New York, 2005, printed transparent foil for the LOKal illuminated panel, Vienna, 349 x 118 cm. (DRAX)

One of two transparent panels. The other was sold at the Vienna Dorotheum on 6 May 2014.

Lit.: Stefan Sagmeister, Things I Have Learned in My Life So Far, Abrams 2008

Provenance:LOKal (Leben ohne Krankenhaus), Vienna

From a letter by Stefan Sagmeister to Michael Hübl of the Vienna-based association LOK (Leben ohne Krankenhaus/Life without Hospital), 28 April 2005:
“‘Helping other people helps me’ is one of the few truths I’ve learned in my life so far, and I believe this excellently fits in with LOKal, with regard to both your employees and clients and your trainers and civilian service personnel. Some other things that are on my life list of things learned: ‘Trying to look good limits my life’ and ‘Having guts always works out for me’.
It is perfectly intended that the slogan for LOKal is difficult to read – the reader must make an effort to grasp it, for it does not reveal itself so easily. However, it may be that we have gone too far in terms of illegibility, so that I would like to have your input here: if necessary, we can modify it in order to make it more easily legible.
All of the letters have been specially built for this project (so that they in fact represent LOKal’s own corporate font). Their concept leads us back to good old M. C. Escher: the few beholders who will take a closer look at the whole thing will realize that each individual letter is an ‘impossible’ construction in itself. The sum of these impossibilities eventually results in this great possibility. All in all, the style of the illuminated panel is a contemporary 2005 version of the psychedelic poster of 1968 (e.g., The Grateful Dead at the Fillmore East, San Francisco), because in a certain way we associate your idea of mentally ill people collaborating in a café/record store with a 21st-century model of the hippie philosophy….” Stefan Sagmeister, in: Things I Have Learned in My Life So Far, Abrams 2008

„Based on the impossible constructions of M. C. Escher, geometrical letters were designed that, on first sight, give the feeling of being common 3-D letters. But, if you take a closer look, you will find each letter acts like a Möbius hand. There is no way of building such a 3-D letter in actuality. With the “impossible” typeface and the strong psychedelic visual language “Helping other people helps me” creates the impression of a different world, perhaps not rationally understandable, but still beautiful, clever, and fascinating (like the people it was designed for).