Andreas Trenker

Color

Andreas Trenker is an Italian graphic designer, documentary photographer, visual researcher and educator. He investigates sociopolitical topics through an interdisciplinary and critical approach originating from the context of conflictual geographies. Over the past fifteen years, he gained experience in working for clients from the cultural, academic and commercial field and developed visual narratives in diverse forms and formats. He is currently teaching as a lecturer for Digital Media and Graphic Design at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano and gives workshops at LABASAD Barcelona. Previously he served for two years as a full-time Lecturer in Graphic Design at the German University in Cairo and thaught Graphic Design Basics for five years at the Faculty of Design and Art at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano. He holds a BA in Design and Arts from the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano and an MFA from the Sandberg Instituut. As documentary photographer he is represented by the photo agency of Süddeutsche Zeitung. He is a board member of the Department of Photography and Cinema at the Heritage International Institute. In 2019, he co-founded the design studio Normplusultra, which focuses on visual storytelling, branding and editorial projects.




Teaching

→ Lecturer in Digital Media and Graphic Design at the Faculty of Design and Art, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano.
2024 — ongoing

→ Lecturer in Graphic Design at LABASAD, Workshop.
2024

→ Full-time Lecturer at the Faculty of Applied Sciences and Arts, German University in Cairo, Egypt.
2021 — 2023

→ Guest Tutor at Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Arquitectura y Diseño  in  Bogotá, Colombia.
April 2020

→ Teaching Assistant at the Faculty of Design and Art, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano.
2014 — 2017, 2019 — 2021



Exhibitions

→ Khoda hafez (solo photography exhibition – San Candido, 2019)

→ Fear's footprint in architecture (group exhibition – Pergine, 2019)

→ Not too close to the walls and corners (group exhibition – Amsterdam, 2019)

→ The Outsider (group exhibition with CUPH – Brooklyn, New York City, 2019)

→ Materiale Immateriale (group exhibition – Venice Design Week, 2018)

Education

→ MFA, Sandberg Institute, Amsterdam, Design Department: Think Tank for Visual Strategies
2017 — 2019

→ Exchange semester at Bezalel Academy of Design and Art, Jerusalem, Faculty of Visual Communication
2012

→ BA in Design, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Faculty of Design and Art, Visual Communication and Product Design
2009 — 2013



→ Like A Dream (group exhibition – Photoville Brooklyn Bridge, New York City, 2018)

→ Arbeitsraum Südtirol (group exhibition – Salone del Mobile Milano, 2018)

→ UniWorks (group exhibition and co-curator – PolyU Hong Kong, 2016)

→ ADI Design Index (group exhibition – Triennale Milano, 2013)

→ Water Design (group exhibition – Bologna, 2013)

→ Rovereto da regalare (group exhibition – MART Rovereto, 2013)

→ Concrete (solo exhibition – San Candido, 2013)

Selected Awards

→ 100 Best Arabic Posters, 2022

→ Benno Barth Award, Artistic Research Grant, 2019

→ Maghreb Photography Award, Silver Medal, 2018

→ Red Dot Design Award, 2016

→ Compasso D’Oro, Targa Giovani, jury commendation, 2014

→ ADI Design Index, 2013



Residencies

→ Design Residency, Disarming Design From Palestine, Birzeit Palestine
August 2018



Clients and Publications

Selected Clients: Blender, Amnesty International Frankfurt, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Provincial Government South Tyrol, Municipality of San Candido, Municipality of Brunico, CONIFA Confederation of Independent Football Associations, Disarming Design From Palestine, Kiron Open Higher Education, Leiden Short Film Festival, Are We Europe, 3 Zinnen Dolomites, GQ, Condé Nast, Watershed NGO, ...

Published in: Süddeutsche Zeitung, Wired UK, 360° Design Magazine, The Guardian, DAMN Magazine, Slanted, Page, Design in the Alps, Are We Europe, Cafe Babel, FeatureShoot

Al-Maktub maktub
Linocut


Linocut print on tshirt for the "Al-maktub maktub" project. Shirt available in white with green print and green with white print.

Year: 2023
Egypt

Frederiick
Open Call


Poster and flyer for the artistic Open Call Frederiick initiated by the cultural youth organization Afzack in Bolzano.

Client: Afzack
Year: 2023
Italy

EST
Kulturbahnhof Stazione Culturale


Visual identity and bespoke lettering for EST - Kulturbahnhof - Stazione Culturale in Brunico, Italy. Documentation of the full visual identity coming soon.

Client: EST Kulturbahnhof Stazione Culturale
Year: 2022
Italy

Packagings of the World
Risograph prints


A collection of riso prints featuring some particular packagings of products encountered during some of my journeys.

Year: 2019
Georgia, Palestine, Eritrea, Morocco, Israel

3 Magazine
Tales from the valley floor to the summit


Third issue of "3 Magazine" – a publication designed for guests and locals of the Italian holiday region "3 Zinnen Dolomites". The incredible cultural, linguistic and natural diversity of this region is portrayed through journalistic articles and photo reportages.

