The Prelude Exhibition of The First Shanghai Graphic Design Biennale – TopoPoster: International Poster Design Exhibition, after six months (June – December, 2025) of planning and preparation, was successfully held from December 13 to December 22, 2025. As one of the larger-scale exhibitions in recent years featuring an international selection of works in China, it showcased over 300 representative poster designs from 153 influential contemporary designers and studios active in the forefront of the field across 28 countries.
Doppelter Boden
Under the exhibition title "Doppelter Boden" (double bottom) the class of Prof. John Morgan at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf presented a walk-in installation at "La Felce" that explored the table as an object by breaking it down into its various layers of meaning.
The poster design draws on the visual vernacular of vintage boxing and wrestling promotions, a reference point the group encountered during a trip to Berlin. With its bold, condensed typeface, high-contrast neon yellow background, and rigorously structured layout, the design echoes the raw urgency and promotional flair of combat sports ephemera.
Crucially, the two monochrome images embedded within the poster depict a wrestling table at two pivotal moments: in the Vernissage image, it is being introduced into the ring — intact, full of potential; by the Finissage, it is captured mid-destruction, engulfed in flames. These temporal bookends do more than mark the opening and closing of the exhibition; they construct a visual narrative of transformation, violence, and performativity. In doing so, the poster not only announces the exhibition but also reflects its core inquiry: the table as a charged object, one that carries symbolic, functional, and cultural weight — and is always, in some sense, a stage.
Daniel Seemayer
Stephanie Passul
danielseemayer.com
@danielseemayer