In So Many Words – Lân fan taal 2018

2 February 2018 - 1 October 2018

The project Lân fan Taal (Republic of Languages) forms part of the Leeuwarden-Fryslân European Capital of Culture 2018 and is the site for a major new commission, In So Many Words, by Tim Etchells which inaugurates the newly constructed OBE Pavillion in Leewarden .

For Lân fan Taal – an exploration and celebration of language diversity, Tim has created three connected works grouped under the collective title In So Many Words.

Hear/Höre/Hoor/Hear’ is an installation of 88 single neon words in Frisian, German, Dutch and English, where each word refers to different uses of human speech or sound, from ‘whisper’ and ‘sing’ to ‘confess’, ‘describe’, ‘translate’ and ‘question’. Alphabets, is a multi-layered sound installation on ten speakers that mixes approximately 50 languages, the composition built from recordings of speakers who each recite the alphabet, with examples of words that start with each letter. To Talk To You, meanwhile is a recording by Etchells himself, comprising improvised repetitions and variations the same sentence, addressed  to the visitor in the form of a series of phone messages.

The installations In So Many Words will run from February to October 2018. More information here.