In the context of the 8th mutated version of SPRINT20 in collaboration with Istituto Svizzero for the exhibition The Most Beautifull Swiss Books, we present LA LETTERA NEUTRƏ Inclusive Typography Experiments Workshop held by Collletttivo, an open source type foundry founded in 2017, and a network of people who promote the practice of type design through sharing and collaboration. In addition to the design and release of typefaces, the group - based in Milan - is responsible for organizing workshops, talks and many other online and offline projects with the aim of encouraging continuous comparison and experimentation in the typographic field. Collletttivo aims to make the culture of typography more open and inclusive, consolidating its diffusion in the world of design.

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The participation is FREE, and will be managed in person - when possible - or in remote version.

 

The number of participants is limited and the workshop will take place over two days, Saturday 16th and Saturday 23rd January, from 10 AM to 6 PM [it is essential to be present in IRL or URL at both days].

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[Aim]

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Explore new graphic and typographic forms through the invention of new glyphs, signs and sounds, which can contribute to the debate on the gender neutrality of the Italian language. The workshop aims to be an opportunity for reflection, discussion and exchange, in order to open a constructive dialogue on important and increasingly urgent problems and issues, such as inclusiveness in written language. This will certainly not be the context that will lead to a solution or revolution on this issue but we believe it is essential that more and more people become aware of its complexity.

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[Who is the workshop for?]

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To anyone who studies or practices the profession of designer, who has a passion for typography and who has an interest in the topic of gender neutrality in the Italian language.

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[Development]

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Participants will be asked to draw a letter, a sign or a visual system that can give an answer to the problem of the neutral letter and inclusive language in the manner deemed most effective. It is therefore possible to create a sign for the singular, plural or even a solution that includes both. Each participant will arrive at the definition of a visual solution: a new sign, a glyph which, as a new letter, can be declined in different fonts. These new letters [to which a sound will be assigned if desired] will be used to create posters and will be collected in a volume, which will then be printed in Risograph and sent to participants. The final volume will present an introduction to the topic already prepared before the workshop, the letters of the participants and their posters.

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[Special Remote Lectures by Nina Paim & Loraine Furter]

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NINA PAIM, Brazilian curator and design researcher based in Basel, co-founder of Futuress, a platform for design politics.

The lecture will have as its focus Feminist Findings the collective research of twenty-six womxn and non-binary people on the history of feminist publishing taking the form of an exhibition [host at A—Z gallery, Berlin, 2020] and accompanying zine. 

The group take the acronym L.i.P. Collective — Liberation in Print — formed during the recent lock-down period and its research showcases stories around twentieth century publications from across the world, including Agenda, Al-Raida, Aspekt, Bridges, Carnets des Nanas Beurs, Chrysalis, Common Lives/Lesbian Lives, Courage, Di Froy, DYKE A Quarterly, Distaff, Emanzipation, Ewa, Froyen Shtim, Gidra,  Heresies, Leïla, Manushi, Nova, Phoenix Rising, Sinister Wisdom, Sorcières, Soviet Women, and Spare Rib. The project was curated and edited by Futuress. 

Nina work usually involves many others and revolves around notions of directing, supporting, and collaborating. She was born in Nova Friburgo 168 years after Swiss settler-colonialists displaced the indigenous tribes of the puris, coroados, and guarus. Love and fate brought her to Basel, where she seeks to transmute her daily immigrant anger into care practices for making space.

She curated the exhibition Taking a Line for a Walk at the 2014 Brno Design Biennial and co-curated Department of Non-Binaries at the 2018 Fikra Design Biennial. She was a program coordinator for the 2018 Swiss Design Network conference Beyond Change. She’s a two-time recipient of the Swiss Design Award.

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LORAINE FURTER is a graphic designer based in Brussels, nourishing Armenian, Spanish, French & Swiss roots, specializing in hybrid publishing, research, and intersectional feminist projects. She launched in 2018 the Badass Libre Fonts by Womxn, a free, feminist, open-source type collection, and she is part of the collective Bye Bye Binary and the L.i.P. Collective - The Liberation in Print Collective, whose research gave rise to the exhibition and the publication Feminist Findings, curated and edited by Futuress.