Word Sound Power

 

 Project Space, Tate Modern - London  until 3November 2013

 

 

Speak up, speak out and tell. Artists from around the world speak out using text, sound and image. Words as text and the use of language by visual artists is a main part of conceptual art practice and has been since the 1960s. Sound is also an important part of contemporary art practice since the influential work of John Cage. This in not an exhibition of physical objects but space to spend time in, to sit and watch and reflect and listen and revisit to watch and think some more. 

 

We use our voices to say who we are and express ourselves. I was struck by the determination and hope that came across in the films 'Arise' and 'KEST' (Keep Evans Safe Today) by artist Nikolaj Bendix Skyum Larsen. Four young men separated by distance being in London and New Delhi find expression through hip-hop culture and create dance, rap and poetry which such self belief and aspiration. Their stories of struggle and empowerment are surprisingly similar and I found myself reflecting on how the forces of global capitalism and neo-liberalism affect so many across the world. Its a constant struggle to eke out a living and try to develop our potential and give expression to our thoughts and aspirations.

English is the dominant world language. Poet Mithu Sen writes in her native language of Bengali and lives in the anglophone city of Delhi. She feels a sense of dislocation and has expressed this by reading from a book of 'asemic' text (non-sense). Using public performance and recordings of visitors reading from the text she enables us to experience hearing and not understanding and how language can exclude. This work is called 'I am a Poet' (2013).

What really struck me was what I heard when I first entered the exhibition. It is voice speaking out over and over just by the door. I stopped and listened. Its a poem 'Voice' 2007 by Caroline Bergvall who uses both text and sound in her work. The poem is short and effective with word play, patterning and repetition. It is printed on the back of the exhibition guide.

Do our voices get heard by anyone with the power to change things? Or is this a power we must seize for ourselves by speaking out? This exhibition is a contemplative space with many artworks that deal with similar themes. It takes time to take in what is expressed and think on it.