Sharing Dreams/Compartiendo Sueños 2007:
Design in Culture/Diseño en Cultura

Elizabeth Berger

The goal or message is to connect and share yourself in “Sharing Dreams” -- “Dreams” as I spelled it to accent the idea of sharing ME in every dream. The thoughts and surreal nature of the writing and visuals are much like dreams seem to come to us in symobls and experiences all mixed together to give you the over all feeling of the moment or message. The symbols are from many of my own dreams that point to this direction I have been exploring lately. They also speak to a link we all have culturally.

The concept behind it is something I am trying to start a business with and have used in research projects while in Dubai. I see the creative culture in every country, culture, religion and race to be one of the few last hopes for overcoming all we face today. It is a bond and power that instantly overcomes almost everything else. It is like sharing a great meal with someone or sharing a song.

Globally the creative people of the world are the eyes, ears and hearts of their societies. I think of us as the “canaries” that they used to use in the mine fields to smell the gas and die first before the human workers died. We are like that in our cultures. Many of my friends around the world are in great stress now, creativity is more than a decorative element for the world i’ts a vital renewal of hope and a new vantage point to see beyond the immediate crisis to a better place.

In my travels to Zimbabwe and working in Dubai seeing the creatives of India, Iran, the Arab world, the Latino world it is a power that is far greater than anything I have seen in the corporate or political world. There is always the creative drive that lifts the most poverty stricken above the negative issues
they face.

That spirit is about all we have left in the world that hasn’t been corrupted, yet historically creatives are not used in business models and major political think tanks. I really see the naievity of that and think that if the canaries of the world die--what is left? So this is a call to share, to protect yourselves to speak up with the value we have to our societies and celebrate the gift of sharing dreams that can become realities.

Bio

Anna Boyiazis is an artist, designer and educator living and working in Los Angeles. Formerly Head Designer at The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Anna has spent the past sixteen years designing a variety of publications, predominantly books, in close collaboration with international art, architecture, cultural and educational organizations. Projects include the design of Morphosis, architecture monograph by Thom Mayne (Phaidon Press), and Paradise Cage: Kiki Smith and Coop Himmelblau (MOCA). Anna has performed extensive design work as a consultant for Design Within Reach, the Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, The Hammer Museum and Yale University. She has taught graphic design and typography courses at both Art Center College of Design and the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture, and has served a teaching fellowship at the Yale University School of Art.

Anna’s unyielding commitment to participate in international humanitarian and environmental relief projects inspired recent travel to remote villages in sub-Saharan Africa to document families whose lives have been touched by AIDS. Additionally, she closely collaborated with the Jane Goodall Institute to document its ambitious conservation and educational programming.

Anna is a 2007 Rome Prize nominee, 2006 Rome Prize finalist, and 2005 American Academy in Rome Visiting Artist. Her design work has been recognized by The American Center for Design, the American Institute of Graphic Arts, and Communication Arts, among others. Anna received a BA from the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture, and a MFA from Yale University.