The Visual Communication Design programme at Aalto University (VCD) is an international learn- ing community committed to investigating new modes of action within visual communication. This archive was established in 2020 as a means to document and share the activity and work of the programme.

Type and Written Language Studio 2021

 

Author’s Name:
Fanni Perälä

 

Project title:

Notebook

 

Project Description:

In my project I set out to explore the human relationship with the environment focusing on aspects of communication and both gathering and formation of knowledge. Approaching the subject matter from a post-humanist perspective, I studied ways through which humans as a species have connected and interacted with their environments from animistic traditions to occupying land and locating resources.

 

In today’s urban Anthropocene the role of the natural environment is mostly to produce aesthetic and recreational experiences while knowledge and information has focused on other areas. By juxtaposing the environment and writing as a method of transferring information in the form of eco-asemics, I wanted to find new ways through which modern humans can reconnect with their environment.

 

Through the age-old bodily method of gathering information – walking, my goal was to study my habitat in order to find traces, tracks and imprints that have the semblance of writing. By documenting and re-drawing or re-writing my findings, my goal was to shape out a visual language that represents my immediate surroundings. The result is an asemic compendium divided into five chapters that do not have any linguistic content, but somehow still tell a story.