Frederike Huygen’s recently published doctoral thesis on Jurriaan Schrofer inspired the Stedelijk to organize the exhibition.

Curator Carolien Glazenburg said: “Jurriaan Schrofer made a vital contribution to professionalizing the graphic design field. The publication of Frederike Huygen’s doctoral thesis is wonderful. It highlights not only Schrofer’s work, but also the important posts he had. It’s a fascinating portrait of the era.”

Huygen calls Schrofer “a computer designer of the pre-computer age” his hand-created, visually dynamic work looks as though it was designed with mechanical aid. But his working methods far predate the technology graphic designers would later rely on.

Schrofer experimented with spatiality on the two-dimensional plane with letters and typographical elements.

Lust’s presentation is an interactive installation filling every wall with projections.

The walls react variously to data and the presence of visitors. In the Schrofer gallery, hundreds of designs from the typographer’s archive are presented on a pair of screens.

The presentation at the Stedelijk compares research modalities in the pre- and post-digital ages: What can be achieved with dynamic typography today in contrast to earlier manual techniques? The exhibition offers a glimpse of how typography may evolve in the future.