Living Language celebrates the rich cultural and linguistic diversity of London, where more languages are spoken than any other city in the world. It is one of many celebrations of language taking place across the globe to mark 2008 as the United Nations' International Year of Languages.
Exhibits from international artists range from hand-carved inscriptions to illuminated calligraphy, from sound compositions to tactile works on canvas.
Visitors can contribute to the exhibition by writing greetings in different languages, as well as listening to, reading, touching and viewing the exhibits.
Living Language, sponsored by Axis, runs from 6 October 2008 to 10 January 2009 at East Gallery, 29-35 West Ham Lane, Stratford, London E15 4PH. It is open weekdays 8:30am-6pm and Saturdays 9am-2pm.
Many of the materials of the exhibition have been developed with partners in the areas of linguistics and language studies including: The Hans Rausing Endangered Languages Project, the Schools of Oriental and African Studies, the London Education Research Unit at the Institute of Education, London, CILT - the National Centre for Languages, the British Library; and the Princes' School of Traditional Arts.
Contributing artists include:
- John Wynne, exhibiting a ‘composed documentary', Hearing Voices, exploring the endangered ‘click languages' of the Kalahari
- Denise Hawrysio, whose portraits capture the speakers of Hearing Voices recording their language for future generations
- Fiona Zobole, whose tactile screenprints on canvas examine the accessibility and limitations of the printed word
- Orkideh Sassouni, who exhibits photographs of friends and colleagues from the Deaf community in discussion using American Sign Language
- Sabah Arbilli, whose piece Beauty of Goodwill demonstrates the art of illumination through the geometry of Arabic calligraphy
- Stefanos Pavlakis, who examines the importance of learning language in order to integrate into another culture, in his audio piece A Sense of Belonging
- Annett Stirling, who exhibits examples of her hand-carved dual-language inscriptions inspired by Dutch poet Cees Nooteboom
- Jen Fraser, an east London based designer and illuminator, exhibits an example of her illuminated documents inspired by Norse calligraphy.
