»Comparing apples
and oranges is my
daily bread.«

Juli Gudehus

now & soon

2024 for me is under the sign of signs. I have been in the subject since 1992, when I translated the biblical creation story into contemporary hieroglyphics. Since then, computers and the internet have brought with them a flood of icons, and our analog life is teeming with them as well. 

On 7 and 8 June, I will be giving my workshop »signs of life« at the Typographische Gesellschaft Munich. 

Every now and then design studios treat themselves to its condensate, a talk on »signs of life« as a »learning lunch«. In it, I speak for about three quarters of an hour about the related phenomena – so it’s lunch and food for thoughts at the same time. Let me know if you are interested in it, too. 

Icon spell – a global visual language

An idea that is thousands of years old has been on my mind for a long time: all early cultures (Egyptian hieroglyphics, Mayan signs, Scandinavian runes, etc.) knew how to communicate by lining up pictorial symbols. Recently, it has reappeared worldwide (emojis, Bliss Symbolics, LoCos etc). People of different cultures, ages and sociotopes could – so I believe – realise a functioning visual world language together. Here you will find out more about my project.

I am delighted to see it take its first steps into the world:

In the summer semester I will be working with students on visual vocabulary and a pictogrammar for the first time at ecosign academy in Cologne. Already at its introductory event six of my students volunteered to support me as team members of my Icon spell workshop at the New European Bauhaus Festival in Brussels from 9 to 13 April at the Arts & History Museum \o/​

In a water castle near Meißen, I will be a guest with this workshop at the interdisciplinary Pfingsttagung in May. This year’s theme is »What if«.

With Luisella Ströbele and her label icke, Berlin I already co-operated before. This time, as part of 48 Stunden Neukölln on 29 June, you are invited to translate terms and sentences on this year’s theme of »Silence« into signs. It goes without saying that this matches marvellously with the idea of Icon spell. You can transfer your messages onto T‑shirts there and then and have them photographed.

In September I will talk about my vision at The Symbol Groups next conference. This two-day conference will be about »Icons for Society: Past, Present and Future – An Exploration of 40 years of Symbol Culture« and it will be funded by The British Academy. In November, I will be giving this lecture in German at the Typographische Gesellschaft München.

In December, I am invited to give this lecture in Japan. The Dōshisha joshi daigaku, an art college in Kyoto, is organising a conference on climate change and communication. As part of this, I will be giving another Icon spell workshop. My works on, with and using icons will also be exhibited.

What else?

At the Munich Typographical Society, I will be giving a lecture on »Typography for Art« on 6 June and my »Talking about Design« workshop on 22 and 23 November.