The exhibition Nomadic Traces, curated by Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès, and held at Dar Bellarj in Marrakech (16 Dec 2016 –13 October 2017) is a reflection on the important role that typography and writings have played across generations, defining the cultural identity of past and present civilizations. The migrational and transformative nature of writing, its ability to freely cross borders and to mix with other writing systems, testifies to the interconnectivity of people.
In the work of the French visual artist Laurent Mareschal, entitled “Here/Ici”, a poem in three languages (Arabic, French, and Amazigh) is written specially by the artist to present the idea of nomadic life and multiplicity of identity. The text uses the script of each respective language (Arabic-Maghrebi, French-Latin, and Amazigh-Tifinagh) and the Tubqal font that proved to be the most pragmatic for the task. The poem is projected on the floor of a dark and vaulted space, the text changes shapes and language in response to movement (of people and viewers) in the space, it swirls like sand in the wind, and moves like shifting sand dunes when you arrive at the center of the installation, and becomes clearer as text as you move away to the sides allowing the viewer to read the poems. The movements and change of languages is random and thus creates infinite variations.
The interactive video uses the font Tubqal, designed by Andreu Balius, Salah Eddine Bellizi, and Juan Luis Blanco, and developed within the framework of the type design research project, Typographic Matchmaking in the Maghrib.
