speakers and lectures
lectures in german or english – information here in the corresponding language (will be added continuously)moderation
Clemens Theobert Schedler
having grown up in the ›wild west‹ of austria, he emigrated to vienna at the age of 21 and after four years as a commercial graphic designer staggered out of the höhere graphische bundes-, lehr- und versuchsanstalt. after four learning stations as a freelancer as well as founding offices for graphic design and graphic design, he opened his ›büro für konkrete gestaltung‹ in 1997. konkret = real [existing], as something sensually given that can be experienced, firmly outlined, vividly and clearly expressed.thursday, august 25
Jost Hochuli und Shoko Mugikura
jost beantwortet einige fragen von shoko
›jost, du hast in allen vorträgen nur immer über andere und anderes gesprochen. sprich doch einmal über dich und deiniges!‹
›liebe shoko, hier ist es.‹
Jost Hochuli
geboren 1933 in st gallen, aufgewachsen, schulen, ausbildung zum gebrauchsgrafiker und schriftsetzerlehre daselbst. seit 1959 eigenes atelier für gebrauchsgrafik (vor allem industriegrafik) und buchgestaltung in st gallen. von 1967 bis 1980 an der schule für gestaltung, zürich, von 1980 bis 1996 an der schule für gestaltung, st gallen, nebenamtlicher lehrer für schriftschreiben, schriftzeichnen und typografie. mitgründer und von 1979 bis 2004 präsident der genossenschaft vgs verlagsgemeinschaft st gallen, für die er fast alle bücher gestaltet hat und teilweise weiterhin gestaltet. einige publikationen, einige workshops und ausstellungen im in- und ausland, einige preise. seine monografie ist in arbeit und wird demnächst erscheinen.
Shoko Mugikura
shoko mugikura ist eine aus japan stammende typografin. sie hat kommunikationsdesign an der kunsthochschule musashino in tokio und buchgestaltung an der universität reading studiert. seit 2010 betreibt sie just another foundry zusammen mit tim ahrens.
Victoria Sarapina
von tätern und opfern
die russische avantgarde gilt als inbegriff für kreative moderne der 1920er jahre. stalin beendete das utopisch-optimistische experiment, so das klassische narrativ. ist es wirklich so? in meinem vortrag möchte ich die zusammenhänge zwischen historischen entwicklungen, gesellschaftspolitischen positionen und gestalterischen visionen aufzeigen. es geht um die rezeption der rolle der großen designer, die auseinandersetzung mit ihrem werk, ihrer gesellschaftlichen verantwortung und ihrer schuld(?).
Victoria Sarapina
grafikdesignerin mit russischen wurzeln, selbständig unter der firmierung manufaktur für grafikdesign, herausgeberin des designkritischen magazins »schwarzdenker«. im ehrenamt als botschafterin für kyrillische typografie bei der typographischen gesellschaft münchen, aber auch in ihrer vortragstätigkeit und publizistisch setzt sich victoria intensiv mit dem typografischen erbe russlands auseinander. mehr über russische schrift in ihrem online-magazin ›kyrillisch, mon amore!‹ unter kyrillisch.info
friday, august 26
Lisa Huang
what is nüshu?
in china, women were not authorized for centuries to learn how to write or read chinese characters. but as it was access to chinese characters only that was forbidden, a group of women from a remote region (jiangyong, hunan) developed their own writing system, for their own use, without any ›formal‹ education. this lecture will take you through this peculiar writing system, its particular story and history, and, beyond being a way to communicate, what it created in parallel: the nüshu culture.
Lisa Huang
lisa huang 黄丽莎 is a type designer specialised in latin and chinese scripts, currently based in nantes, france. her interest in type and typography focuses on multi-cultural works, especially those mixing latin-french and chinese writing systems which mirrors her life as a multi-cultural human.
Alice Savoie
invisible women: the contribution of type drawing offices to twentieth century type-making
design histories have largely overlooked the activities of many anonymous contributors to the type-making processes throughout the past century. hence, little is known that type foundries employed women as part of departments that were alternatively known as drawing studios, type drawing offices, or departments of typographic development. these women worked daily on developing and producing typefaces that were, eventually, almost always attributed to male designers. the ›women in type‹ research project led at the university of reading (uk) intends to address this oversight to provide an accurate account of these women’s contribution. alice savoie will discuss the particular case of the work carried out in the type drawing office of monotype in the uk between 1910 and 1990. in a wider perspective, this talk will advocate a more inclusive and collaborative view of design history, and of its narratives.
