Our Happy Life. Architecture and Well-Being in the Age of Emotional Capitalism
Recommended Information Concerning Your Burnout
An exhibition catalogue from the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) that questions current ideologies of well-being in a control society gives expression to the curatorial concept via a design that is aligned with its topic but also brings about a highly accessible book in its own right. The content is structured in a fairly conventional way, with essays and themed photo series, but the design is skilful in finding room for creative interventions. Control questions in a large typeface on individual double pages confront readers with their own lifestyles. While the extensive captions, arranged systematically, turn the photo series into actual picture stories, the short, single-page texts at the end of each series employ a highly efficient system of footnotes with coloured circles. Here, the design parodies the life-style magazine Monocle, but also plays with the signage used on North American roads. Readers are thus taken on a journey, throughout which their unease at the ideology of well-being is constantly present but no moral responses are offered. The information and design are perfectly attuned to the short attention span of the burnout generation. The font is extremely attractive.
