Gillett G. Griffin Memorial Lecture: "Graphic Minded" with Nick Butcher and Nadine Nakanishi
Please join Princeton University Library for the annual Gillett G. Griffin Memorial Lecture.
Across their unique presentation, Sonnenzimmer--Nick Butcher and Nadine Nakanishi--will share the origins of their graphic-centric studio practice and their most recent philosophical queries. The layered program will include performance, live media, and music presented as a porous interface aimed at challenging the preconceived notions of the graphic arts.
“All images are for the sun” proclaim the Chicago-based duo, and through this performative lecture, audience members will be asked to reconsider their relationship to human-made and naturally occurring images, alike.
Sonnenzimmer’s path, a product of the transitional period between 90’s DIY publishing and the 2000’s burgeoning internet culture, is a hand-made practice in an evolving industrial complex.
Through prepared remarks, reflections, and guided visualizations sparked by 20 years of exploratory self-publishing, Sonnenzimmer’s Graphic Minded stands as a living document of contemporary graphic expression as unique as it is universal.
Image Description:
A black and white photograph of two people looking directly at the camera is shown. Nick Butcher and Nadine Nakanishi stand side by side, and are pictured from the waist up. They are both wearing black t-shirts with bright printed graphics. Arms to their sides, both look directly into the camera. The image field is complicated by a blurry hat, caught falling through the frame, mid motion. The hat partially obscures Nick’s face.
Image Credit:
Photo by Troy Lehman
- Date:
- Thursday, October 30, 2025
- Time:
- 5:00pm - 6:00pm
- Location:
- Commons Library Classroom (D112)
- Audience:
- Friends of Princeton University Library Independent Scholar / Outside Researcher Member of the Public Princeton Alumni Princeton Faculty/Researcher Princeton Graduate Students Princeton Staff Princeton Undergraduate Students Student Friends of Princeton University Library
About Sonnenzimmer:
Sonnenzimmer is the collaborative practice of artists Nick Butcher and Nadine Nakanishi. For over 20 years, the collective has reimagined the graphic arts as an agent of change.
Sonnenzimmer situates their practice at the evolving edge of industrialization and personal expression. Merging performance, printed multiples, abstraction, and a penchant for the poetic, the duo uses printed matter as an extension of the personal and a challenge to the larger human project, asking, “How do we hold on to our humanity in an increasingly industrial society?”
Butcher and Nakanishi work hand in hand across multiple platforms. Their forward-thinking design has been commissioned by partners internationally, including the U.S. Soccer Federation, Poetry Foundation, and China Eastern Airlines. The duo has exhibited and performed widely. Their artworks, designs, and self-published artist books are in collections worldwide, including The Art Institute of Chicago, Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, and The Getty Research Library. Their archive of printed matter (2004-2022) was acquired by Princeton University’s Graphic Arts Library in 2025, including over 500 works.
Butcher and Nakanishi live and work in Chicago.
About the Gillett G. Griffin Memorial Lecture Series:
The Gillett G. Griffin Memorial Lecture Series honors our former PUL colleague Gillett Good Griffin (1928-2016), who served as graphic arts curator within Special Collections from 1952 to 1966.
To request disability-related accommodations for this event, please contact pulcomm@princeton.edu at least 3 working days in advance.