Alice Savoie
is a graduate from école duperré and école estienne in paris, and holds an ma in typeface design and a phd in type history from the university of reading (uk). between 2008 and 2010 she joined monotype as an in-house type designer, working on custom projects for international clients. she has been working as an independent designer and researcher ever since. her own typefaces include capucine (process type foundry), faune (cnap/imprimerie nationale), romain20 (205.tf) and lucette (futurefonts).
she currently teaches type design at écal lausanne (ch) and supervises research projects at atelier national de recherche typographique in nancy (fr). from 2018—2021 she was the principal researcher on the leverhulme-funded ›women in type‹ project at the university of reading with prof. fiona ross. she co-edits the pamphlet collection at poem editions with jérôme knebusch, and is a member of the atypi and alphabettes networks.
Annie Bocel
drawing the movement, cutting the type punch: a story of transmission
why did we choose the title drawing the movement for a book that is above all a practical manual on the engraving of type punches?
because we wanted to capture what cannot really be fixed in a book and yet it is something absolutely crucial when learning a craft: the positions of the hands, the body, the right gestures, in a word the movement. the knowledge of the engraving of typographic punches was transmitted until now in france in a quasi confidential and oral way between master and pupil. the current context leads us to think differently about this transmission today and to see in a new light this process which may not have said its last word. it is in this spirit that annie bocel proposes to share with you the universe of the punchcutting through her experience of the transmission lived with nelly gable at the cabinet des poinçons of the french national printing office.
Annie Bocel
after graduating from the estienne school in paris, annie bocel became a student of jean-luc seigneur, a specialist in embossing, and improved her technique of printmaking in various parisian workshops. she then followed a transmission within the framework of the master of art and student program set up by the french ministry of culture, by learning the engraving of typographic punches (first step of the typographic chain developed by gutenberg in the 15th century, the engraving of typographic punches has recently been registered in the inventory of french cultural and intangible heritage). with nelly gable at the cabinet des poinçons of the french national printing office.
today, annie bocel is an artist and engraver located in the north of finistère in france. she develops series of prints in intaglio and embossing on the theme of nature, time and its imprint. concerned by the current issues about punchcutting, she aims today not only to value this know-how but also to question the typographic creation under and through the prism of engraving.
bildrecht.at
Irene Persché
kurzvortrag speziell für die österreicher·innen unter den teilnehmer·innen: irene persché erklärt warum graphiker·innen mitglied bei ihrer verwertungsgesellschaft werden sollten.
bildrecht.at
Elisabeth Kopf
alphabet of life – nature-inspired design and innovation
a plant louse as a font designer, a wild bee building the perfect dormitory and green leafs producing free energy – the ecosystem of a tree is inhabited by countless tiny architects, designers and energy and waste managers. looking at this natural system and its creatures through the lens of biomimetic design reveals brilliant solutions for complex challenges of our times. plants, animals, funghi and myriads of microorganisms live together perfectly circular, and it‘s not just a footnote to mention that the tree‘s mycorrhiza is by far more profitable than any broker on wall street.
this lecture shows a few examples of circular innovation, which are inspired by nature and designed by biomimicry thinking. biomimicry (bio meaning life, mimicry meaning to imitate) is a design approach which is based on 26 evolutionary design lessons from nature: the 26 life principles. they are an alphabet of life and a design guide for a sustainable future.
Elisabeth Kopf
lives and works in vienna and vorarlberg. autodidactic studies and projects led to the opening of the studio design buero baustelle in 1999. national and international clients as well as self-initiated projects keep her and a higly transdiciplinary network busy. her work stands for cross-border-thinking, for conceptual and progressive design and she is relentlessly engaged with future-oriented initiatives. she is the founder of babylon design school, a playground for passion, fantasy and creativity, and she has co-initiated the research, education and exhibition project alphabet of life – nature’s learning lab. since 2004 she has a teaching position at the university of applied arts vienna. member (and fromer board member) of agi – alliance graphique internationale and of design austria.
