CSMC
CSMCCentre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures
In Timo Nasseri's Unknown Letters, imagination is combined with geometric exactness: he reported on his attempt to find the four letters of the Arabic alphabet, created by the calligrapher Ibn Muqla (885-940) and lost according to legend, in the constellations of stars in the night sky over Baghdad. Next to these, Philip Loersch’s letters look more mundane – but only at first glance. In fact, it takes multiple and very close looks to recognise his meticulously crafted handwritings as such, so perfectly do they imitate printed letters, irritating our visual habits. Dagmara Kraus’ poetry also leads beyond the familiar terrain, both linguistically and visually: her ‘Cut Out Poems’ demand to be contemplated as much as read.
These multifaceted presentations took place in the context of academic lectures on the art of writing in diverse writing traditions, including Chinese, Hebrew, Latin, Persian, and Slavic, as well as a keynote lecture by the philosopher Sybille Krämer. Members of the Cluster and invited scholars thus covered a wide range of topics, within which surprising cross-references frequently became visible.
For all participants, ‘Beyond Visualising Language’ was a new experience, thus entailing the risk of misunderstandings, but also the opportunity to find inspiration. Looking back on the two days, it is safe to say the experiment worked: the unusual encounter between researchers and artists struck sparks.
