In June 2019, publication of the exhibition “zeedel” of Le jour des esprits est notre nuit, designed by Charles Mazé & Coline Sunier, with texts by Catalina Lozano & Elfi Turpin.
Charles Mazé & Coline Sunier designed this publication. Its form is inspired by the “zeedel,” a satirical leaflet written in Basel German, printed on long, narrow strips of paper, and distributed during the Basel Carnival. It marks the first appearance of the Waggis typeface, specially designed for CRAC Alsace. A prominent figure of the Basel Carnival, the Waggis is a caricature of an Alsatian peasant. The Waggis typeface is composed of two versions (roman and cursive) that cohabit and bear witness to Alsace’s geographical situation as a territory that was occupied in turn by Germany and France. This polarizing situation was particularly tangible in the 19th and early 20th century, as evidenced by the simultaneous use of Roman and Gothic alphabet in text written by the same hand with the same tool. A former Gymnasium then a high school, the building that hosts CRAC Alsace was once a place of learning where students successively wrote in German and in French, and where the various writing models in use from one period to another were the expression of a political domination exercised through language.
