Nous avons tous un rapport particulier et différent à la graphie, à l’écriture. Depuis jeunes, nous apprenons à tracer des lettres, en suivant un modèle, pour écrire son nom. Puis au fur et à mesure on se détache du modèle. On gribouille dans les marges. J’ai toujours été fasciné par les gribouillis et tout ce qui semble faire tâche. À chaque fois ce sont des gestes particuliers. Nous sommes tous amenés à effectuer un geste pour attester, confirmer, dire qu’on est passés par là. Je pense ici aux signatures.
Salut man, comment ça va ?
J’ai commencé un projet à l’école, je voulais te le présenter. Ça devrait te parler ! C’est un projet de
recherche, c’est à dire que je vais enquêter, chercher, écrire sur un sujet, un peu comme un exposé à
l’école. En gros, ce qui me plaît c’est le dessin et l’écriture. Tu dois être en plein dedans en plus, en
train d’apprendre ça. Moi je m’intéresse aux écritures qui ne sont pas ‘parfaites’ selon les règles qu’on
t’apprend à l’école, qui suivent les lignes dans les cahiers. Je pense aussi à ton rapport particulier à
l’écriture, quand ta maitresse t’as forcé à écrire de la main droite en maternelle. Le fait que tu sois
alors gaucher contrarié, comme on dit, ça m’intéresse aussi. Parce que ça va sans doute changer ta façon
d’écrire plus tard. Je pense aussi aux moments où tu dessines et tu écris sur le trottoir avec ta soeur à la
craie.
Ces exemples là sont, pour moi importants parce qu’ils sont un peu à part, en décalage. Tu sors de ton cahier
justement. En fait même un simple trait avec un crayon m’intéresse. Parce que cette trace montre toujours
quelque chose. Un passage. D’une personne, d’une chose. Par exemples les gribouillages qu’on peut voir à
l’école, dans les marges des cahiers, sur les bancs de la cour, je vais m’y intéresser en disant qu’ils sont
liés à l’auteur qui est derrière ça. Ça montre que quelqu’un es passé par là. Et moi je fais un
rapprochement avec les signatures. Tu en auras une plus tard pour dire que tu es d’accord avec des papiers
importants. Ça me plaît parce que les signatures montrent un vrai geste assumé. Et souvent on ne lit pas
très bien le prénom de la personne qui signe. Je trouve ça beau. Je trouve que ça devient juste un dessin.
Pour l’instant tu écris ton prénom, sur un papier pour rendre à la maitresse, c’est déjà ta signature, même
à 7 ans.
Kiss,
S
La Fnac, le Géant des Beaux-arts, Bureau Vallée, lieux que je fréquente pour acheter, regarder, prendre. Lieux de rencontres et d’expression, où de multiples outils sont présents. Je suis fasciné par les post-its mis à disposition des clients pour tester tout type de marqueurs avant l’achat. Ici naissent plusieurs formes d’expression. Dessins figuratifs, gribouillages, blagues, mots d’amour, insultes et signatures y apparaissent. D’où vient cette volonté de se montrer, ou du moins de laisser une trace de soi ? C’est espace de liberté mis à disposition comme une invitation à s’exprimer au delà de tester un stylo.
Je déambule dans l’espace urbain, plusieurs choses me sautent aux yeux. Les traces, en effet je ne vois que
cela. Tout ce qui ressort des trottoirs, c’est soit les chewing-gum écrasés qui forment un motif de cercle
blanc ou rose, soit les quelques taches de lichens, ou bien les longues trainées d’urine au sol. Je m’arrête
sur ce point là. Qui tache ? Qui en est l’auteur ? Les personnes bourrées en sortie de bar ou bien des
chiens en promenade ? Laisser une trace c’est montrer que quelque chose s’est passé, que l’on est présent…
"En effet, les chats « marquent » leur territoire lorsqu’ils sont satisfaits, en utilisant les glandes présentes dans leurs joues, au-dessus de leurs yeux et sur leur menton. Il s’agit d’un type de marquage qui est principalement utilisé à l’extérieur, où il y a plus de concurrence avec les autres chats. Au lieu de se frotter le visage pour marquer leur territoire, les chats vaporisent de l’urine, qui véhicule leur propre odeur. Les chats vaporisent parfois de l’urine contre les arbres, les haies et les poteaux de clôture lorsqu’ils sont à l’extérieur – ils le font à hauteur du nez des autres chats qui pourraient passer par là. Ce jet d’urine contient des informations sur l’âge, le sexe, la santé, l’activité de votre chat et les limites de son territoire – un peu comme une carte de visite de votre chat ! Marquer ainsi son territoire vise à informer les autres chats du quartier qu’ils sont sur ses terres, afin d’éviter toute confusion et d’aider à prévenir les affrontements physiques."
