Decommissioned communications: the wabi-sabi of dead type

Peter Bartl and Jane Merks, Canada
extra voice - Aura Beckhöfer-Fialho, UK

When a piece of typography has been declared ?dead? by society, its true life as a spiritual object begins. The Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi celebrates the beauty and richness that is created by slow deterioration, be that deterioration through time, weather and nature reclaiming their own right, or the slow falling from the viewers favor by looking outdated at first, then acquiring an aura of romanticism and finally being rediscovered as part of the latest trend.

The images have been photographed by Peter Bartl and Jane Merks on their travels from Japan to Egypt, Europe and North and Central America. Appreciating the visual beauty that springs from the richness or starkness of these communications might take some adjustment in the viewers mind. Some of the signs in the presentation might be still functioning, but age, and neglect lets them acquire a visual beauty that makes them far richer than any designer could dream of. Foreign language signs,especially if we can?t even guess at their meaning allow us to see their true forms.

In a wider context many of the signs let us reflect on the changing priorities of society. Religious, social and political ideas, as they fade leave us their messages, either to be discarded or honoured as historical treasures. The stark quality of abandoned signs for gas stations and motels in rural Texas evoke the lives of the people who built their long faded dreams generations ago.

The richness of the images in the presentation is interspersed by multilingual spoken words.

Disclaimer

No actual live signs were either hurt, stolen or manipulated in any way in order to create this presentation. Bartl and Merks do not buy signs and appropriate only dead signs that show clear evidence of neglect by their previous owners. Donations to our collection are gladly accepted without demand for proof of provenance.