Lucienne Roberts
you’re a long time dead
influenced as much by feminism as swiss typography, lucienne’s is a design journey from utopian zeal to dystopian dilemma – and back again. having always considered graphic design to be a political act, she and colleagues have curated / designed exhibitions about graphic design in health and politics (can graphic design save your life? and hope to nope: graphic design and politics 2008–18), worked on multiple ngo campaigns; helped spread the word about climate change; and most recently developed the installation perhaps it’s not you, it’s me. in which lucienne contemplated the unthinkable – ›leaving‹ her long-standing partner graphic design! here she explains why she’s embracing change before it’s too late.
Lucienne Roberts
lucienne roberts agi, honfistd is founder of design studio lucienneroberts+ [lr+] and co-founder of advocacy initiative graphicdesign& [gd&]. a graduate of central saint martins in london, lucienne’s practice is characterised by her abiding interest in ethical design and her belief that design is a political act. lr+ work spans exhibition design, books and corporate identity. recent projects include the installation perhaps it’s not you, it’s me. at a–z presents, berlin and 2d-design for the cooper hewitt, smithsonian design museum nyc exhibition underground modernist: e mcknight kauffer. lucienne’s books include good: an introduction to ethics in graphic design and she was hmct typographer-in-residence 2018 at artcenter, los angeles. gd& creates vivid books and exhibitions that explore how graphic design connects with all other things. projects include the originating and co-curation of two critically-acclaimed london exhibitions: can graphic design save your life? and hope to nope: graphics and politics 2008–18. lucienne is currently royal academy of engineering visiting professor in graphical communication for the school of engineering at the university of southampton.
Charlotte Rohde
the feminine urge to know why™
in charlotte rohdes vortrag geht es um schrift als symbol, visuelle stimme und künstlerisches mittel, das sie benützt, um ihre eigene femininität und selbstkontrolle zu untersuchen.
Charlotte Rohde
ist eine typografin, künstlerin und lehrende, die derzeit in amsterdam lebt und arbeitet. charlottes praxis wurzelt in ihrer forschung über schrift als angewandtes oder experimentelles werkzeug zur untersuchung von hyperfemininität, popkultur und (selbst-)kontrolle.
charlotte entwirft schriftarten, poster, bücher, skulpturen und rauminstallationen, schreibt gedichte und essays, gibt workshops und ist derzeit juniorprofessorin an der bauhaus-universität weimar.
gemeinsam mit vivien hoffmann gründete und unterhält sie das fundraisingprojekt soliType, mit dem sie spenden für menschen, die zuflucht in der europäischen union suchen, sammeln.
saturday, august 27
Verena Panholzer
design patterns – modular systems
grafische ausdrucksformen und künstlerische off- und online-konzepte als designsprache.
Verena Panholzer
verena panholzer ist art direktorin und gründerin von studio es, einem studio für visuelle kommunikation in wien. aktuell lehrt sie an der akademie der bildenen künste in stuttgart als auch der universität für angewandte kunst, wien.
Anna Weinzettl
mit den händen lesen
wie lesen blinde menschen? ist es sinnvoll diese tastbaren zeichen für sehende zu übersetzen? wo sind die chancen und wo die grenzen von inklusiver gestaltung? diesen fragen geht anna weinzettl anhand des kinderbuchs ›wo ist luna?‹ auf den grund.
Anna Weinzettl
gestaltete in ihrer ausbildung an der graphischen eine schrift für blinde und sehende und gewann damit ein stipendium für die miami ad school europe. neben ihrer arbeit als designerin entwickelte sie das inklusive kinderbuch ›wo ist luna?‹ und gründete den brailleverlag luckydots.
