Say it again

16.09.2022 - 30.09.2022

New Jörg, Wien / Österreich (Veranstaltungsort)

Habitually we assume that what we read and say neatly corresponds with what we see and experience. Language and speech however rarely fully align with what we attempt to express or describe. Language communicates but frequently elides our total understanding. This is not so much a question of the sublime, but of the limits of communication. For example, formally considered language is an abstraction of a ‘figure’ and ‘ground’ relationship, it describes and appears. Words conjure value and suggest measurability, while simultaneously being ineffable and imprecise.... Naming suggests permanency, but names can be used (and re-used) for different ends. Technology alleges to grant us greater access to everything, yet the practically infinite welter of online information frequently creates ever greater distances between reader and read. Words are also material and bodily, a mouth enunciates sounds as words, just as it tastes and consumes, spits and kisses. The sound of words repeated over and over dissociates meaning for the pleasures (and annoyances) of aurality. To ‘say it again’ is to invite repeated pleasures, or to beg for comprehension when knowing is lacking, or to intimidate when too much has already been said.