Joshua Unikel John Cage is often recognized for his contributions to conceptual music. However, he is rarely acknowledged for his breakthroughs in typography. In this talk, I’ll discuss Cage’s “plexigrams,” titled “”I don’t want to say anything about Marcel”” (1969), as a prime example of these contributions. I’ll explore Cage’s project as a 1960s analog precursor to “system-based” type, such as program-based typography and algorithmic type design.
To begin, I’ll explain the Cage’s plexigrams. I’ll unpack how Cage used a coin, the I Ching, and a type specimen book to choose and place his typefaces. In doing so, Cage exteriorized his relationship with type: pre-determined rules and chance replaced either logic or emotion. Cage also sent the plexigrams with instructions to reorganize their layers of type every day. This turned Cage’s type from a static system into an open-ended, permutating one.
Next, I’ll connect Cage’s plexigrams to other early precursors of computer-partnered typography. Precursors like Aaron Marcus. I’ll explore how both Marcus and Cage reposition typography into algorithms. On the one hand, Marcus used 1980s computer programs while Cage used a coin and a written set of rules. Marcus used a computer while Cage, in effect, became a computer.
Finally, I’ll discuss the plexigrams’ relationship to algorithmic type design and type-based branding from the early 2000s to today. I’ll highlight how the plexigrams use McNeil & Muir’s system-based approach but apply it to typography instead of the type design. I’ll also connect the open-ended quality of the plexigrams to typefaces like Michael Schmitz’s genotyp. Lastly, I’ll discuss how branding projects like Kyuha Shim’s Formations and Talia Cotton’s GBA use the chance-based method of Cage’s coin flip.
To conclude, I’ll reckon with outlying questions raised by the plexigrams and how they might help us employ, hybridize, and explore the limitations of system-based typography in the 2020s.”