Major funding for artistic research project on typography and concepts of work in the AI era
13 October 2026
Patrick Lacey, Professor of Visual Communication, and Erik Sandelin, WASP-HS Postdoctoral Fellow at MIT, receive SEK 4.5 million.
The Swedish Research Council's Committee for Artistic Research has awarded funding for a three-year research project at Konstfack. The project is led by Patrick Lacey, Professor of Visual Communication, together with Erik Sandelin, who completed his doctoral studies at Konstfack in 2024 as part of our collaboration with KTH Royal Institute of Technology.
The research project is titled "Epochs of Rest: Typography and Post-Work Imaginaries in the Age of Artificial Intelligence". The researchers will examine the intersection of typography and visions of a technology-mediated post-work society.
In four workshops at key sites for graphic arts and technology development (MIT in Cambridge, Konstfack in Stockholm, Tipoteca in Venice, and William Morris Gallery in London) researchers, students, and designers will engage with archival material and bespoke AI models to craft new typographic elements and stories of work and leisure.
The result will be a new typeface, a speculative fiction publication, and models for collective human-machine crafting. The project demonstrates that technological development is not inevitable – it is in our hands.