Lida Lopez Cardozo Kindersley
taptaptap … type
drawing on paper, cutting in stone, engraving in glass and generally creating any kind of shape by hand will lead to designing original typefaces.
among those who made letterforms by hand were edward johnston, the great calligrapher who designed the lettering for the london underground; john miles, who cut type by hand at the enschedé printing house in holland and designed the typeface on our own post office delivery vans; and of course, herman zapf and his super-talented wife gudrun, who started off as pen-letterers. likewise the roll-call of lettercutters in stone who have designed typefaces include john baskerville, eric gill and of course david kindersley.
to design a useful, elegant and robust face we need to be closely connected to the real world. if we give up working with our hands in conjunction with our brains we are on the slippery slope leading to poverty of design and slavery to machines.
Lida Lopes Cardozo Kindersley
is dedicated to the increase of good lettering in the world and loves cutting letters in stone and other materials. she designs typefaces; runs the cardozo kindersley workshop in cambridge; trains apprentices there in lettercutting by hand and writes and publishes books on all these subjects.
lida studied graphic design at the royal academy in the hague before joining lettercutter, typographer and sculptor david kindersley in 1976 as an apprentice in his cambridge workshop. she and david, one-time assistant to eric gill, married and worked together until david’s death in 1995. lida has since run the workshop with the help of her second husband graham beck; her assistants include her sons hallam and vincent kindersley, as well as vincent’s wife, roxanne.
teaching is a vital part of workshop life: lida and the workshop make letters in stone, glass, metal, wood and on paper – including headstones, commemorative plaques, heraldic carving, sundials, bookplates, typefaces and lettering cut straight into buildings. they cut with hammer and chisel and avoid using machines. they design, cut, paint, gild and prefer to fix all their own work. over the decades since 1946, the workshop has undertaken thousands of commissions, large and small, from private individuals as well as public bodies. examples can be seen at the british library (entrance gates), the british museum, westminster abbey, st paul’s cathedral, st giles’, edinburgh, every one of the cambridge (and many of the oxford) colleges and in countless cemeteries and churches across the uk. they can also be found in continental europe, africa, north america, australia, china and japan.
lida is passionate about handing on her knowledge to future generations. as well as writing and publishing numerous works on lettering and workshop practice, she has conducted workshops, exhibited and lectured across the uk and on the continent; and has featured on radio and tv. in 2015 she was awarded the mbe for her services to lettercutting.
building ligatures. the power of type
Veronika Burian, typetogether
veronika burian stellt das buch ›building ligatures. the power of type‹ von typetogether vor. das anlässlich des 15-jährigen bestehens von typetogether erschienene buch enthält sowohl beiträge des typetogether-teams als auch essays von mehr als 50 expert·innen der typographie-szene – darunter fiona ross, catherine dixon, gerry leonidas, veronika burian und josé scaglione.
www.type-together.com
Min-Young Kim
understanding multicultural typography: (c)jk-latin polyglot typesetting and what to expect
a brief walkthrough of japanese, korean and latin alphabet polyglot print history and a guide to the multiscript typography & type design.
Min-Young Kim
is a trilingual typographer, uiux designer, project manager, and researcher specializing in cjk latin polyglot typography. min developed the career in font business as a type project manager at japanese type foundry morisawa and fontworks and became a freelancer from 2020, mainly working with google and adobe on types and cjk ux. with a deep understanding of typography, min dedicates her life to diversifying the potential of fonts in various products, and spreading the fun of choosing and using fonts.
Irene Vlachou
non legitur, graecum est
between february and july 2022, irene vlachou was in residency at la becque (la tour-de-peilz, switzerland), conducting a personal project while guest lecturing within the ma in type design of ecal/university of art and design lausanne. during her class, she introduced students to the greek script and type design, with a focus on the early minuscule book hands greek. over the course of the semester, she brought students to experiment with hand-written forms of the script, in order to familiarise them with its vernacular usage; and to develop typographic shapes out of their own experience in hand-writing rather than by looking at existing typefaces. the focus of the class was about methodology: what questions to ask? how to rely on a knowledge developed with latin scripts? what are the strength of being familiar with a script? and those of being not familiar? what are the ethical questions raised by the design of a script one is not familiar with?
