Event:

Interface, Expressive Western and Arabic Calligraphy in Dialogue

24 Aug 2007
  • 14:20

For nearly twenty years, Brody Neuenschwander has worked with the British film maker Peter Greenaway to produce calligraphy for films, installations and operas such as Prospero's Books, The Pillow Book, One Hundred Objects to Represent the World, Writing to Vermeer and Writing on Water. These projects have stretched the boundaries of western calligraphy, transforming it into a visual language that has many parallels with Arabic and Chinese calligraphy.

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At the same time, Neuenschwander has produced canvases, collages and sculptures that explore text/image relationships. Recent work includes the video installation "Skin" and a multi-cultural calligraphic happening, both created for the Memling Museum in the city of Bruges, Belgium.

In all his work, Neuenschwander shows an interest in the powerful graphic forms of Arabic calligraphy and the expressive energy of the line as revealed in Chinese calligraphy. These two qualities, usually absent in western calligraphy, are precisely what give calligraphy its relevance as an art form and training ground for typographic design.