Écrire son nom sur un gobelet à une fête d’anniversaire
La singularisation de l’écriture
Le geste induit la trace laissée, ici l’écriture du nom. Quelque part la signature des invités de la fête
d’anniversaire. Le trait se comporte donc en fonction de la surface courbée du gobelet.
(S.D.) So, yeah, this is something I'm interested in too. And so the writing could be a part of this. And I, first of all, I wrote a first small thesis for my bachelor about the dance practice and how it can be linked to graphic design. So, and how the body could be included in all these questions and gestures. And now for the master, I'm more on the signature question, you know. So, signature, I observed this on the administrative documents, you know. I really like the doctors who sign like really abstract. And I saw this on the computer. Yeah, actually. (M.H.) Yeah, this on the, yeah. You know, like this, we did it with Cezar, like me and Cezar mixing all because we are six people here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's our six signatures kind of mix. Ah, this? Yeah. Okay. So these letters are our signatures. And we just like, it's just like we generated different letters with our signatures. But this was part of the, it came out also, we invited Yugleni. You know Yugleni? No. He's a sweet designer, but he has this robot. Oh, yeah, yeah, okay, okay. That draws. And then we wanted to, like, this is also like morphing our signatures together. Yeah, okay, okay. And then from here, we actually went for that. Oh, okay. It's like stickers. Yeah. Okay, really nice. I mean, this was like me, Cezar, and Jörg also doing it. And then, like, we're using a lot of this type of, like a script. Like, we start getting like in the, this typography that you have like the skeleton. Yeah. And you can fill with different things, you know, starting from here. Yeah. But then we have our own type for our font. Okay. Like the, what I can show it to you. Maybe, I saw on your website, your personal one. Someone, a friend of us designed this. It's for the whole building. But now we are using it a lot. And what we did is like a skeleton, and then apply the same sort of system with our signatures. Because we create, we generate, we break our signatures and create different, you know. And then from there, we generated the type. Okay. Yeah, with our own signature. Okay. (S.D.) So, yeah. Really, the question of the identity, like who you are, and how we can be a group, like, together. Oh, it's. (M.H.) I mean, that's, that's something I ask myself. Yeah, every day. It's something we started, we were three people. And then from original, we are now two only. And we grow to six. And on the way, also some people pass. So it can be. It's something that is always changing. Constant change. And it's also like different people kind of take different roles and different amount of presence or whatever. Yeah. Depending on the moment also. So it's, I don't know. It's something we ask ourselves a lot. And it's just about a lot of trust, I think, into each other. And I don't know, being flexible a little bit and trying to make it work, actually. You know, and then some people, you know, I take the lead on different things. Like, I don't know. It can be, I'm here kind of creating what we do as a fanfare, as a program, like research. But also I'm more into the design thing, like Present Place or other things that we do. Commission, like now in Necatone and this art residency, we are doing the design. And it's me and César. At the Biarritz. Yeah. But there is a project that we are all working together. And there is other project that some people that's, you know, from our fanfare, you know. Like, out of the six, one is not living here. She's in Copenhagen. And one is in between Buenos Aires. Oh, yeah, okay. So there is different levels of involvement also, you know. I'm for one of the, me, César and Andrea. The ones that we are more physically here, working from here and doing more things. But then there is others that is more like from the distance and kind of like more into the funding or like writing, you know, copy editing. Funding is like great. Because we, it's not, we kind of have a hybrid model where we, depending the moment also, we have some funds from the government or like from artists. And then also we have some clients. So it's like, it's a mix. So, but it's really hard to also make it work. It's not like, there is not a formula that you follow. Yeah, of course. And this is probably why I'm still doing this because it's also exciting in one style. Yeah, yeah. That's what you said, like you are not bored. I understand. Yeah, probably I'm doing this because I'm not getting bored. And then it's always something to worry and like something to push. But so far, it