Irene Vlachou
is a typeface designer based in athens. she holds an ma in typeface design from the university of reading. she has collaborate with international type foundries and corporations, working as a typeface designer and a consultant for greek typefaces. from 2013—2019, she was a senior designer and variable font expert at type-together. she currently works full time, as a freelancer typeface designer, specialising in oem/system fonts. on behalf of the greek open source community (gfoss), she is a mentor on the expansion of greek libre fonts for the gsoc (google summer of code) program. for the spring semester of 2022, she is an artist-in-residency at la becque and a visiting professor at the master program of typeface design at ecal, lausanne. her work includes: colvert greek (2012, typographies.fr), parmigiano greek (2014, typotheque), samsungone greek (2016, brody associates), ll bradford greek (2016, identity for documenta14, laurenz brunner), ll unica77 greek (2017, lineto), stratos greek (2018, production type), fauxfoundry and fauxgreek parametric font (2019), sauberscript greek (2020, typejockeys), amstelvar, (2020, fontbureau) and redesign of roboto and noto greek fonts (2021, google fonts).
Julia Sysmäläinen
hand schrift identity
bis vor wenigen jahren – als die menschen noch von hand schrieben — suchten schriftpsychologen die hinterlassenen spuren mit persönlichkeitsmerkmalen in verbindung zu bringen. war die deutung treffend oder nicht — die ausstrahlung eines handgeschriebenen stücks ähnelt oft dem ›eindruck auf den ersten blick‹ der bei einer person entsteht.
so ist es kein wunder, dass digitalisierte handschriften dank opentype coding schnell ihren platz im visual identity und branding fanden, in logos und custom typefaces.
nach dem entwurf vieler schriften, die auf den handschriften historischer persönlichkeiten beruhen, nutze julia sysmäläinen die gemachten erfahrungen und erkenntnisse der schriftpsychologie, um schriftgestaltung auf branding-personas zuzuschneiden. ein schulterblick.
Julia Sysmäläinen
ist visuelle gestalterin und philologin mit sitz in berlin, wo sie das deutsch-finnische schriftatelier juliasys studio betreibt. zu ihren bekanntesten schriften zählen die ff mister k familie, josef k paneuropean, mir und mir next, emily in white, als syysscript, als scripticus und als finlandiascript. zusätzlich entstehen fortlaufend schriften und typo-graphische arbeiten für kunden wie beiersdorf, bosch, harpercollins publishers, american academy, vde und andere. ihre berliner laufbahn begann julia nach dem studium in finnland bei edenspiekermann, wo sie viele jahre als design director mitwirkte.
sunday, august 28
Shoko Mugikura
on designing with unfamiliar scripts
how to create a piece of design that contains unfamiliar scripts? shoko mugikura of just another foundry will show curious uses of japanese characters by western designers as well as latin letters by japanese designers, and discuss the pitfalls both have in common.
Shoko Mugikura
shoko mugikura is a typographer from japan. she studied communication design at the musashino art college in tokyo and book design at the university of reading. since 2010 she runs just another foundry together with tim ahrens.
Maira Kalman
how to live and how to die (more or less)
every day you wake up and ask what will happen on this day? then you go out for a walk and find out. and then the day is done and you get in bed. and that might be the best moment of the day. anyway, we do our work and that is not a bad thing at all.
Maira Kalman
maira kalman is an author / illustrator of over 30 books for adults and children. she has been a frequent contributor to the new york times and the new yorker. with her late husband tibor kalman she was a partner at his legendary design studio m&co. she has collaborated with, among others, david byrne, mark morris, daniel handler, michael pollan, isaac mizrahi. she is represented by the mary ryan gallery in nyc and lives in nyc.
workshops
bookbinding
Andreas Ortag, Babsi Daum
you will bind your own book (or several if you are keen and work fast). for drawings, notes, as a diary. you can choose between a swiss paperback with an 8-page cardboard cover and a hardcover book in half-linen, both thread-stitched — we will have samples ready for you to look at.
in order to save time, we will bring all the material you need cut to size: two kinds of paper for the core, backing paper and cover cardboard in different colors, cardboard for the book covers, as well as needles, thread, glue and everything else that is needed on the way to the finished book. if you want, you can of course also use your own material. please note: all materials should run parallel to the spines. participants of the workshop will receive a tool checklist in advance.