The magazine is issued once a year and is available for free.

Client: 3 Zinnen Dolomites
With: Max Boiger
Chief editor: Matthias Mayr
Year: 2020 – ongoing
Italy

Tabula
Visual Identity


Visual identity and bespoke lettering for Tabula – Studio for Animation and Mixed Reality in Bolzano, Italy. Business cards printed with holographic foil on black cardboard.

Client: Studio Tabula
Year: 2022
Italy

Riso Calendar 2023
A Dedication to the Streets of Cairo


The riso calendar "A Dedication to the Streets of Cairo" is an exciting collection of illustrated observations on the busy streets of Cairo. All illustrations and letterings were beautifully executed by 13 Cairo-based designers.

With: Habiba Nasr, Céline Raffy, Maram Al Refaei,
Bassant Ahmed, Rawda Ihab Elsaka, Raneem Elkott,
Andreas Trenker, Mariam Koota, Sara Ghitas,
Malak Mazhar, Yousef Sabry, Farah Kamaly
Letterings: Sara Ghitas and Rana Wassef
Printed by: Rizo Masr
Year: 2023
Egypt

GQ Watches 2022


The magazine GQ Watches is published once a year and is known as bible among all style-conscious watch fans. Alongside numerous short and long articles, the magazine features a wide variety of chapters on the world of watches, all of which require their very own visual interpretation.

The big challenge in this project was the development and implementation of the design in an extremely short amount of time.

Client: GQ Germany, Condé Nast
With: Max Boiger
Art Production: Audrey Solomon
Year: 2022
Germany

Essay Book "Issue 3"
Sandberg Institute


The essay book "Issue 3" is a publication designed for the Sandberg Institute containing the master theses written by the students of the Design Department. It aims at opening up the students' research to a broader audience

Client: Sandberg Institute
With: Samuli Saarinen, Sascha Krischock
Font by: Heikki Lotvonen
Year: 2018
Netherlands

Aluminium Duce
Documentary


The documentary "Aluminium Duce" investigates the turbulent history of an eponymous nicknamed fascist monument once located in Italy’s most Northern region, South Tyrol. The film retraces the story of this equestrian statue from its blueprint in 1937 to its violent destruction by a bomb in 1961 whereby it explores the violence performed by and against the effigy. By bringing together a variety of archival material and interviews with contemporary witnesses, the documentary functions as a point of intersection of diametrically opposed narratives and views regarding the monument. This poses the questions of how to deal with recent history and its materialized remnants.

The fragmentation of both the statue and its story triggered a search for traces which also brings to light the complexity of a multilingual border region and functions as a lens to look at the geopolitical landscape of the early 1960s when an insurgent turmoil formed in the heart of Europe.

Master thesis project
Duration: 60'
Year: 2019
Italy, Austria

Video link on request

Tzeva Adom
Notes on the Gaza Strip Border


"Tzeva Adom – Notes on the Gaza Strip Border" is a multimedia exhibition which looks into one aspect of the ongoing war in Palestine and reflects on the its impact on the border city Sderot and the nearby kibbutz Nir‘Am.

The exhibition visualizes the field research carried out along the Gaza Strip border directly after the Gaza War in November 2012 and connects the many fragments of information collected in a geographical and contextual mapping.

It is not aimed at explaining the overall situation in its complexity but rather in critically examining the militarization of the Israeli society and of the public space by questioning the normalization of the status quo.

BA thesis project
Year: 2012 — 2013
Palestine/Israel

LISFE 2018
Leiden International Short Film Experience


Visual identity for the 10th anniversary of the LISFE Film Festival in the city of Leiden in the Netherlands.

The aim was to create a dialogue between the visitors of this small but prestigious festival and the films shown in it. To reflect the intimacy of the festival, film scenes of the winners from the previous nine editions were projected onto the face of a spectator. In this way, the visitor becomes the projection surface and the gaze is not only directed at the artistic content of the festival but also at the people who have supported the festival for years with their visit.

The nine different versions of the poster were displayed in the city of Leiden to promote the festival.

Client: LISFE
Assistant: Laura Quarto
Model: Rowena Buur
Year: 2019
Netherlands

Visual Jargon #1
Archive of Shapes


Based on my collection of urban forms that emerge unintentionally from the interaction between people, city and nature, a carpet was created in which the individual shapes were woven into a new complex cartography of the city.

Client: Salto Artstore
Year: 2021
Italy

*FOR SALE*

3 Magazine
Tales from the valley floor to the summit


"3 Magazine" is a publication designed for guests and locals of the Italian holiday region "3 Zinnen Dolomites". The incredible cultural, linguistic and natural diversity of this region is portrayed through journalistic articles and photo reportages.

The magazine is issued once a year and is available for free.

