User:Aitantv/ABC

ABC

A 5-channel video prototype where five subjects recite their first alphabet in sync. Recorded and filmed with a metronome, the subjects appear to speak in sync. As the video proceeds the alphabets form a polyphonic register shifting in and out of time. Echos of one alphabet ricochet into another. Together they seem to form new symbolic catergories. I'm interested in the power dynamics and hierarchies that form between languages. In Europe, English is often the language used due to the globalised mix of persons. Where does this leave other languages? Does one's Mother tongue begin to fade? Notably subjects in this experiment struggled to remember their first alphabet, learning it again through utterance. How does a language change our thinking patterns? As Ursula le'Guin observes in 'Babbel 66', a language can be stronger than an army.