From Lecture Hall to Museum
Students of Rhine-Waal University present experimental typography at Museum PAN
The exhibition “Experimental Design – Our Way to Typography” brings poster works by students of the Information and Communication Design degree programme at Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences into Museum PAN. Created as part of the long-standing collaboration with the PAN Kunstforum Foundation, the contemporary works are shown alongside original posters by Wolfgang Weingart from 1982 to 1984. The exhibition is on view in Emmerich am Rhein until 26 April 2026.
Photo: Simone Reinhart, Stiftung PAN Kunstforum
For more than a decade, the PAN Kunstforum Foundation has enjoyed a successful collaboration with the Faculty of Communication and Environment at Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences in Kamp-Lintfort. The partnership is characterised by openness, mutual trust and a shared commitment to experimental approaches in design. “We encountered a willingness at the PAN Kunstforum Foundation to openly engage with new processes whose outcomes are not yet foreseeable,” said Professor Christian Stindl, expressing his enthusiasm for the collaboration as it has grown over the years. A partnership of this kind – one based on equality and sustained by shared enthusiasm – is far from a given.
As part of another joint project, the exhibition “Experimental Design – Our Way to Typography” has now opened. It was developed by students from the Information and Communication Design degree programme under the direction of Professor Christian Stindl. The exhibition will be on view at Museum PAN in Emmerich am Rhein until 26 April 2026. “The students and their professors continue to inspire us with their fresh ideas and creative approaches,” emphasised Irene Möllenbeck, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the PAN Foundation, at the exhibition opening.
Photo: Christian Stindl, Hochschule-Rhein-Waal
The exhibition presents a wide range of poster designs by first-semester students, all of which explore typography through experimental means. These contemporary works are complemented by original posters from 1982 to 1984 by graphic designer Wolfgang Weingart (1941–2021), whose radical and pioneering approach formed the conceptual foundation of the project.
Photo: Christian Stindl, Hochschule-Rhein-Waal
The students’ work receives particular recognition through its inclusion in the Museum PAN collection: following the exhibition, the posters will become part of the museum’s collection of approximately 45,000 original posters by renowned designers – an exceptional step and a significant acknowledgement of emerging design talent.