THEN METAMORPHOSE
2025
TYPE
INTERACTIVE PRINT WITH PARTICIPATORY SHEETSROLE
CREATIVE DIRECTION, DESIGN, BOOK BOX CONSTRUCTION
Then Metamorphose is part of a broader research project alongside I Choose Music Without a Score [ICMWS] that explores the boundary between symbol and language. Its forms, inspired by geographical maps, invite individual “readings” and encourage journeys of interpretation.
Designed for collaborative interaction, the work enacts gestures of revealing and concealing, generating fluid yet fragmented visual experiences.
Accompanying interactive cards prompt the invention of new linguistic forms and meanings, emphasizing the shifting nature of language and the space where writing meets meaning.
Moving the two layers of the piece encourages new visual creation led by bodily movement and intuition. Visitors are invited to invent and record new linguistic forms on the cards. Their responses are placed in a book box for a growing, collective dictionary.
In the first edition of this print (titled 00->13), the marks originated from constructing and deconstructing Chinese characters using a pre-determined group of shapes. These shapes came from the Typographic Map Vol. 1 publication.
In a small-scale iteration, there were three layers, one of which acted as a key to translating the text from Chinese to English. Collaborative participation was integrated in the large scale version.
Interactive cards with questions on meaning-making and mapping/navigation were introduced in following experiments. This participatory element was simplified in the final design.