illegible

What happens when we cannot read characters straight away? ‘Illegibility’ is unsettling, but it also piques our curiosity: for what initially eludes our understanding also holds the allure of being deciphered.

The exhibition takes as its starting point 42 documents from the Swiss Literary Archives (SLA, Bern). They are barely legible or have been altered, encrypted, redacted or crossed out – each one holds a mystery waiting to be solved. At the same time, the ‘unreadable’ develops its own visual aesthetic that fascinates regardless of the content.

Equally, the exhibition is a journey through time and space and an invitation to look more closely and to find a productive way of engaging with what appears cryptic: From ancient writing systems through to graphic design, typography and (un)readable literary classics, right up to the whirlwind of symbols in our fast-paced present.