Paul Pfeiffer at MCA
Exhibition, Identity, Print, Environmental
2025
Identity, exhibition graphics, print, and environmental design for Paul Pfeiffer: Prologue to the Story of the Birth of Freedom at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.
“For Pfeiffer, the basketball court, the boxing ring, and the stadium not only serve as platforms for grand spectacles but as sites where the body politic—of a nation, of a community, of society—is imagined, defined, and contested.”
︎︎︎ Paul Pfeiffer exhibition blurb, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
Paul Pfeiffer: Prologue to the Story of the Birth of Freedom presents “25 years of work from artist Paul Pfeiffer (b. 1966, Honolulu, HI; lives in New York, NY), whose practice interrogates ideas of spectacle and mass culture. By repurposing the tools and systems of media production—including editing, staging, and outsourcing—Pfeiffer recontextualizes global celebrities such as pop stars, film actors, and athletes to reveal relationships between audiences and icons.” (MCA)
The team conducted extensive visual research into several key themes present in Pfeiffer’s practice: sports, celebrity, religiosity, pop culture, consumption, sacred spaces, and communal worship.
The final system is typeset in forced justification, in a nod to:
The rest is a highly flexible modular “wordmark,” with spacing that can be adjusted per tactic.
The final system is typeset in forced justification, in a nod to:
- Early 1900’s boxing posters (printed in wood type)
- Massive LCD scoreboards
- The representaiton of text in Catholic churches (both in stained glass and in decorative gilded type)
- The horizontal motion of the stock market ticker tape.
The rest is a highly flexible modular “wordmark,” with spacing that can be adjusted per tactic.
Above: Dry transfer map designed to tableset expectations for visitors to expect two dead ends. Each pathway is matched to two slightly different Pantone gray shades.
Perhaps the most challenging (and rewarding) component was the window/ building facade graphic installation. A massive representaiton of Pfeiffer’s The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse #7 took over the facade.
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
In the invitation suite, the flexible typesetting system was able to shine.
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
Made with the MCA Creative Studio
Director of Creative: Suraiya Nathani Hossain
Creative Producer: Drew Colglazier
Senior Graphic Designer: Brian Hedrick
Senior Production Designer: Katie Leonard
Photography credits: Kevin Penczak
All artwork by Paul Pfeiffer
Director of Creative: Suraiya Nathani Hossain
Creative Producer: Drew Colglazier
Senior Graphic Designer: Brian Hedrick
Senior Production Designer: Katie Leonard
Photography credits: Kevin Penczak
All artwork by Paul Pfeiffer