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23/8/2002

The Pleasure of Language

Netherlands Media Art Institute, Amsterdam

Opening: August 24, 17.00 hrs

Brandon LaBelle, Péter Frucht, MEZ (Mary Anne Breeze), Netochka Nezvanova & Jaine Evans, Imogen Stidworthy

The popularity of chatrooms on the internet and the speed of electronic mail have led to an enormous growth in communication, and with it, changes in the use of language and the creation of countless vernaculars. The Netherlands Media Art Institute organises from August 24 untill September 28 The Pleasure of Language. In this exhibition the artists are concerned with language in various manners. By employing new technologies a number of works reflect the body of thought and ways of working of artists at the beginning of the last century - like Hugo Ball, Marcel Duchamp and Theo van Doesburg - , placing these ideas in a contemporary perspective. The artists respond through image, text and sound to and participate in the ways language-use as well as the communication process are changing.

In his installations the audio artist Brandon LaBelle focuses on the dynamics of spaces, objects, bodies and language. His interest is primarily in the harmonic possibilities of language: how the various consonants and vowels collectively form an architectural whole that enables us to form words and sentences, and subsequently how they achieve and influence communication.

The misunderstandings which arise in communication are central to the work of Péter Frucht. Influenced by his long presence in chatrooms on the internet, in Frucht has selected snippets of various internet conversations in ‘iow...’. He has then styled the texts by replacing certain letters and automatically reordering the words left over. The result is a wave of live chat that can be mixed and linked together by the visitor, through which new dialogues become audible.

MEZ (Mary Anne Breeze) produces e-poetry on the internet which she herself terms m[ez]ang.elle. M[ez]ang.elle is a game with language, supported by sound, symbols and text, which arises from abbreviations that are current in e-mail and SMS communication. The words are altered in a manner that reflects the fundamental meaning of the word and lets new associations arise. Her language is based on English and contains mathematical, programming and other language codes, in order to develop a language specific to internet.

In her newest quasi-documentary video Substitutes (2002) Imogen Stidworthy shows us two young singers from Romania who meet each other by chance. As she shows the tape to friends, it evokes all sorts of commentaries, explanations and interpretations. Stidworthy mixed the reactions with the original Romanian folk songs that were sung in the video. The acoustic linking of the reactions with the folk songs provides that the work changes into a hybrid soundtrack, a patchwork of illogical connections and grammatical discrepancies.

In addition to current works, a number of works from the early days of video art from the Montevideo collection will be shown on monitor. Recordings of performances by Laurie Anderson and Carolee Schneeman, and video works by Vito Acconci and others will show how artists employed language in their work in the past.

Opening hours gallery: Tuesday - Saturday 1-5 pm, free entrance

For more information/images please contact Marieke Istha (communication) istha@montevideo.nl

Netherlands Media Art Institute, Montevideo/Time Based Arts
Keizersgracht 264
1016 EV Amsterdam
The Netherlands
T +31(0)20 6237101
F +31 (0)20 6244423

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