{"id":242016,"date":"2026-01-20T05:51:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T05:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/242016\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T05:51:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T05:51:09","slug":"the-collective-swamp-center-find-roots-of-graphic-design-in-the-muck-mud-and-mire-of-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/242016\/","title":{"rendered":"The collective swamp.center find roots of graphic design in the muck, mud and mire of Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"

Karolina Pietrzyk<\/a> and Tobias Wenig<\/a>, are both primarily Berlin-based graphic designers and illustrators who founded the group project swamp.center, a collection of artists that self-publish, from zines, books and posters and collaborate with artists, musicians, cultural institutions and musical festivals across Europe. Formed to create an umbrella space to capture all of its artist\u2019s talents, the collective started swamp.center<\/a> at the beginning of 2025 \u2013 because there is never a bad time to run a small publishing house, label and small bookshop all at once.<\/p>\n

Whilst digging through archives, taking photographs, drawing and scanning materials, the collective works primarily with nature \u2013 exploring typography, history and maps to capture the unique swampiness of its visuals. \u201cTypeface research is always one of the most fun parts of the work,\u201d says Karolina. \u201cIt\u2019s great to research specimens, digging the story behind them \u2013 we spend hours on it, it\u2019s fascinating.\u201d<\/p>\n

The swamp is a very special place for the collective, or as they call it: \u201cmystical\u201d. In its work for an exhibition Kukania, curated by Katarzyna R\u00f3\u017ca\u0144ska-Szabelska at Arsena\u0142 Gallery in Bia\u0142ystok, Poland, the collective honoured the medieval myth it\u2019s named after, exploring the marsh as both \u201ca historical and contemporary place of refuge\u201d, says Karolina. To do this, the collective borrowed visuals from Brandenburg swamps to produce moving collages mixed with typography taken from old holiday resort postcards.<\/p>\n

swamp.center\u2019s colour palettes are filled with bucolic, greeny textures, with angular twig-like shapes. It\u2019s all about the strange beauty of the muck and mud. Other times, the group\u2019s designs mimic retro computer ASCII art, referencing the mechanical environments that surround nature. The collective recently finished a new visual identity for BGSW Ba\u0142tycka Galera Sztuki Wsp\u00f3\u0142czesnej<\/a> (Baltic Contemporary Gallery), where the artists collected found materials such as plants, twigs, fragments of fish nets and stones with post-glacial fossil samples found on the Baltic shore between Slupsk and a seaside town in Poland Ustka. \u201cWe carefully reproduced colours with color charts (Pantone) from found elements \u2013 from bluish-greyish twigs, light-green algaes, yellowish and burgundy dried roots,\u201d so as to \u201crepresent the gallery and it\u2019s surrounding as an entangled entity,\u201d says Tobias.<\/p>\n

Next time you get your foot stuck in the mud or stare into the algae of gentle streams, you might think about how it can be utilised into graphic design all thanks to the swamp.center.<\/p>\n