Tom Klinkowstein Poster

Pratt Communications Design Faculty Member Tom Klinkowstein's punk/post-punk poster can now be counted among the 28,000 works included in the permanent architecture and design collection of The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Klinkowstein is an adjunct professor in both the M.F.A. and M.S. degree programs, and designed the poster in 1980 for a benefit concert by artist Laurie Anderson.   

“The acquisition of Professor Klinkowstein's poster into MoMA's permanent collection speaks not only to his talents as a visual communicator, but to his ability to be at the forefront of design through experimentation,” said Jeff Bellantoni, Chair of Graduate Communications Design at Pratt Institute. “He has been a valued faculty member in the department since 1990, sharing his expertise in design thinking and strategy with our students, always emphasizing the importance of content and context in their work,” he added.      

Klinkowstein is president and creative director of Media A, LLC, an internationally recognized design and consulting group with clients such as CondéNast, IBM, and NASA. His work has been shown in art centers, museums, and galleries throughout the world including the Centre Pompidou, Paris and the Venice Biennale, Italy. Klinkowstein previously taught in the graphic design department at West Brabant Art and Design College, The Netherlands.      

“In retrospect, my design is an archeological slice of time. It is completely handmade and pre-desktop computer, although, I placed an image of an IBM device of indeterminate purpose in the background which alludes to the coming digital tsunami in music, image making, and the culture-at-large,” said Klinkowstein. 


MoMA's architecture and design collection includes work that ranges from large-scale design objects to works on paper and architectural models and surveys major figures and movements from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. The architecture collection documents buildings through models, drawings, and photographs, and includes the Mies van der Rohe Archive. The design collection comprises thousands of objects, ranging from appliances, furniture, and tableware to tools, textiles, sports cars-even a helicopter. The graphic design collection includes noteworthy examples of typography, posters, and other combinations of text and image. For more on the architecture and design collection please visit http://www.moma.org

Image: Tom Klinkowstein's punk/post-punk poster. Image credit Tom Klinkowstein.

Media Contact:

Amy Aronoff at 718.636.3554 or aarono29@pratt.edu