Livraison 13 Language and Typography Call for contributions Physical matter of writing and of the thought that it materializes, typography is the meeting point of a linguistic content and a visual sign, of an idea and the shape it is given in order to maintain it. By its shape, its origin and its style, typeface engages its own history into that encounter, and becomes the vehicle of a rival meaning that cannot be dismissed. Out of this overlapping of signs — plastic/linguistic — surfaces a discourse on discourse, a meta-discourse where the possibilities of enunciation are determined by the endless options provided by typographic production. The shape of a letter refers to a culture, a time, and a context.
The 13th issue of Livraison journal addresses the relationship between language and typography, along two complementary lines: - language as a linguistic proposal shaped by typography - typography as a graphic language, with its own structure (syntax, vocabulary), enunciating modalities (book, poster, etc.), producers (graphic designers, typographers), and readers. This issue on language and typography is also meant to be a space for cross-thought and creation. Two kinds of contributions are offered: theoretical contributions on one hand, and visual proposals (for instance typographic creations and recent experiments) on the other hand.
A literary text, a shop sign, a name in the end credits of a movie... the ubiquitous typographic shape changes our perception of information. Far beyond the denotation relationship between the word and its reference, one of the topics of this issue is about typographic connotation, i.e. comment, reference, quote, and any side dimension that has its own stylistic vocabulary and syntax. The global language/speech category, “extensive to any system of signification” according to Roland Barthes, applies to the typographic form, and, in this regard, calls for a semiological approach of shapes. Typing a word, a sentence or a text, means displacing its meaning; and that meaning escapes its enunciation. Robert Bringhurst reminds us that “Typography is to literature as musical performance is to composition: an essential act of interpretation [...]” Interpretation raises the question of creation and reception: another topic will be about producers and readers, and their habits and practices. In the same way as the discursive meaning becomes available only in a situation of exchange, the meaning of typographic language is not only to be sought in its style, but also in its use value. The categories of graphic language (formal, neglected, loose, etc.) translate the control their producers have over them, and invite us to consider these productions within their specific context (commissioned work, communication campaign, art work, etc.). The point is to address the uses and social function of typographic font, by inscribing it into the social context of human production that determines a large part of the practices, tastes, fashion, conventions, codes and rules, and builds the social relationships in which both producers and readers are involved.
Calendar Please submit a 200 words abstract and a short bio my email. Deadline: June 1st Selected authors will be contacted before June 15th Accepted essays should be no longer than 3500 words, and sent before September 1st. Authors must arrange for all permissions of use of copyrighted material Due to a very tight schedule for translation and publication, authors will have to rapidly provide all the changes and corrections that may be requested. Publication is scheduled for the end of December. Please send your abstract to
[email protected] http://revuelivraison.free.fr
Livraison revue d’art contemporain contemporary arts journal
Directeur de la publication / Editor Nicolas Simonin rédaction Frederic Bauer, Manuel Daull, Claude Grétillat, Didier Montmasson, Vivien Philizot, Hervé Roelants et Nicolas Simonin international Hervé Roelants traduction Colin Preston, Hervé Roelants et James Titheridges Design graphique - graphic design Poste 4 - rhinoceros relecture Nathalia Mavel diffusion - Circulation r-diffusion.org Livraison c/o rhinoceros 18 rue de Stosswihr France_67100 strasbourg tel +33 (0)6 61 83 59 00 fax +33 (0)3 88 55 93 31 http://revuelivraison.free.fr
Livraison, revue semestrielle d’art contemporain publiée par l’association rhinocéros, rassemble diverses réflexions et contributions d’artistes autour d’une problématique à chaque fois différente. Elle privilégie des interventions inédites et peut être comprise comme un espace de confrontations et de rencontres, et cela à tous les niveaux : publication bilingue, revue d’art contemporain, reinterprétations graphiques, brouillage des catégories - chaque Livraison est à la fois une revue, un livre, une exposition et son catalogue - une sorte de petite usine de différences. Livraison, rhinoceros as a contemporary arts magazine, is an exhibition space. Livraison, among other activities by rhinoceros, may be understood as a space for confrontation and translation, at several levels: a publication that became - more or less by chance - bilingual; contemporary arts journal in which many contributions are not usually thought of as belonging to art; graphic reinterpretations; blurring of categories - each issue is simultaneously a magazine, a book, an exhibition and its catalogue - a little factory producing difference.
