Shifting Scripts

Contemporary Arabic and Persian Graphic Design

Dates and location

Thursday, 24 April 2025 – Saturday, 26 April 2025

• Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg, Steintorplatz, 20099 Hamburg
• CSMC, Warburgstraße 26, 20354 Hamburg

Organisers

• Dr Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès
• Dr Wibke Schrape
• Professor Dr Shervin Farridnejad
• Jasmin Holtkötter 

Summary

The conference ‘Shifting Scripts: Contemporary Arabic and Persian Graphic Design’ examines Arabic and Persian typographic design from SWANA (Southwest Asia and North Africa) and its diasporas within the broader academic framework of script studies. The event is organized by the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg (MK&G) in collaboration with the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures (CSMC) at the University of Hamburg and the Khatt Foundation. It is held in conjunction with the exhibition ‘Inner Structures – Outer Rhythms: Contemporary Arab and Persian Graphic Design’, currently on view at MK&G.

Focusing on typography as a script-based practice, this conference explores the intersections of Arabic and Persian graphic design with cultural, political, and artistic narratives. It provides a unique platform for engaging with Arabic and Persian script from both academic and design perspectives. Additionally, the conference explores how contemporary graphic design can be analyzed and contextualized within the broader fields of design research and the humanities, with a particular focus on the SWANA region.

Panels

• Beyond Calligraphy: Moving beyond calligraphic forms, this session explores innovative approaches in contemporary graphic design that reimagine and expand upon calligraphy. Presentations and discussions will focus on the engagement with historic scripts, showcasing how designers blend cultural legacies with contemporary aesthetics to create novel visual languages.
• Rhythm in Music, Poetry, and Script: This session explores the synergetic relationship between graphic design, music and poetry. Discussions will consider how visual rhythms and patterns in graphic design are inspired by and reflect the auditory rhythms found in music and the metric structures of poetry, particularly within Arab and Persian traditions.
• Type Design as Cultural Engagement: This session examines the role of typography in driving cultural change and community movements. Designers create and/or use typefaces to communicate powerful messages, inspire collective action, uphold cultural heritage, and challenge cultural norms. The discussion will focus on how typography serves as a tool for advocacy and for shaping public conversations. By combining local and digital graphic traditions, designers strengthen their messages and enhance their impact.
• Graphic Design in the Cultural Sphere: This session will focus on graphic design in the cultural and art scene in SWANA. Contemporary designers engage with and contribute to the broader cultural landscape, thereby also promoting it internationally through their works.Topics include the mutual relation between cultural narratives and graphic design in the promotion of cultural events and institutions, as well as the complexity of bilingual graphic design often encountered in posters.

Workshops

The two-day panel discussions are accompanied by two workshops: one led by Golnar Kat Rahmani and the other co-led by Kristyan Sarkis and Amir Mahdi Moslehi.

• Workshop 1: Type & Politics
• Workshop 2: Arabic Lettering Workshop (Episode 21) East–West

Objectives

The workshop aims to foster a transdisciplinary dialogue among researchers, students, and designers. Invited designers and researchers will have the chance to introduce their work and share their expertise on Arabic and Persian graphic design. It will also provide a platform for students of manuscript cultures, as well as design students and researchers, to actively participate. Through presentations, panel discussions, and interactive workshops, the workshop will significantly contribute to the academic discourse on graphic design, bridge disciplines, and foster academic dialogue.

Programme

• Download the programme of the workshop (PDF)