The Third Script
M Javad Khajavi (2020)
"That calligrapher wrote three scripts
One he read but no-one else
Another he read and others too
The third neither he nor anyone else could read
I am that third script."
- Discourse of Shams-i-Tabrizi
In some mystically-inclined literature from the Persianate world, individual letters, words, the reed pen of calligraphy, have been used as metaphors to explain the unexplainable secrets of the universe. Inspired by these metaphors, and the sense of movement and rhythm they invoke, this animated work gained new meaning and momentum post Covid-19: it felt animated not so much in literal terms but in essence. Where physical touch became restricted, the work spoke more than ever of spiritual touch.
M Javad Khajavi is a multidisciplinary designer and scholar who works at the intersection of art, design and technology. He is deeply invested in interdisciplinary research approaches that are informed by practice-led research, design thinking, and methods and tools in digital humanities.