The Power of Recognition: Typography and Reading Beyond Visual Entanglements

The project The Power of Recognition explores the hidden extent to which typography influences the notion of relevance and the assignment of value.

While the project uses typographic practice as form of inquiry and field of investigation, the aim is to unpack possible pathways of value-making through artistic methods within visual practices at large.

The project partly investigates the way meaning is created through the materiality of text; the semiotic and performative aspects of typography; and ultimately explores multiple approaches to the construction of visual culture, seeking to unfold a methodological shift.

Responding to preliminary results such as how typography channels the creation of value, which is at all times activated when reading text, the project articulates and transgresses forms of tacit, and often unchallenged knowledge.

Artistic dilemmas emerging from practice are central to the way in which the project explores alternatives in settings of co-creation, and unlocks discrepancies between critical theory, design practice and its effects. The project mainly draws on methods of unlearning and empiricism.

Starting with a temporary lab (Y 1—2), the project provides an environment for hands-on interventions to expand tools, methods, and mindsets for typographic production and analysis.

Through a publishing program in three acts, the project contributes to a holistic expansion of the practice, both in its methodological premise, and artistic results.