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Alexander Wöran 06-12-2021
In his essay “On Language as Such and on the Language of Man,” Walter Benjamin writes: “Die Antwort auf die Frage: Was teilt die Sprache mit? lautet also: Jede Sprache teilt sich selbst mit.” The English translation would roughly be “What does language communicate? All language communicates itself.” The original German sentence carries an ambiguity that cannot be translated adequately; it draws upon the word “mitteilen” (Engl. communicate), which also encloses the word “to separate,” so the sentence could also be understood as: “All language separates itself.” The ambiguity expresses the “gap” of language – it communicates and it separates, it is ephemeral and preserving.
#2 ArcHIVE is part of a series that revolves around the materiality of language and its “gap”; and we are the ones shaping it, for better or worse. Beneath the sculpture made of beeswax is a heating element linked to a motion sensor, which at a certain threshold of passers-by starts heating up and re-shaping it. Like language, it constantly fluctuates between a fluid and solidified state.
Alexander Wöran: , 06-12-2021, in: Archive of Digital Art In his essay “On Language as Such and on the Language of Man,” Walter Benjamin writes: “Die Antwort auf die Frage: Was teilt die Sprache mit? lautet also: Jede Sprache teilt sich selbst mit.” The English translation would roughly be “What does language communicate? All language communicates itself.” The original German sentence carries an ambiguity that cannot be translated adequately; it draws upon the word “mitteilen” (Engl. communicate), which also encloses the word “to separate,” so the sentence could also be understood as: “All language separates itself.” The ambiguity expresses the “gap” of language – it communicates and it separates, it is ephemeral and preserving.
#2 ArcHIVE is part of a series that revolves around the materiality of language and its “gap”; and we are the ones shaping it, for better or worse. Beneath the sculpture made of beeswax is a heating element linked to a motion sensor, which at a certain threshold of passers-by starts heating up and re-shaping it. Like language, it constantly fluctuates between a fluid and solidified state.
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