Chaos-pography, 2014
Typography design through group performance
12 participants, 12 white t-shirts, 12 coloured pens in black, blue, green, yellow, pink, and red
A total of 12 participants were gathered in one room. Once split into six male-female pairs, the participants were each given a different coloured marker pen and asked to write as many letters from both Korean and Roman alphabets as possible on the shirts of competing teams, while protecting their own shirt from being written on.
The pairs were told that there would be a ‘winner’- the couple who wrote the most in their colour within the given time, while retaining the whitest t-shirts in the room. This performance mirrors present-day reliance on technology and the Internet for interpersonal communication. We try to communicate as quickly as possible with as many people as we can through social media or texting. But how successful are we in producing meaningful content?
The performance highlights the failure of participants to produce legible signs, while their attempts to “write” perfectly encapsulate the expression of chaotic emotions, actions, time, and human relationships.
