Ficciones Typografika
1642

A project dedicated to typographic exploration in a public space

Curated by Erik Brandt, Ficciones Typografika was a project dedicated to typographic exploration in a public space. Over a five year period, a modest poster board hung in a Minneapolis neighborhood became a barometer for experimental typographic practice within the global design community.

At 624 pages, 1642 is a dense tome that documents the complete project, featuring works ranging from big-name designers to talented students. Conceptually approached as the last Ficciones Typografika (hence the title 1642), the book is an expressive and visceral experience, rather than an encyclopedic documentation. Every installation of works is reproduced along with an overprint of the original posters at 1:1 scale. The overprints are essential to the poster experience and provide the reader with an actual size window into the Ficciones Typografika project.

The volume features a meditative text by Ben DuVall, as well as an enlightening conversation between project curator, Erik Brandt and Paul Schmelzer from the Walker Reader. Typeset in a custom Formist typeface, Ficciones Typografika, 1642 is an appropriately authentic and fantastically diverse design experience.