if words are to be sounded

Artists: Pierre Allain, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Claire Fontaine, Shadi Harouni, Mira M. Yang

if words are to be sounded is a joint exhibition project that explores language as a performative medium of the imaginary. The exhibition first opened this summer at CAP • Saint-Fons, and now the second installment opens on October 2, 2026 at GAK Gesellschaft für Aktuelle Kunst Bremen. The final installment will open at Le 19, Crac Montbéliard in the spring of 2027.

The project emerges out of a close exchange between our three French and German institutions, initiated in 2024 and driven by our shared interest in the diverse forms and circulations of the concept of 'value.' Our dialogue has unfolded against a backdrop of mounting pressure and divisions imposed upon languages—forces that constantly challenge our relationship with words, whether of the past or in the present.

The starting point for the exhibition if words are to be sounded is our collective engagement with the poetic and eclectic body of work of Theresa Hak Kyung Cha. Accordingly, we present a curated selection of video and audio works, image series, and text collages in which Cha navigates memory and loss through a constant intertwining of words, punctuation, languages, and sound; we view her works as both an invitation and a scenography for the contributions by Pierre Allain, Claire Fontaine, Shadi Harouni, and Mira M. Yang. Permeated by themes of memory, borders, resistance, vulnerability, and transmission, the gathered works address the value of words, exploring the possibility of redefining relationships.

With a keen awareness of social transformation characteristic of their practice, the artist collective Claire Fontaine presents part of the brickbat series alongside neon works that address values, processes of value creation, and the absence of a shared foundation. Pierre Allain’s artistic practice centers on forms of incommunicability as well as on perception during states of vulnerable transformation or unconsciousness. The works of Shadi Harouni explore the political and poetic dimensions of language, with a particular focus on Kurdish. In a video and new textile works, she examines the connections between language, territory, and resistance. Mira M. Yang draws upon Korean Pansori, a tradition of musical storytelling that emerged in the 17th century. M. Yang weaves ancestral narratives with memories of their own mother to investigate family lore, experiences of displacement, and the construction of memory in exile.

By bringing together these diverse aspects of language, the exhibition creates a space of reflection for how words, images, and bodies can contribute to the emergence of new forms of attentiveness, coexistence, and at times resistance. Humans use language to interpret the world, establish rules, and communicate. It enables and regulates social life, conveys values, and necessitates the constant process of translation. When language ceases to serve as a common ground and shared values are lost, even as we continue to believe that it offers a concrete point of orientation, where might new forms of connection and new meanings arise?

Curated by Annette Hans, Adeline Lépine, and Alessandra Prandin.

With the kind support of
As part of the PERSPEKTIVE fund for contemporary art & architecture, an initiative of the Bureau des arts visuels of the Institut français d’Allemagne. Supported by the French Ministry of Culture, the Institut français Paris and the Goethe Institut.