Cross years session 1

Clappabet

For our first cross years with Rebecca and Cai, we were given a brief about ‘Alphabets as infrastructure’ which is exactly as it sounds. The day was divided into discussions about writing systems, how they work to create meaning, and how the alphabet is influenced by visual, cultural, and material factors.

After the discussion, what followed was a brief to create a set of characters for a new phonetic alphabet, with the group. I was in a group with four other students. We started with brainstorming and coming up with ideas based on the given random scenarios in the brief which we had to consider while creating our set.

We arrived at the idea of using claps and gestures, quite primal in nature, it stems from a basic need for communication and understanding how communication works in the first place. We combined that with the human touch, so it became more inclusive.

We decided to give the gestures a structure and assigned certain gestures with words and objects. After that, we formed a dance performance by ‘performing’ our language. Oh, and I also created a short film with the help of my friends showing the practical use of the language and how communication would work in that language.

Click on the link to view a conversation in Clappabet