also allows me to be kind of free, you know, and do projects I like. And, you know, I have this amazing space here with some people. Yeah, yeah. And my friends and like we can, you know, host people and like do. We had a workshop on Sunday. Yeah. People approach us and it's like, hey, we want to do this project. And then, of course, we cannot just host or we have certain vision and like certain things that like, I mean, we engage a lot with workshops and like pedagogy. Yeah. This one thing that we all have in common in Fanfare is like we all teach. Oh, yeah. Okay. And we are kind of thinking about pedagogy and like how to make it better. We kind of experiment also. There is two things in common for everyone here. It's like experimental publishing. Yeah. And pedagogy. And then some are more like design. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We are more like the graphic design side. But there is an architect. Okay, okay. So each has its own role and like position and wants to use Fanfare in some way. For me, yeah, it's also a project where I can put my research and where I can develop my own initiative. But also, I like to work together with Cesar and do like projects together. So as a design studio also, right? Doing projects like Catoneo or Pleasant Place or Overgarden which is a big museum in Copenhagen that we work for now like five years. Really cool. It's really cool to see this. (S.D.) I did a book fair in October with my friends. Okay. We were eight. And now we are thinking about this group like what it could be in the future. So it's really interesting to hear what you said about it's not fixed that it's one idea. Like it's not a studio. (M.H.) No. Like it could be more. I mean, sometimes like, you know, I've been asked myself, okay, what Fanfare is? And I'm like, I cannot. Maybe I can tell you what is in the fucking website, but it doesn't explain fully what it is. And maybe it's not the question. Yeah. For me, like, it's nice that I can also not explain it. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. It's more like, okay. Yeah. I can tell you that we do, we are a studio and we are a platform. But it's not only that. I don't know. It's kind of. (S.D.) It's really nice to hear what you said. And I think I tried to link with what I saw on your work. It's really. Yeah. I understand this. Yeah. (M.H.) I'm also. I don't know. I asked myself. I also am a person that I'm not. I'm not. I don't sit and think. And then I do. You do, you think. I do. And then I think. Same. So then I wonder why I'm doing all this. But then, like, after years and years, I understand that, you know, I like to work with people. I like to do things that I find interesting and that I find important to also be shared, like independently of the market. And like, you know. So that's why I'm always engaged on this kind of project. And even though if it's not, you know, I had that time that I was working in an advertisement agency. And actually it was really good because I got money that I could pay. And, you know, like, but then it was so boring. Shit. But like, I mean, I think there's people that like that. It was not for me. No, no. I understand totally. And then I'm doing this kind of job that it's also, I mean, here there's a lot of fanfare. Sometimes from the distance it looks also like we are here swimming in dollars or like that we are. But it's actually not. It's a lot of precarity. We work a lot. Yeah. There is a lot of struggle. And sometimes we are more losing money than actually producing. But in the other hand, it allows us to kind of, you know, test things that otherwise you wouldn't test or like try things that you wouldn't try if I would be in an agency, you know, and like I can just do whatever and fail. And it's fine because it's my own fucking thing. You know what I mean? And that's also why I find myself also like kind of trapped, you know. But I like it. Yeah. It gives me pleasure, you know. Yeah. But it's not for everyone. And maybe there arrives one moment that I'm also fed up with it and I want to change and that's fine also. Like for me, that's also what fanfare is also good. Like it's how it is now. It's not how it was nine years ago or three years ago. Yeah. Or when COVID, it's completely different. We are sort of some people are there. Some people are not. But we are also in different moments of our life, you know. And I don't know. I don't know how it will be next year. But I mean, for me, it's fine also, you know. And I think at the end, if we do it what we want to do, then it's hard to let it go. You know what I mean? Ah, okay. And if the conditions allow and you can still like... But for me, if I have this as a sort of playground and I can try things, it's going to be hard for me to get tired