gallery; Singapore; hand-distressed offset lithograph on paper; H x W: 102.9 × 72.9 cm (40 1/2 × 28 11/16 in.); Gift of Theseus Chan; 2014-31-1

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If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-4.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/68731097/ |title=Poster, WERK No. 20 |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=10 March 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>