DANSBANA! SÖDERTÄLJE, 2018
Client: Grafikens Hus and Södertälje Municipality・Initiative and architecture: Dansbana! (Anna Pang, Anna Fridolin and Teres Selberg)・Print/Type concept: Sepidar Hosseini・Print/Type design: Sepidar Hosseini in collaboration with students from ESBD15, Wendela Hebbegymnasiet・Workshop leading: Sepidar Hosseini in collaboration with dancer Afra Hosseini・Thanks to: Karin Bernerstedt, teacher at Wendela Hebbegymnasiet・Producer: Nyköping Komposit・Photo documentation: Stefan Garnbeck and Anna Henriksson (Grafikens Hus)

Dansbana! Södertälje is a 7.5 x 7.5-meter outdoor dance floor with a pattern-covered dome, where visitors can connect via Bluetooth, play music, and dance. Designed between 2017 and 2018 by the Dansbana! association in collaboration with local dancers from Södertälje, the project aimed to empower young girls’ engagement in the public space.

The dome motif, commissioned by Grafikens Hus (The House of Graphic Art), was developed through a participatory design process in which Sepidar Hosseini collaborated with final-year art students at Wendela Hebbegymnasiet over six workshop sessions. The aim was to create a legible pattern that could be experienced on multiple levels — as a visual rhythm, a coded message, and an artisticnexpression of collective movement, emerging from the concept of dance.

Guided by Sepidar with the support of dancer and choreographer Afra Hosseini the students worked with the shapes and sounds of letters and translated them into movement. These gestures were then refined into abstract symbols and developed into a secret typeface with which one could create patterns by writing.

The result was two large-scale prints for both the interior and exterior of the dome, conveying a message from the students: “SPREAD LOVE!”, which could be decoded through an information sign on one of the building's pillars. The collaborative font was also incorporated into the visual communication materials for the opening ceremony.