of, you know. Yeah. In a way. That's it. I share with people, you know. So cool. Yeah. But it's a lot of work. It's also like a lot of precarity, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. When I come here with my students, I tell them that, you know, one of the first thing I tell them, you know, I clean the dishes. I need to clean it. You know, like some people or like I have some students that they think that I come here and I do like crazy good idea. You know, like this kind of like idea of like they make the great design or whatever. It's like, no, dude, like I come here, I clean the dishes. You know, like sometimes, you know, things doesn't work and like it's really, I don't know. Yeah. No, of course, of course. (S.D.) Like, do I have to put a sense on what I do? And I think I'm actually a bit as you like, I just things and then I'm thinking why, you know, this idea of the signature, especially this, because it seems abstract for some people, just a line, you know, and I don't know for me, it's just like this. So I understand what you. It's like, I don't know that I really recognize also like this is something I learned from the years. (M.H.) Like I also was like in some moment kind of frustrated that I couldn't be able to just see that thing and then that my way is really like I follow intuition and that intuition is also not completely random because random also doesn't exist because you are based on your own experience and what you like. And like, I actually find super interesting to just not understand why am I doing this for now? And then I do it and then I go back and maybe I sleep in between. And then I'm like, oh, OK, I get this because maybe I like like this or I saw this somewhere and I thought it was interesting and I want to try. And that's it. It doesn't need to be like fully like, yeah, I wake up, I think I do this. No, but there is people that work like that. I'm fine. I mean, if they're happy, I'm OK. But like with me, it doesn't just work like that. And I just, you know, I need to follow intuition. And otherwise, like I get really stuck. Of course, I can think something and then do it. But like it kind of kills my process. For me, it's more like intuitive and more like exciting if I just start doing something and then I do a reverse engineering of like thinking, OK, why I did this? And also what I'm trying always to do, it's like to do like to try things, you know, like I get like excuse to, OK, there is a project that it doesn't pay so well, but it's nice people and you have carte blanche. Then I want to do that thing that I always wanted to do, but I never, you know, and then I try to squeeze it in and, you know, make it my own sort of small research. I don't know, I'm doing a publication now and I always for this Amsterdam Film Academy and then I always wanted to use this tool from Color Library, you know, from Maximage. I never use it. Yeah, OK. And I saw it, but I was like, OK, maybe this project, you know, I'm just going to. Yeah. I mean, this is like a first for me, but like it's just, you know, I fit it in. I just want to learn the tool, you know, and this kind of stuff, I think it's important for me to try different stuff, you know. Yeah, I feel this. Oh yeah, that's the... No, it's just the first. I had a meeting today and I had to bring something. But yeah, I don't know. Or like what we did in Catania now, it was like different type experiment with César that we always wanted to do it, but never had the time also. And then like, OK, now this project. It's the moment. Yeah. And then we do it, you know. And then it goes like... Yeah. You know? (S.D.) Yeah, so doing types is really in your practice? Yeah, yeah, yeah. (M.H.) Types a lot. Yeah, always there. I don't... I mean, somehow one of the things I would like to be in a parallel universe would be like a type designer. Oh yeah, OK. But then I know myself that I'm not so... Yeah, technical. Yeah, or like that I will get bored also, you know. I try many times to... I like to work with type and I respect a lot type design. But only doing type... I think if you want to be a good type designer, then you need to just do type design. And I'm not... I'm not that type of person that can do only one thing in their life, you know. And devote their life to do that. I love typography though. And I like always to try things. And I work with... Yeah, with type designers. I feel this in César. