No.31 Fungal by Raphaël Bastide
"Fungal is a homage to Wikipedia, one of the greatest website of the World Wide Web. This collaborative encyclopedia is now 21 years old, and I am still fascinated how it changed our relationship to knowledge. It also represents a comforting example of what humanity can do: collaborating voluntarily on the largest knowledge project in our history. I consider Wikipedia being the descendant of Enlightenment’s encyclopédistes and free software movement, and I think such project made by the people, for the people are beautiful remains of the early Web’s utopia..."
"Wikipedia is not perfect (lack of diversity, moderation…) and it remains a fragile system. Still, I wanted to picture it as a post-human vestige, an artefact invaded by biomorphic figures and spreading typography. My work quickly focused on how to create organic ornaments, affecting the encyclopedia’s interface, its typography, the figures and the Wikipedia logo itself. I asked my friend Jérémy Landes to collaborate on the design of a libre font forked from DejaVu Sans, able to spread like mycelium thanks to the variable technology. It is named “Fungal Sans” and it is available for download at https://fungal.page."
— Raphaël Bastide
Published by Hato Press, London
Printed on 80gsm Evercolour
Pages: 16
Orientation: Portrait
Dimensions: 14 cm x 20 cm
Format: Softcover / Saddle stitch binding
Raphaël Bastide is a french based maker of objects, programs, sound pieces, performances, instruments and tools. Raphaël's work often focuses on creating new visual and sound languages, based on systems and tools prototyped within singular technical contexts. Raphaël also is part of Vervetyne Type Foundry and teaches art and digital culture in art and design schools.