In the first week of classes in Rome, we took a trip to the ruins of the historic Colosseum and the Forum. Both sites were social and political hubs in the heart of the city back in ancient times. Personally, my favorite of the two sites was the forum, but the Colosseum is amazing to see in person just because of the sheer size of the arena itself. It is absolutely incredible to think how this was built, calculated, and designed without the use of modern day technology. The symmetry and structure are perfection and have lent itself to the structural integrity of the building.
Typography was found in both the Forum and Colosseum more than I initially thought it would be. There was a lot of type in the modern exhibit portions, of course, but there was plenty of etched text into stone. Most of the type I observed was in marble stones. There were lines upon lines of Latin text on marble plates done thousands of years ago that still are legible today.
Something that surprised me at this landmark as well as others throughout the city is the etching of names and words into the stone and marble. Taking a look at the brick on the walls leads people to notice hasty and messy etching of couple names, phrases, and symbols. This caught my attention more than some of the traditional type on site. It made me wonder how long ago these were placed there and by who. What made the person decide to do this and why? I was drawn to the markings in the walls that show a more recent history in this ancient landmark people come from across the world to see. I may revisit this topic later for another project, but for our first assignment, I kept it simple with the text placed in marble.
For our first assignment, we were to use the 3D tools in Illustrator to create a three dimensional alphabet. I have never used these tools before and was a little nervous I would bite off more than I could chew by complicating the process. I wanted to learn and understand the tools from this exercise to use in other areas of this class. I decided to stick with the classic Roman type coming off of a marble tablet as if displayed at a museum. I wanted to focus on the lighting and shadows as well as the perspective to make all of the letters look apart of the marble and as a unit. I found the tools easier to use than I thought and I am excited to challenge myself more with the use of the tools themselves.
This week, we took a trip to the National Roman Museum which houses the Museum of Written Communication. This trip, unfortunately, was a self-guided venture without our professor, Dermot, to help break down and understand the exhibit further. Even without him there, I learned a lot about how type was used in ancient Roman civilizations as well as how it evolved.
The exhibit was laid out in a timeline-like fashion. In the main entrance, there was a collection of random pieces and objects with written words on it that were from different time periods all together. My favorite of the pieces in this area was a glass dish with gold thread placed on the bottom of the dish between two glass pieces. There was no indication as to what time period this was from, but I found it to be so incredibly interesting. There was such an attention to detail in this piece that is amazing to see done even today.
As you continue throughout the 3-story exhibit, you discover an amazing mix of stone etching and reliefs as well as signage, coins, stamps, and more. The collection was so incredible and extensive. My favorite area in the whole exhibit was on the second floor. There was a stretch of lower class examples of typography placed right next to the higher classes use of marble and expensive carving into stone for house signage or stones for graves. I enjoyed this specifically because of how little we hear about the general common population of Roman people and what they used. I have heard so much about the drama and seen ruins of great government powers with marble, but what did regular people use and do day-to-day.
When thinking about our assignment for this week, I wanted to focus on a more unconventional use of type in Rome. I really loved the gold thread in the dish that I discovered in the exhibit. To develop that further, I took the Italian words "mangia bene" meaning "eat good" and placed it on the underside of a dish with 3D modeled gold thread letters. I just became so curious as to why this was done since there is little to no explanation on what it is at the museum. I have not been able to find information doing research, but I am hoping I can find out a little more.
In week 3, we finally got to have class with Dermot again since he is free from COVID. Yay! We quickly stopped by an amazing library that is one of the oldest in Rome. It was absolutely stunning and easily my favorite part of the day due to the history in that room. We were lucky and got the chance to see the building's plans as well as some beautiful type. The way each page was arranged and laid out was perfect. There was no messy rag and all of the type sections were perfect units. The drop caps were beautiful in the first book. The other two books we looked at were a historical manuscript and a book written by Dante himself dedicated to women. Both had the beautiful type setting as well. Our class was so grateful to have gotten the opportunity to see these incredible pieces of history.