Andreas Ortag
born 1955, 1978—1983 academy of fine arts in vienna; painter, (print) graphic artist, typographer and graphic designer. 1991 until 2018 also active as a teacher at ›die graphische‹ in vienna. exhibitions and publications since 1972. organization of and participation in symposia and workshops at home and abroad. artist in residence in paliano near rome, italy and in westport, ireland. lives and works in karlstein an der thaya (8 km upstream from raabs).
Babsi Daum
born 1966 in karlsruhe/germany, lives in vienna; 1988–1993 studies at the university of applied arts vienna, since then freelance in the fields of graphic art, book and paper art, art installation. walter koschatzky prize 1993, bavarian staatspreis and talent prize 1996; 2001 birth of daughter paula; 2010 co-founder of the artist group o.r.t.; numerous exhibitions in austria and abroad, exhibition series »arbeit in auslage« since 2008.
japanese calligraphy
Shoko Mugikura
in this workshop we will learn the basic style of japanese calligraphy: kaisho. among the various calligraphic styles, kaisho is considered the most official form of writing, both in china and japan. kaisho also has the strongest influence on today's printing types. for those who want to learn about japanese typography and writing styles, learning this kaisho calligraphy is a fun and effective way. (it’s also an interesting way to think about the fundamental difference between latin and east asian typography).
Shoko Mugikura
shoko mugikura is a typographer from japan. she studied communication design at the musashino art college in tokyo and book design at the university of reading. since 2010 she runs just another foundry together with tim ahrens.
glyphs first aid
Georg Seifert, Rainer Erich Scheichelbauer
glyphs.app makers georg seifert and rainer erich scheichelbauer are available around the clock for first aid with your .glyphs file: bring your font on a memory stick or your laptop and get free first-hand feedback.
Georg Seifert
bauhaus university graduate georg seifert (b. 1978 in halle an der saale, germany) is a type designer and a software developer. his typeface families graublau sans and graublau slab have become international bestsellers. he co-developed the typeface for the new berlin airport. he is most well known, however, for the font editor »glyphs«, first released in 2011. seifert lives and works in berlin.
Rainer Erich Scheichelbauer
studied philosophy and dutch studies at the university of vienna. teaches typography and type design at ›die graphische‹, co-owner of the company glyphs, for which he also gives workshops and international lectures, founded schriftlabor in 2015, where he and his team provide technical support to type designers as well as create original type designs. for the tga he has translated gerard ungers (1942–2018) ›terwijl je leest‹ (›while you’re reading‹), a translation of gerrit noordzijs (1931–2022) ›de streek‹ (›the stroke: theory of writing‹) is in preparation.
Ursula Hochuli-Gamma
buchstabenbilder
*1939. 1955—58 arts and crafts school st.gallen. first employee of jost — with consequences: three daughters, frequent collaboration at the studio. since the 80s original artwork: fabric applications and paper collages, partly with stamped wooden letters.
Simon Peter Bence
type_break
artworks appearing at the exhibition summarized as type_break, serves as the basis of his (soon to be defended) doctoral thesis called typospect (pictorial riddles — textual solutions).
type_break contains a series of typographic riddles where the basic component is letter ›a‹, as it is the most elemental linguistic unit. solutions are analyses of fragmentation methods for different visual algorithms. these type-works are located on the crossover of verbal meaning, typography and imagery, balancing on the borderline between picture and type, therefore could be related to concrete poetry.
not a resolution against the textual content, only reflections of the current situation, which could be called ›pictorial turn‹ (w.j.t. mitchell) in the time of ›new media‹ (m. castells) and in the confusing situation of ›info-need‹ (m. mcluhan).
Simon Peter Bence
born in 1976 in budapest and has lived there ever since. independent designer, with an intuitive typographic attitude. he has been teaching graphic design for 20 years, currently he is responsible for the typography training at moholy-nagy university of art and design budapest. he is the holder of several design awards like the typozone, hungarian national graphic design biennale, golden drawing pin prize, posterfest … and held lecture presentations at the brno biennale, the wroclaw type forum …
www.spx.hu
Maria Vill
variety through reduction
due to the significance of the construction of the letter ›a‹, it is particularly suitable as a theme for changes. variations are the content of my work. however, these are not only directed at formal aspects, but also at tonal values, structure or uneven application of color. in order to avoid irritation of content by color, i limit myself to white and gray or colorless primed canvases. the a-letter moves individually within a square field. as a constructive element it sometimes stands in the foreground filling the space, then again it seems to disappear. parts of the letter are emphasized, others are taken back or dissolve. the crossbar creates a central triangle, which is interlaced and expanded. the basic form of the letter recedes. in my works the principle of variation becomes visible. the emerging pictures refer to each other, but at the same time differ substantially.
