The Future Tense
A slim volume with a green-and-black cover and black thread binding is an unconventional example of the typographer’s craft. Twenty-eight pages devoid of illustrations provide information on a sound performance by the American Russell Perkins. Taking as his starting point a medieval funeral mass, he used a computer program guided by GPS data from mobile phones during the Covid-19 pandemic to generate a potentially endless musical movement. A one-page description of the work in a large font is followed by two essays in English and French, in columns that are parallel yet constantly shifting and sometimes interweaving with each other. In addition to a serif font (English) and a bold sans serif font (French), a monospaced font is used for the footnotes. The various components are arranged on each page to create opulent image-like text shapes with large areas of white. Although the skill with which it has been crafted stands out, it does not descend into art pour l’art. It is rare for typography to be executed with such love and joy, and rare for it to be accorded so uch time and space. Readers find themselves experiencing a humility that seems appropriate to the theme of mourning.
