The following are examples of the submissions we received for the reflection portion of the project. These also feature in the exhibition itself, as audio overly to the imagery.
Halim Choueiry / mp3
Icograda Vice President, 2007-2009
Assistant Professor of Communication Arts and Design
Virginia Commonwealth University, Doha, Qatar
Spaces of memory
If you ask anyone in Doha, the capital of Qatar, for directions, he will give you directions by following roundabouts, corners, existing buildings, turning right at this gas station and then left at the corner where the mosque is. That which is there on the corners of buildings, and the houses with trees, simply exists… If we don’t name them as such, they will not be recognized as such, and then we will need street signs to navigate the urban environment.
In oral societies, such as Doha, one doesn’t have formalized systems. One has “practical” versus “the way one uses to navigate the environment.” Although Doha streets have names, there is complete lack of street addresses in the city. A couple of years after they were invited to help the local post authority establish a home mail delivery service, Canada Post left Doha without any success of establishing such a service. The system is still not in place and even now it seems like it is the mail home delivery service that does not conform to the oral urban environment of Doha.
On top of that, in Qatar the existing map doesn’t do service to the topography of the country. Many places that are set out on the map do not exist anymore in reality; places like Al-Gamel that once existed, are maintained as actual places, even if they are in fact ruins of the past. Similarly, maps contain plenty of references to places that will eventually exist in the future; developments that are not yet started or barely planned are marked out as if they are indeed actual places to visit. They form an actual topography of the future that, even if it looks real, in reality are more ruins of a future to become.
Carole Goodman / mp3
Assistant Professor, Graphic Design
Queens College, City University of New York, Flushing, New York, U.S.A.
www.BlueAnchorDesign.com
When I turned thirteen and had my Bat Mitzvah, my mother decided that it was important for the family to visit Israel. While I savored my first experience abroad, my mother, being a culigious (culturally religious) Jew, was profoundly impressed. She beamed when we took the tramcar up to the top of Masada and delighted in every morsel of her hamburger from McDavid’s, Israel’s Kosher answer to McDonald’s.
One day, she and I wandered through the streets of Jerusalem. We wove our way through the open markets and ate over-stuffed falafel sandwiches. At the Wailing Wall, we wrote our secret prayers on small slips of paper and carefully folded them before sliding the paper between the cracks in the wall.
We passed a tourist shop that sold t-shirts on the way back to the hotel. I was very excited because in the window there was a pink t-shirt featuring Linus and Snoopy from The Peanuts comics. A thought bubble floated above their heads with Hebrew writing inside. I had to have this shirt, no matter what the characters on this shirt were thinking because it was pink and I loved Snoopy. We went inside the store, inquiring about the pink t-shirt. The salesperson translated the Hebrew on the t-shirt. Linus and Snoopy were thinking, “Happiness is a warm puppy.” As soon as my mother purchased this shirt for me, I put it on over the t-shirt I was already wearing.
On our way out of the store, my mother paused in front of another t-shirt. It was pale yellow, with the prettiest cornflower blue Hebrew letters. This would be the t-shirt Martha Stewart would buy if she was to visit Israel. My mother, who never wears t-shirts, decided she needed to buy this shirt because of the beautiful, delicate Hebrew letters.
She made her purchase and decided, like me, to wear her t-shirt, too. We stepped outside into the hot sun, happy with our purchases, winding our way back to the hotel. We were laughing and having so much fun. At an intersection I took a closer look at her t-shirt and then cast my eyes downward, suddenly embarrassed. My mother asked what was wrong. I blushed deeply and said nothing.
I didn’t tell her that I figured out the translation of her t-shirt. The lettering wasn’t Hebrew at all, but it was English lettering styled to look like Hebrew. It said, “Go Fuck Yourself.”
My pink t-shirt, with its faded illustration of Linus and Snoopy, is folded neatly in a box full of childhood memories in my mother’s basement. I don’t know what my mother did with her t-shirt.
Isabel Meirelles / mp3
Assistant Professor, Department of Art + Design
Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
During my first month living in Boston a friend suggested a cafeteria inside a nearby college for good quick meals. In my first visit there I stumbled across a signage in the entrance door stating: “Private Property. No trespassing. No soliciting. Trespassers and solicitors will be subject to prosecution.” I read the sign. I understood the meaning of the message. However, I was uncertain of what to do next: could I enter it or not? Should I ask for permission? What would happen if I entered without a permission? After a long pause and analysis of other people coming and going, I made my mind: I would enter the building and buy lunch. The meal was indeed very tasty. But to this day I remember my conflicting feelings and the fear of someone stopping me.
Darío M. Muhafara / mp3
co-founder of the Argentinean digital type foundry tipo.net.ar
Typographer and typography lecturer, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Last year, my fiancé and I were traveling round Europe and we went to Berlin to visit a friend of ours. We love that city. It is really different than our Buenos Aires. The multicultural spirit of Berlin is something unusual to us. The little pieces of history all over the place are almost a map by themselves. We know a word or two of German but, in a way, we can move around Berlin like in any other city in Europe because our basic knowledge of English.
During that week my fiancé insisted that we go to the theatre to see a play. I was not very interested because of our lack of understanding German, but she said that it was basically a dance and music performance so we supposed that we would understand it partially.
Finally on the night of the play we became true Berliners for a little while; we were surrounded by local men and women, with no tourists or any English. The experience of the play was incredible. We didn't understand a word of it. But the movement of the bodies became the only words we could understand. We tried (and succeeded) to enjoy the play not by what we were hearing but by what we were seeing. In a way we saw a different play than the real, official one. But this kind of misunderstanding made me open my mind to something I was not particularly interested in or aware of.
Iris Utikal / mp3
Professor of Typography & Layout
Köln International School of Design, Köln, Germany
My first visit to China was made possible by an invitation by a Chinese design school. After two weeks of workshops with the students from all over china, we were invited to make an excursion to a beautiful landscape some hours away from the place where we had being staying.
After spending a night at a place in the countryside we were asked to take part in a walk to beautiful mountains. After a short trip on a bus we arrived somewhere in a spot for tourists. The guide we had, told us that we could either walk 3 kilometers up hills or we could take a cable car. As we are used to long walks in our country we decided to walk; the distance didn’t seem very far or difficult. We had a tiny backpack and were very good on our feet. But, after a quarter of an hour we were already very suspicious. We were walking only steps; uphill. These steps went on for hours. After 3 hours of steps, we arrived at a sign, telling; 3 kilometre done, 3 more kilometer to go.
After another long time going on staircases uphill we arrived at the top, where we had to wait for some of the group who had decided to go by cable car . We had to wait for them because they had had to wait in line for the cable car because it was a Chinese holiday. When they arrived, much to our surprise, we had to climb 3 more hours of staircases to get to the place we would stay overnight!
All this climbing and the downhill the next day, was a horrible muscle aching misunderstanding. But the landscape, well it was the most beautiful misunderstanding of all.
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