Inscript Experimental Type Festival 2023

The Inscript Experimental Type Festival 2023 is the 2nd festival organized by the Inscript collective. With more than 30 speakers and moderators, this five-day virtual-only and accessible-to-all event takes place October 4th to 8th, 2023—inclusive, diverse, bold, and favored with technologists and creatives alike.

A conference for sharing the wildest experiments or latest innovations, the Inscript Experimental Type Festival highlights industry experts across typography, creative coding, phygital media, and more. From artificial intelligence to type knitting; from augmented realities to the massive interactions in the physical landscape; from financial models to ferrofluid, Inscript blends cutting-edge tech and innovative thinking—both elemental in forming our collective reality—and amplifies its genome with a dynamic range of speakers and themes across a large number of creative disciplines.

The 2023 festival lineup is curated by strategist and creative practitioner Ksenya Samarskaya, AGI member, and former director of the TDC; graphic and type designer Alex Slobzheninov, founder of Contemporary Type; and journalist Loukas Karnis, ex-editorial director of Typeroom.

Samarskaya will introduce and moderate sections along with Studio Dumbar/DEPT® Creative Director and DEMO co-initiator Liza Enebeis, motion and generative designer Kiel Danger Mutschelknaus, Yale’s director of graduate studies Nontsikelelo Mutiti, and Monotype executive creative director Charles Nix.

Confirmed speakers include:
Golnar Adili, artist and educator, Iran / United States
Gianluca Alla, graphic designer, United Kingdom
Chae Byung-rok, art director and designer, South Korea
Suzy Chan, graphic designer and visual artist, China / Germany
Nazareno Crea, type designer and creative director, United States
Dinamo, type foundry, Germany
Paul Elliman, visual artist and designer, United Kingdom
Patrik Hübner, programming designer and creative director, Germany
Ksawery Kirklewski, media artist, Poland
Anna Dora L, applied art director, United Kingdom
Jürg Lehni, artist and designer, Switzerland
Mònica Losada, graphic designer, Spain
NaN, type foundry, Germany / Australia
Nguyen Gobber, graphic design practice, Austria
Tra Giang Nguyen (Gydient), freelance art & design director, Vietnam / Germany
PAY2PLAY, graphic design studio, China
Rajshree Saraf, art director, designer and researcher, India / United States
Rüdiger Schlömer, Switzerland
Schultzschultz, design studio, Germany
Liad Shadmi, graphic designer and art director, Germany / Israel
Bobby Joe Smith III, graphic designer, media artist, and educator, United States
Gianpaolo Tucci, creative director and consultant, Italy
Sparks Edition, graphic design studio, South Korea
Studio Dumbar/DEPT®, identity and motion studio, Netherlands
Sun Young Oh, independent designer, South Korea
Khyati Trehan, graphic designer and 3d visual artist, India / United States
Hansje van Halem, independent graphic designer, Netherlands
Lena Weber, system designer and creative coder, Germany
Adam Yeo, graphic and type designer, researcher, Ivory Coast / Singapore / France
Rozi Zhu, freelance designer and creative technologist, United States

In addition to five days of visionary presentations, Inscript will host a workshop in partnership with Southland Institute for critical, durational, and typographic post-studio practices, to be held virtually following the festival. The workshop, titled “Working with What’s (T)here and Proposing What Isn’t” will integrate play while asking critical questions about today’s cultural and technological landscapes, prodding us to find opportunities within limitations. No prior knowledge or experience required to participate.

The branding for the 2023 conference is created by creative director and consultant Gianpaolo Tucci in collaboration with designer and engineer Kacper Pietrzykowski. To represent the plurality of speakers coming together for the event, and reflect every individual’s unique tone of voice, Tucci and Pietrzykowski developed a tool that responds to audible input, serving as a visual echo that translates one form of communication into another.

The sonic brand was created by composer, conceptual new media artist, and programmer R. Luke DuBois, working with home-built analog synthesizers and custom software.

Hailed as the year’s “must-attend event” and a festival that left Eye Magazine “feeling exhilarated and liberated” in 2022, this upcoming rendition of Inscript is bound to motivate, engage, and inspire while foreshadowing the trends-to-come.