Alphabetica II: Entering Otherworlds

Alphabetica II: Entering Otherworlds is the second edition of the Alphabetica symposium series, dedicated to exploring design and writing systems beyond the boundaries of logic and reason. While the first edition (2019) focused on the systematic and technological aspects of language—such as Unicode and typographic structures—this new chapter ventures into more intuitive, spiritual, and imaginative terrains.

Through lectures, presentations, and conversations by artists, designers, and thinkers including So-Hyun Bae, Tim Brookes, Hansje van Halem, Anusha Hossain, Franco Jonas, Sarojini Lewis, Marian Markelo, Nunzio Mazzaferro, Marianne Mispelaëre, Page Not Found, Ariq Syauqi, Emma Wiersma, and Louwrien Wijers, the symposium invites visitors to engage with visionary forms of writing and seeing. These contributions unfold in dialogue with the exhibition Writing Systems of the Otherworld by Edgar Walthert and Tim Brookes, which surveys dream-inspired alphabets and scripts as acts of imagination, resistance, and identity.

Presented within the program Worlding Art at West Den Haag, Alphabetica II investigates how art can create new relations between people, knowledge, and worlds. Drawing from feminist and postcolonial thought, it approaches “worlding” both as a way of understanding art’s generative power and as an ethical practice for shaping more equitable futures.

Organised by West Den Haag in collaboration with the Atelier National de Recherche Typographique (Nancy), Hochschule Mainz, and the Endangered Alphabets Project (USA), the symposium culminates in a collective reflection on how we might write—and live—other worlds.

• Location:

  's-Gravenhage

• Organized by : West Den Haag
• Date and time: 26 October from 09:30 until 21:00
• Main language: Engels
• Theme: Spreeek about Freedom
• Access member: 10 euro students
• Access non-member: 20 euro