Inhabiting calligraphy

Abstract

This thesis is a practice research in the area of calligraphy. A fundamental facet of the overall account is that in order to understand calligraphy it is necessary to practice it. In any field there is no substitute for a practical experience: in calligraphy, I argue that it is essential.

This study is based on how to unfold calligraphy practice and history. The combination of both is the way to prevent tradition from being a shackle, but a resource that gives us more strength and continuity towards the practice of calligraphy today. This thesis presents the Book of Meditations as an outcome which reflects the working process, both materially and temporally.

Through a critical, reflective practice, I argue that the cognitive grasp of the handwritten letter is inherently bound to an experiential engagement with its genesis, and that calligraphy must be placed into a critical discourse including relations with akin areas and authors such as Walter Benjamin, Edouard Glissant and Richard Sennett and Matthias M. Tischler.

The investigation is led, on the one hand, by a methodology that is based on internalizing practical experience according to Sennett’s approach of craftsmanship. And on the other, by finding the discards of history in archives, following the non-linear approach of history stated by Benjamin. The starting point is studying manuscripts firsthand, in the archives where they are kept. Particularly, this study is focused on the discarded Catalan Romanesque manuscripts from the 10th century. Catalan Romanesque script (or Catalan Carolingian) has been largely ignored by classical historiography and palæography. The study that is done in the archives is that of an archaeology of the letter, an archaeology of the act of writing. This gesture is alive in the archives as it was performed by our ancestors. It is also reflected today in a current daily calligraphy practice.

This study results in a number of key outcomes, foremost among them The Book of Meditations. Other outcomes include notebooks, historical reproductions (mimicry), calligraphy models based on the study in the archives, the creation of handwritten books, large scale creation, individual practice and all other aspects for the exploration of a personal path, leading to new calligraphic expression.

The thesis comprises a part of practice and a written component. This document has 5 chapters. In chapter 1, I outline an introduction to the field leading to the three main axis that are developed further along the work: methodology of practice, critical discourse and archæology of the letter. Then, in chapter 2, I set the critical discourse underpinned by authors such as: Walter Benjamin and the open concept of History (followed also by Georges Didi-Huberman, Mieke Bal and others); the “poetics of relations” and concept of “creolization” coined by Edouard Glissant; and Richard Sennett and his veiuw of craftsmanship as embodied knowledge and ethical, socially meaningful work. Chapter 3 represents an overview of some studies in the field of calligraphy and the balance between a linear narrative and a dynamic perspective, also discussing formality and informality in writing and the importance of the Roman Cursive script. Chapter 4 displays exhaustively the study in the Catalan archives, particularly filling the gap identified by Matthias M. Tischler in the field of palæography regarding the Romanesque Catalan documentary sources. Finally, in chapter 5 the conclusions and outcomes are presented, including the praxis artifacts described in the previous paragraph.

More information

Identifiers

ORCID for Oriol Miró Genovart: orcid.org/0009-0009-4979-5274

ORCID for Sunil Manghani: orcid.org/0000-0001-6406-7456

Catalogue record

Export record