Mother Tongue
2014
ribbon and nails, dimensions variable
The interlacing of script art and the encompassing space are central to this installation. Not only does the emphasis lie on the visual conformity of the snaking lines with the encompassing architecture but it also elicits how an inscription is shaped by the environment that serves as its bearer, enabling our imagination to enter new worlds just as books often do.
Visually, we are confronted with something that resembles text, while the encompassing space alludes to aspects frequently associated with institutions of authority or grandeur such as church altars or foyers in grand palazzi. The illegibility of the scribbles, however, subverts this notion of authority and power. It raises questions as to the relevance of institutional support for the spreading of knowledge. Paradoxically, these scribbles make a clear visual mark betraying themselves by their large scale and dynamic strokes. This evokes misunderstanding and frustration. Since they are illegible, they are incapable of meaningful expression and can in fact come to mean any sort of blurredness and confusion. Reminiscent of Arabic calligraphy, 17th century Rococo manuscripts or of myriad others, they illustrate the infinite number of implications and interpretations texts are subject to.
Suspended in a setting where information and knowledge is neatly and legibly compressed, an illegible installation seems almost farcical. However, its energy and free form, its visual resemblance and implied institutional setting provoke a question. Which information do we truly grasp and which language do we choose to absorb it?