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, César. That's also why we... César and me, we are... Yeah, yeah, yeah. In the same wave, you know. It's different generations. And of course he has his things and I have my own things. It's more analog and more digital. Oh yeah, OK. But we match together. Like we really share the type... Yeah. Type love. And we are always... Everything we do is with type, actually. And then something else, you know. (S.D.) Or if you want, I can just... Because I did a small website if you want to share my research. So this is more about really the thesis, like the dissertation. So it's just a small webpage to... Yeah, sorry it's in French. (M.H.) National Park? Hm? (S.D.) No, it's Arial Rounded, I think. (M.H.) Oh, really? Yeah. (S.D.) National Park is really good. Right. So yeah, just to show the evolution of my work. And yeah, so my idea is to show many examples of signatures and what can be signatures. And so sometimes I just like this show, maybe the animals and the dogs, just to urinate on the street. And I'm just thinking about this, like how all this can be signatures and what's all the other ideas of signatures, not especially writing, but to say, to mark a territory, you know, just I am here, I agree with this, all the concepts of signatures, and not especially just the drawing of this part. (M.H.) It's good. This guy, I think he studied with me in the Sandberg, and I think his thesis was about kind of like marking. It was not a signature, but kind of like traces on the streets. And then, of course, Jonathan Castro, you know? Mm-hmm. Jonathan Castro. Jonathan Castro. (S.D.) Yeah. So, yeah. And the first thing was that I collected a small post-it paper in some art store or something like this. When you tried pens before buying this, I just collect them and scanning all of them. And sometimes I found some really cool stuff on this. (M.H.) Nice. It's good that you collected this stuff. Mm-hmm. Did you also look into this Khalil? You know, there is these people that can tell you if this signature is correct. Ah. Like, someone can tell you, like, kind of... In the criminology... Yeah, but also there is people that can certify it. You know, like, because maybe, I don't know, it's... Okay, I understand that this is really fun. But I also think, like, it would be nice if you could also tell, okay, this is, like, someone that is in his 18, I don't know, and likes this type of person. Ah, yeah, like the graphology. (S.D.) Yeah. This kind of science, like fake science. Yeah, yeah, it's kind of... Okay, okay, I see this, yeah. (M.H.) Yeah, because... Not to analyze the behavior of the line. Yeah, yeah, it tells you this person is a positive person. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like starting from... I know one thing, that, like, people that start from bottom and goes up. Ah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a tendency to be people more, like, optimistic, and more, like, chill. Yeah, I see this. And, you know, people that kind of, you know, goes down, tends to be a little bit more pessimistic. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, of course, it's kind of basic, but it's also a nice realization of, you know, I always kind of am fascinated with people that can tell you, okay, this is the letter of Miguel, you know, because they saw, I don't know, 20 documents of my thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is like Miguel, you know. (S.D.) Yeah. Yeah, you have one special signature. And you keep doing it by the hand? (M.H.) Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I've been... Yeah, of course, it evolves also through the time, but it's the same since I'm 16 or something, you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think I took it also from my mom. I don't know. My mom is called Mercedes. Yeah, okay. So she got an M. And then, like, her M, it's always like, I don't know, really. So I took that M from her. (S.D.) That's really cool, this. All your signature. Yeah. So you put it in a cycle, especially? No. Ah, no, you're just... No, it's... You're just mixing. Yeah, it's different. (M.H.) Like, all the little parts are different. Yeah. Maybe I can show you a file.
— Une brève histoire des lignes, Tim Ingold, 2011-2013
— Shorthand, Félix Salut (on Sourcetype)
— Gestures, Félix Salut (on Sourcetype)
— Signature, évènement, contexte, Jacques Derrida, 1971
— Le Symbolisme de l’écriture, Max Pulver, 1889-1952
— Signatures Pieces — On the institution of authorship, Peggy Kamuf, 2018
— Collection de sable, Italo Calvino
— Asemic the art of writing, Peter Schwenger
— L'œuvre, l'auteur et la signature, Marie Cornu, 2008 (article Cairn)
— Comprendre et reproduire le graffiti carcéral : une expérimentation, Philippe Hameau et Fanny
Lalande,
2024
— La valorisation du graffiti carcéral au travers d’anciens lieux de détention classés au titre des
Monuments Historiques. Cassandra Guilloux, 2023
— (S)Chaumont, Thierry Chancogne, 2013 (article Tombolo)
— La signature : genèse d’un signe, Béatrice Fraenkel, 1992
— Promenade au pays de l’écriture, Armando Petrucci, 2019