A corpus of contemporary Roman inscriptions, which testifies the importance of language—institutional as well as popular—in the collective space of the streets (artist's book).
Come vanno le cose? [How are things going?] is a collection of 1,512 inscriptions found on walls in Rome between September 2014 and February 2015, which could be attributed to a single person whose identity remains unknown. This collection displays a variety of signs, which are here deconstructed, transcribed and categorized in types of form and content, revealing a particular use of writing: conscious, obsessive, articulated and wild. Come vanno the cose? is a corpus of contemporary Roman inscriptions, which testifies the importance of language—institutional as well as popular—in the collective space of the streets, where freely scribbled messages can be read on the same walls as carved ones ad vitam æternam in stone.
Published following the residency of Charles Mazé & Coline Sunier at Académie de France à Rome—Villa Medici, on the occasion of the exhibition Teatro delle Esposizioni #6.
Coline Sunier & Charles Mazé form a duo working as
graphic designers and typographers. Previously based in the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy, they now live in Marseille and Paris. They held a fellowship (2014-15) and then a residency (2023) at the French Academy in Rome – Villa Medici, where they studied popular writing in public spaces. From 2016 to 2025 the pair were graphic designers in residency at CAC Brétigny, where they ideated the art centre's visual identity as a space for long-term research. Coline Sunier teaches at the
Institut supérieur des arts de Toulouse (isdaT). Charles Mazé supervises research projects at the
Atelier National de Recherche Typographique (ANRT) in Nancy. Their work has been recognised with awards including the Prix Fernand Baudin (
2011,
2013), the Prix unique du livre (2021, 2025) and a Silver Medal in the Best Book Design from all over the World competition (2022), as well as being named among the Most Beautiful Swiss Books (2025). In 2026, the Jan Tschichold Award has been awarded to their Franco-Swiss duo.
They founded the publishing structure
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ in 2020.
