The Utopian Quest for a Pasigraphy

‘The Utopian Quest for a Pasigraphy’ is the newest addition to, the series of posters, initiated by the Palace of Typographic Masonry, bringing both depth and breadth to the collection. A pasigraphy – derived from the Greek words for ‘universal’ and ‘writing’ – is a system where symbols represent concepts, making it intelligible across languages. While icons like those found in airports hint at such universality, they fall short of being complete scripts. Edgar Walthert’s original collection already included some examples of pasigraphs, such as Charles K. Bliss’s Blisssymbols and Yukio Ōta’s LoCoS, but he has now found many more. This section gathers 18 attempts to pasigraphies, each offering unique approaches. Some can represent all languages; others reflect their creators’ own, self-devised systems. These scripts range from practical designs to artistic experiments. Some are rooted in visionary ideals, while others stem from necessity. Whether based on abstract ideas or speech, all these pasigraphs share a common goal: closing the language gaps that are believed to divide humanity.