Coline Sunier & Charles Mazé

Coline Sunier (France, 1984) & Charles Mazé (France, 1982) are graphic designers and typographers. They were boarders at the Académie de France in Rome-Villa Medici in 2014-2015 and are graphic designers in residence at the Centre d’art contemporain de Brétigny and the Centre rhénan d’art contemporain in Altkirch. Coline Sunier teaches at the Institut Supérieur des Arts de Toulouse and Charles Mazé at the Atelier National de Recherche Typographique in Nancy.

 

During their residency at Villa Medici, Coline Sunier & Charles Mazé will develop part of a long-term research project dedicated to collecting, transcribing and editing popular writings. During their residency, they will first experiment with techniques for recording inscriptions in Roman public spaces. They will also begin the editorial and graphic design of a publication on the inventory of graffiti in the Carracci Gallery, as part of the “Carracci ConservArt” project. Finally, they will continue writing a visual essay on the use of the W sign in Italy, a letter absent from the Italian alphabet, yet very present on walls. The W or VV sign, pronounced “Viva”, is often followed by the name of a soccer team or political party, and in itself condenses multiple expressions of opinion and affect among the Italian population.