Motif
29 November - 1 February, 2020.
Bonington Gallery, Nottingham

Bonington Gallery is delighted to present Motif, an exhibition and experience that brings together 15 years of research conducted by Nottingham Trent University’s Tim Rundle, Principal Lecturer in BA (Hons) Fashion Communication and Promotion.

Motifs have become the cultural hieroglyphics of our times, charting a new labyrinthine set of semiotics that chart shifts in social identity and consumer behaviour. As the new cryptological visual shorthand, motifs have become a dominant form of communication, from tote to tattoo, replacing text with emoji, logo with image, city name with icon. Adopted as both badges of belonging and icons of individuality, motifs can be understood as markers of creative conformity or aesthetic innovation.

After 30 years of aggressive shifts in design, our relationship to retail, consumption, personal and lifestyle narratives are unrecognisable. One of the key markers of these global changes is our adoption of motifs.

Join us in exploring a 15-year history of the application and appropriation of motif across a wide range of design cultures, and play a part in reinterpreting the future relationship between image and message.