Festival Amiens Tout-monde (2019–)

”I call ‘Whole-World’ our universe such as it changes and endures through exchange…” This line by Martiniquan poet and philosopher Édouard Glissant (1928–2011) was chosen by the Maison de la Culture Amiens as the guiding star of a festival held annually since 2019. The term Whole-World (Tout-monde) can be understood in correspondence to Glissant’s concept of multicultural creolization in which all individuals and societies can profit from cultural exchange, leading to completely new, otherwise nonexistent cultural phenomena.

The Maison de la Culture Amiens (MCA) is the major cultural hub of that Northern-French city. It is a multi-partite house showcasing exhibitions, theater, dance, cinema and many other forms of visual and performative arts. In earlier posts we presented Julien Lelièvre’s redesign of MCA’s visual identity and his work on program brochures and advertising material.

While these are usually very colorful, Lelièvre takes a whole different approach in the design for the Festival Amiens Tout-monde. It is exclusively black and white and uses a single typeface collection: Cardinal from Production Type. Cardinal Classic is a roman of normal width but available in three different variations with regard to the length of its ascenders and descenders. Cardinal Classic Short is in use here for all reading texts. On the headline level you can see Cardinal Fruit in different weights. This branch boasts condensed proportions and an expressive italic.

In some way this reduced design concept seems to counteract the spirit of the festival whose aim it is to bring artists from around the world together and in touch with the local scene. At a second look, the omission of color can be read as an invitation to discover the actual event in full color in person. The reduction also offers a stage for the different artists and illustrators that were invited over the years to spark the crowd’s curiosity.