Turbo Type is a typographic poster project designed as a visual response to the flood of instant musical rhythms and banal, kitsch verses of one of the most popular cultural currents in the Southern Balkans today – turbo folk. In this primitive form of expression simple and erotic emotions are accompanied by generic drum machine rhythms.
Knowingly or unwittingly ignoring deeper poetic and musical qualities, while at the same time obsessing over image and superficial values, is what defines this contemporary approach to music and life. A parallel can be drawn between this approach and certain directions in concrete poetry from the mid-twentieth century, where form became more important than content. However, unlike the true artists who reached this approach based on intellectual deduction or consciously artistic conclusions, turbo-folk music or poetry has neither history nor future, it is only defined in the present and does not possess a permanent cultural value.
This poster series explores the conceptual compatibility between turbo folk verses and typographic and visual elements, such as form, colour, composition, rhythm, context etc, in unexpected ways. It aims to open the possibility for a different, more direct and more accessible public dialogue, highlighting the internal paradoxes within this turbo-culture.