Dear subscribers,

Typojanchi Saisai 2022–2023 drew active audience participation and ended with sharing exciting experiences. Hopefully, the event familiarized the public with the theme of Typojanchi 2023, “typography and sound.” This newsletter covers viewer reviews of the event along with photographs and videos for those who missed out.

The Typojanchi 2023 Working Group is now preparing for the main biennale. We will return in the fall of next year with Typojanchi 2023 and more intriguing discourses on “materialized sound” and “embodied text.”

What form would amorphous sound take when expressed in morphic text?
What form would amorphous speech take when expressed in morphic text?
What rules do I/you/we follow in expressing amorphous speech in morphic text?
What form would morphic text take when converted into amorphous sound?
What form would morphic musical notes take when converted into morphic text?
What series of rules apply to sound in the process of materialization?
What series of rules apply to text in the process of physicalization?
What if text could escape its system and follow the system of sound?
What if text could escape its rigid system and follow a new one?
How are the structures of sound and text similar and different?
How are the elements of sound and text similar and different?
Are the structure and elements of sound and text interchangeable?
What form would a materialized book take when it is physicalized?
What form would a materialized poem take when it is physicalized?
How far does the scope of a materialized sentence or a musical score stretch?

Typojanchi Saisai 2022–2023 left me with numerous further questions. The questions concerning the structures, forms, rules, relations, subjects, principal agents, definitions, materialization, and physicalization of visual and auditory language belong to both microscopic and macroscopic categories. Through these questions, we can rethink and observe the use of language. And in re-recognizing the language we took for granted, we step into a new horizon of perception, relying on the expandability of language.

Since no one has specified its limit, language opens up a new terrain of meaning the moment it is newly defined. After this event, we began to see the granted from a whole new perspective. I can’t wait to see what questions will excite us at Typojanchi 2023.

Kim Ju-ae, Graphic designer of Everyday Practice

Typojanchi Saisai 2022–2023 was the first event I attended as a communication design student. I attended all four programs as I had always been keen on the intersection between music and graphics. I summarized the three-day event that fiercely delved into the intersection between sound and text using the keywords “sound,” “object,” “body,” “music,” and “text.”

Sound: “음n음o음d음e음s음” was a lecture that allowed us to read and discuss various sound poems and nudged us to ruminate on how sound could be expressed through typography. Sound poems capture various changes in sounds in the form of typography, and these changes are what connect sound poems to the method of graphic notation dealt in the third program. The first of the organically structured programs helped us snowball a trivial question into a bigger one as an introduction.

Object: “시s시o시u시n시d시i시n시g시” was a workshop in which we directly engaged objects to make sounds, collected the sounds and text, and materialized the process in the form of typography. Walking along Seoullo, I recorded the sounds of the numerous objects I encountered, turned the sounds into music, and created a concrete poem out of the score. The workshop, which began by knocking on objects, drew out my musical passion.

Body: “Punctuation Medley” presented performances in which punctuation marks were sung, played, and purposely used, allowing us to reflect on the creators’ intentions. The performances enabled us to lucidly feel the “embodied text,” among which the performance by aspiring voice actor Lee Soosung fully explored the intimate tie between the human body and sound.

Music: What was interesting about “The Unplayable Score, Music for the Eyes” was the introduction of graphic scores as an alternative to existing scores playable only with classical instruments, which expanded the boundary of instruments and enabled even the uninitiated to read and play scores. During the session, I asked whether MIDI program files could be considered musical scores, the answer to which was “No.” But assuming the player as a machine instead of a person, couldn’t MIDI program files, as a recording medium that can be shared and played, serve as a form of a score?

Text: We often see text being converted into sound, but we rarely get to examine up close the process of sound being converted into text (typography). Typojanchi Saisai 2022–2023 was a rewarding event in that it answered my age-old curiosities and allowed me to inquire into whether concrete poetry could be musical scores. I look forward to seeing what kinds of new links next year’s biennale will forge.

Pai Seongjeen, Visual communication design student of Kaywon University of Art & Design

Typojanchi Saisai 2022–2023 was the first event I attended as a communication design student. I attended all four programs as I had always been keen on the intersection between music and graphics. I summarized the three-day event that fiercely delved into the intersection between sound and text using the keywords “sound,” “object,” “body,” “music,” and “text.”

Sound: “음n음o음d음e음s음” was a lecture that allowed us to read and discuss various sound poems and nudged us to ruminate on how sound could be expressed through typography. Sound poems capture various changes in sounds in the form of typography, and these changes are what connect sound poems to the method of graphic notation dealt in the third program. The first of the organically structured programs helped us snowball a trivial question into a bigger one as an introduction.

Object: “시s시o시u시n시d시i시n시g시” was a workshop in which we directly engaged objects to make sounds, collected the sounds and text, and materialized the process in the form of typography. Walking along Seoullo, I recorded the sounds of the numerous objects I encountered, turned the sounds into music, and created a concrete poem out of the score. The workshop, which began by knocking on objects, drew out my musical passion.

Body: “Punctuation Medley” presented performances in which punctuation marks were sung, played, and purposely used, allowing us to reflect on the creators’ intentions. The performances enabled us to lucidly feel the “embodied text,” among which the performance by aspiring voice actor Lee Soosung fully explored the intimate tie between the human body and sound.

Music: What was interesting about “The Unplayable Score, Music for the Eyes” was the introduction of graphic scores as an alternative to existing scores playable only with classical instruments, which expanded the boundary of instruments and enabled even the uninitiated to read and play scores. During the session, I asked whether MIDI program files could be considered musical scores, the answer to which was “No.” But assuming the player as a machine instead of a person, couldn’t MIDI program files, as a recording medium that can be shared and played, serve as a form of a score?

Text: We often see text being converted into sound, but we rarely get to examine up close the process of sound being converted into text (typography). Typojanchi Saisai 2022–2023 was a rewarding event in that it answered my age-old curiosities and allowed me to inquire into whether concrete poetry could be musical scores. I look forward to seeing what kinds of new links next year’s biennale will forge.

Pai Seongjeen, Visual communication design student of Kaywon University of Art & Design

Over the course of three days, Typojanchi Saisai 2022–2023 demonstrated how text could be physicalized through various translative processes. The two lectures, the workshop, and the performance seemed to be questions and answers directed at one another. The lecture “음n음o음d음e음s음” asked, “How do the margins and blank spaces in text conjure physical movements?” and “How can each reader spontaneously create variations of a text?” In response, the performance “Punctuation Medley” borrowed the mouths of the speakers to utter spontaneously woven text. I believe everyone in the room felt the power of that utterance. The space filled with black pallets, gathered groups of people, soft background music, and vibrant energy was optimized to inspire designers and allow them to contribute and discuss previously undiscussed phenomena.

I think that Typojanchi Saisai 2022–2023 ultimately delved into textual “weather” and “temporality.” Text will no longer stay fixed on paper but approach us with different temperatures and faces day after day. Goodbye, materialized sound! Goodbye, embodied text!

Lee Juhyun, Graphic designer