The Persistence of Type

'The Persistence of Type' was an exhibition produced for Tramway, Glasgow in collaboration with the graphic designers, Sophie Dyer & Maeve Redmond, and with the design curators, Panel. It explored exchanges between graphic design, visual art, fiction and historical advertising, conflating the idea of ‘type’ as lettering with the idea of ‘type’ as standard in connection with gender stereotypes and the pseudo-personalisation of fonts. Screen-prints and digital animations played with a set of motifs that evolved in the context of Scottish brand promotion in the 1960s and 1970s (namely British Caledonian and Tennents Lager). Visual research for the exhibition was conducted in archives held by Richard Demarco, in particular those relating to the work of the Forth Studios graphic design agency. An exhibition text was produced as a broadsheet newspaper to be given away free to visitors. A series of events was scheduled to take place within the installation, which was styled as an airport departure lounge reminiscent of the era.