Maria Vill
1956 born in lienz/east tyrol; lives and works in innsbruck and amsterdam; works exclusively with the capital letter ›a‹ since 1991. started to do photography in 2016. these are photos of mostly transparent objects. in both media light, reduction and variation take an essential role.
www.mariavill.at
Thomas Laubenberger-Pletzer
talking square
the artist’s two central media are the drawn line as a minimal form of expression, as well as the space surrounding it – i.e. the sheet of paper in din a4 format as the smallest unit. with a conceptual and reductive approach, he asks fundamental questions about the function and design possibilities of the line. on the basis of these, he investigates, among other things, writing and language.
he is especially interested in the letter bordering between abstract and readable sign. for this he develops alphabets of small letters, each of the same size, consisting of straight lines, inscribed in a square or cubic basic form. the letters on their own remain abstract signs and only become readable in interaction with others.
besides readable texts, the alphabets — favored by their square/cubic form — are also used as modules for graphic pattern-grid-structures as well as constructive architectural space-forms. these are based on letters/words/texts, but the readability takes a back seat.
Thomas Laubenberger-Pletzer
thomas laubenberger-pletzer, born 1969, lives and works in vienna. he studied sculpture with michelangelo pistoletto at the academy of fine arts vienna, graduating in 1997, and philosophy and art history at the university of vienna.
www.thomaslaubenberger.com
Rolf Rehe
wood type art
rehe owns a collection of old wooden letters, which were primarily used for posters during the metal type era. he creates with them three-dimensional, colored letter pictures. they radiate warmth and remind of a bygone era of typography. some of his works are shown in the exhibition and may be purchased.
Rolf F. Rehe
born in 1935, completed an apprenticeship as a typesetter in southern germany while metal typesetting was still in use. wanderlust brought gutenberg's disciple to the usa. he studied at indiana university (ma '72) and taught at his alma mater for a decade. when digital type replaced metal typesetting, rehe left the university and worked internationally as a newspaper designer.
Barbara Nedved
kupfer, blei, holz
the series was created between 2012 and 2016 in andreas ortag's printing studio in karlstein as part of the "special edition" workshops and was printed with copper, lead and wood (kupfer, blei und holz) – the illustrations as etchings from copper plates, the texts with old lead and wooden letters.
Barbara Nedved
barbara nedved is mostly a graphic designer, sometimes an artist and occasionally an illustrator. her studio goes by the name of »pure illusion«.
sk_txet
8 × HAUT
8 of 26 digital layouts, realised on an olympia typewriter in jan/feb 2022 as part of the serial installation HAUT I. please find the concept, sketches, specifications and further projects as well as the names of the 8 typewritings de/en in the artist book on display, and the german—english glossary here:
ab = down, from, away, off, as off, …
auf = up, on, open, upon, towards, …
Haut = skin (also peel or pelt)
haut = hits (3rd p. singular)
haut ab = go away (vulg.), fuck of
Haut auf Haut = skin on skin
haut Haut = hits skin
hört auf = stop it (2nd p. plural)
»i explore the verbal-visual-vocal components of words, and how they interact in text. the materiality of language plus anagrammatic methods, repetition, and translation (in between languages and media) is what i work with. i use handwriting as my core creative tool and typewriting as one means of visualizing my thoughts. my experimental research results in lectures and poetry performances, in concrete and other forms of poetry, sometimes short prose. a word can be the starting point for everything.«
Sonja Knecht
is an artist-writer-lecturer based in berlin, germany. she was born in indonesia and grew up in venezuela. sonja teaches how to use language as a creative tool at renowned art schools in d/a/ch; she provides talks and workshops on verbal identity and sociopolitical language topics. since 2020, sk_txet focuses on her art: to make tangible what we can do with language. and what language does to us.