Wolfgang Tillmans creates anti-Brexit, open-source posters for Remain European Union referendum campaign

Wolfgang Tillmans’ latest project is a political one, creating a series of poster designs that aim to persuade people to vote to stay in the European Union at this year’s referendum. The artist is usually known for his photography work, with a recent show at David Zwirner in New York that explored ideas including sex and finding beauty in small, unexpected details. In 2000, he becamse the first ever photographer to win the Turner Prize

The series of posters use a simple typographic approach to spell out his reasons for wanting to remain in the EU. In a statement on his website, Tillmans says: “The official ‘Remain’ campaign feels lame and is lacking in passion. It also lacks an active drive to get voters registered – and with the deadline already falling two weeks before the referendum, this should be an urgent priority.

“I want to get involved and actively campaign. In particular, I want to work towards maximising turnout among younger voters by focusing on the first, crucial step: voter registration…Everyone’s grannies registered their vote long ago, but students no longer get automatically registered by their unis. This is because of a new law brought in by the Conservatives that makes it possible for them to disenfranchise up to 800,000 students, who as a group tend to move around a lot more and so drop off the voter register easily.”

Tillman designed the posters with his London and Berlin studio assistants, working with Between Bridges. Each image is available to download from his website as a PDF or jpeg for people to print or share on social media. He says: “I consider them open-source, you can take my name tag off if more appropriate.”