This double issue of the critical graphic design journal examines the origins of the automation and mechanization of translation and writing.
#47: Machines, Accents, and Affects
Camille Pageard
Built at the very end of the 19th century to study the physiology of the voice, Dr. Marage's vowel machine sheds new light on the origins of sound measurement and the extensive field of writing the voice. Throughout the 20th century, the machine's appearances in print were driven by a constant scientific curiosity for the mechanical reproduction of the voice along with an upheaval in affective relationships with machines. Coupled with the history of graphic inscription of the voice, it reveals a unique history of our attraction and repulsion to technical objects. Through its visual representations and mechanical and technological transfer, an "order of language" also emerges—a politics of language that continues to be exercised in contemporary forms of subjugation.
#48: Electric Letters
Simon Renaud
To understand what digital computing does to writing, it is interesting to examine its origins: the treatment of binary code. This transformation of writing by machine and its emergence finds its roots in telegraphs and the advent of electricity in the 19th century. Mastery of this physical phenomenon converts our alphabet into new symbols drawn from electrical signals.
Our writings, initially addressed and interpreted by humans, are completed by a code that can be manipulated by the machine. Both of these worlds are intertwined so that a common code can exist. Each one uses the symbol that corresponds to it: the signal for machines and the sign for humans. This new code operates in the material dimension of the signals and is based on the presence or absence of an electrical current. This minimal activity establishes its form and, paradoxically, allows it to become completely detached from said form.
Faire is a bi-monthly magazine dedicated to graphic design, published from October to June, distributed issue by issue or in the form of anthologies of three or four issues. Created by Empire, Syndicat studio's publishing house, Faire is aimed for undergraduate students as well as researchers and professionals, documenting contemporary and international practices of graphic design, along with the history and grammar of styles. Each issue focuses on a single subject, addressed by a renowned author.
"Critical publications dedicated to the analysis of Graphic design are sadly few and far between today, particularly in France, but also in Europe as a whole. Adopting an analytical and critical posture with regard to the forms and activities of Graphic design, Sacha Léopold and François Havegeer intend to establish a printed publication that deals with these practices. The publication will work with seven authors in its first year (Lise Brosseau, Manon Bruet, Thierry Chancogne, Céline Chazalviel, Jérôme Dupeyrat, Catherine Guiral and Étienne Hervy). This initially limited choice, linked to a desire to propose an experience with a group that has previously participated together in projects, will then allow for the inclusion of foreign authors in the second year of publication."
