'For nearly ten years, artist Paul Chan has been exploring the aesthetic, interactive, and philosophical potentials of computer fonts. As a complement to Sade for Sade's sake, his monumental digital projection inspired by the work of the Marquis de Sade (1740–1814) that premiered at the 2009 Venice Biennale, Chan has created fonts and a collection of digital works that transform the act of typing into a generative Sadean performance. Unlike conventional fonts like Arial or Comic Sans, Chan's fonts are comprised of phrases and sentence fragments instead of letters and other alphanumeric characters, so that what is typed on the keyboard is not what shows up on the screen, or what is printed on paper. Each fontwork hold a unique set of idioms that expresses a different sexual voice when typed. Some like Oh Bishop X and Oh Justine are based on characters in novels by Sade, while others are inspired by characters from today (Monica Lewinsky), pornstars (Michael Lucas), and poets and writers (Gertrude Stein, Holderlin) whose work knot together sex with language, rhythm and form.' - CD back cover

This CD includes 21 truetype fonts for Mac, Windows, and Linux, with installer and guide, PDF books and prints based on the fonts, and a collection of drawings inspired by fonts.
Access level

Onsite

production company/producer
Location code
CD.001618
Language

English

Publication/Creation date

2009

Video format

CD-ROM

No of copies

1

Content type

artwork documentation

Paul Chan: Sade for Fonts Sake
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In Copyright

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This item is covered by one or more copyrights. It is available for research only or use within Hong Kong’s fair dealing rules. Please do not copy, re-use or reproduce this item without the permission of the copyright holder.

Paul Chan: Sade for Fonts Sake