SCHERER, Bernd (ed.)
The New Alphabet/DNA #1: The New Alphabet

Operating in the space between a regulatory cosmos and the chaos of life, spoken language and its written notation unfold in different directions. Proceeding from the digital as a seemingly univer-sal notational substrate, the first volume of the series Das Neue Alphabet (The New Alphabet) tracks the interplay between these two tendencies by looking at a series of examples: the relationship between binary code and Leibniz’s philosophy of Monadology, the technological and cosmological aspects of non-Western writing systems, which are antithetical to a monolithic understanding of language, and the power of the Alphabet song to teach children the alphabet, its ordering principle cloaked in poetic form. [publisher's note]

With essays by Ann Cotten, Yuk Hui, Ben Lerner and Bernd Scherer and with illustrations by Kanako Tada and images by Wolfgang Tillmans.

Published by Spector Books / Haus der Kulturen der Welt, 2021
Design by Olaf Nicolai, Malin Gewinner, Hannes Drißner, Markus Dreßen
Essays / Cultural Studies / Media Studies / Philosophy