Ecstatic Alphabets/Heaps of Language

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Elliman – Scissors

Paul Elliman. Found Fount: Dead Scissors. 2004–ongoing

Paul Elliman (British, b. 1961). Found Fount: Dead Scissors. 2004–ongoing. Scissors handles: processed metals and plastic, digital print; ongoing accumulation. Courtesy the artist. © Paul Elliman

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Found Fount is a system for describing the world using the world itself. The aim of the project (begun in 1989, and ongoing) is to create a usable font in which no character form is used more than once. This requires an infinite amount of characters. The project uses materials that have been created not by nature but by human beings; in this, a connection is created between the construction of the built environment and the construction of language. There is also a size criterion: each of the elements must be small enough to fit in the mouth or be passed from hand to hand, like money. All of the shapes in Found Fount can be drawn in two dimensions and used typographically; some have been rendered and used this way, but others have not and may never be.