Typology Watch: Post Cards

In keeping with our effort to record typological approaches to design, we noted a new exhibition at Dia, in Beacon, New York. Last weekend I dropped in onYou see I am here after all, a new work by American artist Zoe Leonard. It will be on view through September 7, 2009. You see I am here after all is made up of hundreds of postcards of Niagara Falls arrayed on a white wall. Leonard was born in the area of the Falls and collected the cars in flea markets and online auctions. It took me a while to realize that the cards are arranged not just randomly but according to several factors. They are organized by a typology: One factor in this typology is the perspective of the viewer with regard to Niagara falls. Another is the age of the car, which roughly corresponds to the evolution of postcard technology ranging from black and white photographs that are crudely color tinted to into later Kodak color photos.