SPEAKING IN TONGUES

On view: June 10th – July 18th, 2021

with:

Angelika Loderer


Anna Lena Grau


Carolin Eidner


Christian Hoosen


David Schiesser


Dorothy Iannone


Garrett Nelson


Lotte Meret


Nat Marcus


Sarah Bernauer 


Una Szeemann


Young Boy Dancing Group

Speaking in Tongues, also known as glossolalia, describes the act of speaking in an unknown language.

With his vision of a new theatre, The Theatre of Cruelty, Antonin Artaud sought to dissolve the boundaries between art and life, stage and audience. In lieu of classical narratives and dialogues, he experimented with movements, sounds and utterances in an imaginary language. His last work, the radio play "To Have Done with the Judgment of God" 1947, begins with glossolalia and ends with the proclamation:



"When you will have made him a body without organs, 
then you will have delivered him from all his automatic reactions 
and restored him to his true freedom.

"

Torn by the dichotomy that the body is both body and mind, Artaud desires a body that is not defined by the needs and functions of its organs.



In "A Thousand Plateaus", Gilles Deleuze asks the question "How do you make yourself a body without organs?"


A Body without Organs creates and forms itself independently of its organism out of the infinite possibilities of its virtual potential. The organless body acts in the free flow of its intensities, desires and language.
In exchange and intermingling with other bodies, it continually renews itself.



The collective body in Speaking in Tongues, composed of the individual works in this exhibition, can be read as an artistic exploration of a Body without Organs. This imaginary body reveals itself without solidifying, constantly reshaping its contours. Through its permeable surface, it is able to meld with other bodies. Speaking in tongues, the language of its body comes into existence by speaking equally to the inside and to the outside.



Curated by Blake & Vargas