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WorkArt & Culture

Typographic exhibition conjures a constellation of new words

You don't see a lot of design exhibitions devoted to the art of language manipulation, but World Within Words, currently on show in Malaysia, is just that. The creation of Sergio Alves and Henrique Nascimento, the show sets out to be "a place where words merge to create new words, where objects of everyday life are placed to have new functions and meanings, and the sequence of how we create a sentence is rethought to make us think."

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Yellow banner with black text reading "MISSPRIRATURE" curves across a minimalist gallery floor alongside a white cube

The show features words and sentences taken from an edition of the local newspaper, Malaysiakini, cast using Akzidenz-Grotesk as the main typeface, in a range of weights and styles. The designers decided to create new portmanteau words from these clippings; as a result, they say, "a constellation of new words emerge, along with new definitions and objects [...] they define the new everyday."

An associated 'World Within Words publication' features deconstructions and explanations of all the thoughts, methods and planning behind the exhibition.

White gallery space with yellow and black hazard tape-style typography forming new portmanteau words across the floor and hanging panels for the World Within Words exhibition
Yellow banner with black text reading "HERNIA" and a crown symbol at the top, displayed vertically in a gallery space as part of World Within Words exhibition
Oversized yellow letters spelling a portmanteau word tower over a white gallery space beside a white birdcage and text reading "ephemeral + enthusiastic
White sculptural object with curved tubing on top displaying text, positioned in front of yellow and black graphic elements
White folded fan with "inspiration + culture" text displayed next to yellow and black typography from the World Within Words exhibition
Yellow umbrella covered with overlapping words and phrases from a typographic exhibition, including "Can I control", "do you know hope", "find true meaning" and other text fragments
White pedestals of varying heights displaying typographic elements and objects in the World Within Words exhibition, with text labels visible on the surfaces
Bright yellow sun loungers and umbrellas printed with overlapping words and phrases from the World Within Words exhibition
Bright yellow sun lounger with matching umbrella printed with fragmented text and words from newspaper clippings
White cube plinth with text reading "difference + cooperative" and "A.2.20", topped with a white kettle and figurine in dynamic pose
Bright yellow umbrella displaying overlapping text fragments including "I go back again", "different perspective" and repeated numbers, creating new portmanteau words from newspaper clippings
Bright yellow umbrella with overlapping words and phrases radiating from the centre, created from the World Within Words exhibition by Sergio Alves and Henrique Nascimento
Yellow umbrella with overlapping text reading "Everywhere (Now)here where?" from the World Within Words exhibition
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