A multicultural exploration of visual language at the intersection of images, writing, signs, and symbols.

How can personal experiences, cultural particularities, and complex global, social, and political issues be translated into concise visual systems? 45 SYMBOLS – CLAY TO CODE explores how designers and artists respond to this question: Inspired by one of the most enigmatic objects in media history – the approximately 3,700-year-old, still-undeciphered “Phaistos Disc”, whose surface is engraved with 45 different symbols – students develop systematic approaches to a visual language and demonstrate how an original visual grammar can be constructed.

This long-term research project will be summarized and documented in a comprehensive publication.