Next, we walked to the Villa Farnesina to see a Dante's Inferno exhibit viewing original pieces as well as adaptations in more modern media. The Villa itself is not where the exhibit was hosted, but it was gorgeous and I am glad we got the chance to explore and see the beautiful frescos on the walls. In the actual exhibit, we got the chance to see many pieces of writing and print dedicated to Dante's Inferno. I wish I could have understood more of the information, but the information panels were all written in Italian so I wasn't sure entirely what the purpose of each piece was. Overall, the typography in the exhibit was very impressive and made it all worth it. I loved seeing the miniature pocket-sized books as well as the comic strips at the modern parts of the exhibit.
For the exercise this week, I decided to be inspired by a neon sign in the MAXXI Museum from a few weeks ago. The sign says "Il passato e sempre nuovo, il futuro e sempre nostalgico" meaning "the past is always new, the future is always nostalgic." I really loved how the neon sign looked and wanted to attempt to make the letters and words surround the user while giving off a glowing effect. It is hard to visualize via screenshot vs on the device itself.
In the weeks leading up to the end of my time in Rome, I have become extremely inspired. by the type and imagery in Rome. The history and art is so rich here in the city as well as the whole country. I have been in disbelief that something as old as the colosseum could still be standing today. The creators and artists that built the forum or statues are long dead, but their life's work still stands and it marveled by people from all over the world.
All throughout Rome, graffiti and defacing of monuments is very prevalent. I have been just as intrigued by the modern additions as I have the original pieces of work. There are countless initials etched into the marble of the Trevi Fountain as well as names and images etched into the colosseum walls. In a way, these additions serve as a way to show history, but maybe a history not as large and important as the infamous monuments. For all we know, a little "A+J" etched into the fountain in 1985 could have been the start to a couple's amazing love story. Regardless of the time these monuments were created or the additions were made, they are embedded in the history forever.
I wanted to capture this idea with a Latin phrase: "Ars longa, vita brevis." This phrase means "Art is long, life is short," and I felt this phrase captured the idea of forever. frozen memories and moments in stone, sculpture, or spray paint. I am taking the first part of the phrase and making it into a visual monument/statue-like structure and covering it with the second part of the phrase in graffiti and defacement. I have gathered examples of graffiti in the city as well as names and carvings in structures. I will be using these to create the letterforms for the second half of the phrase.
Ars Longa, Vita Brevis. This phrase stuck with me meaning "Art is long, life is short." I went through many different trials and errors trying to showcase this phrase the way I envisioned. Aero proved to have some issues as well as 3D modeled text. The base of the marble words were the biggest task for me in the project. I wanted them to look like a marble statue reminiscent of the type we see often in Rome. I started with the text in one line. but the letters weren't tall enough or feeling large enough. I attempted to make them stacked vertically to make it like a basilica, but it wasn't modeling correctly, unfortunately. I ended up creating the two words stacked in marble on top of a pedestal. It is simple, but ended up being an effective way to showcase the first part of the phrase.
For the second part of the phrase, I used found typefaces of graffiti and signage from around Rome. I enjoyed finding these pieces of type to incorporate into my project. There are so many areas covered in graffiti near the iconic monuments here in the city. I used a different style of graffiti for each letter in the phrase. I made the base letter raised to be a little 3 dimensional. I made a flat painted back panel behind to show the texture of spray paint. I had this part appear behind each letter in complimentary colors.
With the movement, I had the second part of the phrase appear and ease into the front 2-3 letters at a time. The letters are hidden at the start of the scene and it is activated by a tap to the screen. The sound starts as the letters appear. I recorded a woman playing harp outside at night along the river and thought it was a beautiful form of expression and art. This felt appropriate to include in the work as the sound. I am very happy with the outcome and am glad I chose this direction for my project.
Credits:
Created with an image by neirfy - "view of skyline of Rome city at day, Italy, retro toned"