Client: 3 Zinnen Dolomites
With: Max Boiger
Chief editor: Matthias Mayr
Year: 2020 – ongoing
Italy

Yugermanija
In Transit: Berlin-Belgrade


Yugermanija is an interactive multimedia narration developed in collaboration with Eva Hasel for AWE (Are We Europe). The story retraces the turbulent history of the two European capitals Berlin and Belgrade by shedding light on ten key-locations in both cities.

Through text, animated illustrations and sound, the reader explores the subtile connections between both geographies and is being guided through the five chapters addressing formal architectural aspects, city planning, monumental memory and the remnants of the past.

Client: Are We Europe
Text: Eva Hasel
Year: 2022
Europe

Co-Carts
Vehicles for the Community


Visual identity for the project Co-Carts – Vehicles for the Community. A project by the architectural collective Orizzontale in the context of the artist-in-residency program at Lungomare. The project renegotiates the regulation on the public space of the city of Bolzano through a collective and collaborative practice.

Co-Carts are pop-up vehicles for the community and enter into synergy with each other and amplify the relation between the inhabitations and the city.

The visual language developed for this project is based on the plurality of directions one can take in a city. A set of diverse arrows proposes different directions, speeds, modes of navigation and movements.

Client: Lungomare, Orizzontale
Year: 2020
Italy

Bachelor Exhibition Poster
GUC – FASA


Poster for the bachelor exhibition of the Faculty of Applied Sciences and Arts at the German University in Cairo made with an experimental modular Arabic and Latin typeface in an isometric grid.

Client: GUC
Year: 2022
Egypt

Leiden Shorts 2020
Film Festival


For the film festival "Leiden Shorts", which dealt with the topic of global warming in 2020, I created a visual identity that depicted both the rising temperatures on Earth and the forced social distance caused by the Corona pandemic.

In collaboration with the artist and researcher Joseph Giacomin, three motifs were selected from his archive of thermal photographs, each showing two hands reaching for each other but unable to touch.

In the printing process, the magenta channel was replaced with a neon orange to evoke the aesthetic of thermal photography.

Client: Leiden Shorts
Thermal Photography: Joseph Giacomin
Year: 2020
Netherlands

LISFE 2019
Leiden International Short Film Experience


Visual identity for the Leiden Short Film Festival highlighting the global dimension of the topics addressed in the movies and the origins of this year's participants.

The program booklet is a flip book introducing the movies and covering the last seconds until the screening starts.

Client: LISFE
Assistant: Laura Quarto
Year: 2019
Netherlands

Semirurali
Percorso espositivo


The Semirurali district was built in the 1930s by the Fascist government to accommodate the workers employed in the newly built industrial zone in the city of Bolzano. Most of them were migrants from the southern Italian provinces. Most of these buildings were demolished in the 1980s. The last remaining one has been turned into a museum which tells the difficult story of this neighborhood and its inhabitants through various media.

Under the supervision of the studio Lupo&Burtscher, I designed the logo, the visual identity and elements of the exhibition design for this permanent exhibition.

Client: Municipality of Bozen-Bolzano
Art direction and exhibition design by Lupo&Burtscher
in collaboration with Roberto Gigliotti
Year: 2015
Italy

Terra Nullius
Design Workshop


„Terra Nullius“ was a design workshop organised in collaboration with Asja Keeman, which questions the notion of statehood and recognition.

The workshop was facilitated to bring together the students from the Design Department Sandberg Institute and those from the KABK Non-Linear Narrative. The workshop was hosted in the premises of the Palestinian Mission to the Kingdom of the Netherlands in The Hague.

Self-initiated
With: Asja Keeman
Supported by: Palestinian Mission
to the Kingdom of the Netherlands
Year: 2018
Netherlands

CONIFA
Confederation of Independent Football Associations


Logo design and bespoke typeface for CONIFA – the confederation of independent football associations. A platform for football associations which are not affiliated with FIFA, like the teams of unrecognized countries, contested territories or cultural and linguistic minorities.

Members of CONIFA are among others the teams of Abkhazia, Northern Cyprus, Padania, Western Armenia, Kurdistan, Tibet, Western Papua, Somaliland, Zanzibar, Mapuche, Hawaii and Kiribati.

The new logo expresses the joy of cultural dialogue through football.

Client: CONIFA
Year: 2020
International

Gailerhof Hausbier
Craft Beer


Beer label designed for the craft beer brewed by a local micro-brewery for the sustainable Hotel Gailerhof in the Italian Dolomite mountains. The label was made applying the linocut technique to reflect the handcrafted approach which went also into the brewing process of the small-scale brewery.

The linocut depicts the bathtub on the terrace of the hotel, which is embedded remotely between fields and forests and offers a breathtaking view on the Pustertal valley and nearby mountains.

Client: Gailerhof
Year: 2022
Italy

Circolo Arci Diverkstatt
Event Poster


A series of posters for the event "Social Change and Innovation" promoting a set of talks on the topic of social and collaborative practices, organized by the South Tyrolean cultural association Circolo ARCI Diverkstatt.

Client: Circolo ARCI Diverkstatt
Year: 2018
Italy

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