19 May 2026

Photo: Esfandiari/UHH

This summer semester, the CSMC is once again hosting its Digital Lunch Seminar Series. The online series highlights how digital methods and material analysis can illuminate manuscript cultures across regions, periods, and media.

In four one-hour lunchtime talks, researchers from CSMC and partner institutions will present ongoing projects at the intersection of humanities, natural sciences, and computer science. The series opens on 1 June with ‘Evolution of Writing Systems: How the Material Choice and Phenomenology of Handwriting Shaped Southeast Asian Scripts’, given by Małgorzata Grzelec, Laura Gallardo, and Elisa Barney Smith. This talk examines the long-standing hypothesis that writing on palm leaves encouraged more rounded letter forms, combining mathematical analysis of character shapes with confocal laser microscopy and mechanical testing of incisions produced at DESY. By linking script geometry, writing tools, and substrate properties, the project sheds new light on how material conditions influenced the historical development of Southeast Asian scripts.

On 15 June, Agnieszka Helman-Ważny and Małgorzata Grzelec will present ‘Milk, Brain, Blood: Proteinaceous Substances of Animal Origin Used in Tibetan Manuscript Production’. Focusing on Tibetan religious manuscripts, the talk surveys the use of animal-derived materials such as glue, milk casein, bovine brain tissue, and even blood in inks, binders, and sizing agents. A case study on the Khams Brygyd volumes from the Oslo University Library highlights how advanced analytical techniques can identify these challenging components and clarify regional craft traditions.

On 29 June, Sandra Richter and Hussein Mohammed will explore ‘Computational Visual Cataloguing: A Case Study of Rilke’s Notebooks’. Their contribution introduces ‘computational visual catalogues’ that detect page- and word-level features such as orientation, colour, layout, and writing implements, and link them to precise locations in Rainer Maria Rilke’s notebooks. The talk positions computer vision as a tool for analysing the visual and material structure of manuscript images at scale, complementing conventional text-based editing.

The series concludes on 6 July with ‘Japanese Paper Clothing’ by Eike Grossmann and Agnieszka Helman-Ważny. This talk focuses on Japanese washi paper as a material for garments that are at once functional, durable, and rich in ritual and cultural meanings. Through visual examples and scientific analysis, the speakers show how washi clothing blurs the boundary between textile, manuscript, and written artefact.

The lecture series is open to everyone. More information on the talks, the contributors, and how to join is available on the website of the seminar series.