Becoming
Becoming (استفعل) is the latest light installation in a body of work imagining alternative typographic histories by constructing unconventional language display technologies. Here, freed from structural conventions pressed by the dominance of Latin scripts, we celebrate the formal potential of the Arabic language.
Bright, bold, blinking verbs cycle through this hundred-segment display. These formalisms work heritage into the future, creating a catalyst toward alternative realities of becoming. Where these words are forces driving toward an unwritten landscape populated by unconventional technologies, in turn shaping new typographic structures.
Bright, bold, blinking verbs cycle through this hundred-segment display. These formalisms work heritage into the future, creating a catalyst toward alternative realities of becoming. Where these words are forces driving toward an unwritten landscape populated by unconventional technologies, in turn shaping new typographic structures.
The series of words takes us to the roots and connotations of verbs to be. Arabic Sarf (Arabic Morphology and Etymology) is the internal assembly of a word by way of patterns of vowelization and introduction of extra letters, which constitute a template. The template provides additional connotations “the bolder the template, the heavier the meaning”. As the title suggests, استفعل is a dynamic verb form of six letters, which means transitionally becoming, literally and figuratively, moving from one state to the other, and suggests deliberate and successive forms of the action.
Exhibitions & Publications:
Hammett, Levi., Hind Al Saad, & Mohammad Suleiman. Becoming. Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria. (Group Exhibition, International). 6-10 November 2023.
Hammett, Levi., Hind Al Saad, & Fatima Abbas. Becoming. International Simposium on Electronic Art, Forum des images, Paris, France. (Group Exhibition). 16 - 23 May 2023.
Hammett, Levi., et al. Becoming. Language As Machine, The Gallery @ VCUarts Qatar, Doha, Qatar. (Solo Exhibition). 13 February 2023 - 9 April 2023.
Deezine. VCUarts Qatar presents nine installations informed by linguistics. 17 March 2023. (Article) link
Hammett, Levi., Fatima Abbas, Hind Al Saad, & Mohammad Suleiman. Alternative Typographic Histories: Arabic Script as a Driver of Language Display Technology. Acadia 2022: Hybrids & Haecceities, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, United States. (Presentation, Proceedings). 28 October 2022.
Hammett, Levi., Hind Al Saad, & Mohammad Suleiman. Becoming. Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria. (Group Exhibition, International). 6-10 November 2023.
Hammett, Levi., Hind Al Saad, & Fatima Abbas. Becoming. International Simposium on Electronic Art, Forum des images, Paris, France. (Group Exhibition). 16 - 23 May 2023.
Hammett, Levi., et al. Becoming. Language As Machine, The Gallery @ VCUarts Qatar, Doha, Qatar. (Solo Exhibition). 13 February 2023 - 9 April 2023.
Deezine. VCUarts Qatar presents nine installations informed by linguistics. 17 March 2023. (Article) link
Hammett, Levi., Fatima Abbas, Hind Al Saad, & Mohammad Suleiman. Alternative Typographic Histories: Arabic Script as a Driver of Language Display Technology. Acadia 2022: Hybrids & Haecceities, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, United States. (Presentation, Proceedings). 28 October 2022.
Concept: Levi Hammett & Hind Al Saad.
Type Design: Hind Al Saad & Fatima Abbas.
Writing: Hind Al Saad & Sara Khalid.
Programing: Levi Hammett & Hind Al Saad.
Electronics: Levi Hammett
Production: Mohammad Suleiman & xLab
Commissioned by: The Gallery @ VCUarts Qatar
Type Design: Hind Al Saad & Fatima Abbas.
Writing: Hind Al Saad & Sara Khalid.
Programing: Levi Hammett & Hind Al Saad.
Electronics: Levi Hammett
Production: Mohammad Suleiman & xLab
Commissioned by: The Gallery @ VCUarts Qatar