ACCENTISMS

Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Nicholas Bussmann & Natascha Sadr Haghighian, Edith Dekyndt, Annja Krautgasser, Ali Meer Azimi, Ute Müller, Ulrich Nausner, Angel Nevarez & Valerie Tevere and Natascha Sadr Haghighian

The Latin word accentus is derived from adcantus, meaning “what is added to the song”—a poetic surplus to syllables, words and sentences in order to emphasize them. We also speak of accent when these sound shapes, the intonation patterns and rhythms from a previously learned language are integrated into a newly learned one and imbue it with a distinctive tonal coloration.

Accents are events. They are articulated and registered simultaneously, spoken and heard at once. Individual idiosyncrasies of speech are equally process-based. They change as we follow the personal maps of our lives, and are affected by the different places in which we live and the different people with whom we speak.

Thus by virtue of their complexity, individual accents always clash with simplistic concepts of identity. Yet in everyday life, speech idiosyncrasies are often equated automatically with one’s place of birth and class background, and are therefore subject to judgments and discrimination. In contrast, art insists that “what is added to the song”—coloration, shadings and tonalities—be experienced as an engine of beauty and complexity.

Curated by Nina Tabassomi

Press contact:
Dr. Lena Nievers
presse.taxispalais@tirol.gv.at / T +43 512 5083178