Pläsnt Dschörnie

Pläsnt Dschörnie – Moving Flyer, is a long-term, open-ended print project instigated by an ongoing interest in text-based investigations in the naïve, clunky vernacular graphic design utilized by the many Berlin-based moving companies, as well as the mechanics behind their prevalence.

Created by building-up mechanicals, using the ‘old-fashioned’ paste-up methods of graphic design prior to the advent of desktop publishing, Pläsnt Dschörnie – Moving Flyer plays on the regurgitated tropes, wording and graphic forms found within these Berliner Umzüge Zettel, as well as using familiar branding and advertising verbiage often found in American small business ephemera, community newsletters, church bulletins, or school lunch menus.

After being laid out on paper using found print, rub-on letters, hand-drawn graphical elements, computer printouts, and more, the resulting collage is scanned, processed via computer, and offset printed in batches of 1000; a marriage of old and new technologies. They are then distributed surreptitiously around the globe by hand and post and “pollinated” by willing world travelers.

Devoid of any contact information and other identifiable cues as to their origin, like currency or units of measure, and camouflaged to look like visual garbage, each Moving Flyer seems like further advertising clutter to the untrained eye, yet for those who look, an absurdist, anonymous play on commerce, advertising, and graphic design is encountered.

Pläsnt Dschörnie playfully suggests alternative ways of moving forward in a contemporary moment of deeply worrisome socio-political context. Instead of merely capitalizing on basic human needs, Pläsnt Dschörnie (despite its own obvious imperfections, and limitations) makes it its business to attend to them.

To date, 22 moving flyers have been produced, along with other custom-printed Pläsnt Dschörnie-related ephemera, with more in the pipeline.