tonguelangue

Taking a few definitions of “tongue” in English, in a heady and delusional state of mind, I began to translate them back and forth between French and English. I wanted to see what happens when translation probes for failures across several registers. The chance-failures started to relax into nonsense, a kind of hysterical translation. The text that came from this process was designed by Simon Guibord for three banners installed on the exterior wall of AXENÉO7, inviting through public reading an encounter with the non-sensical nature of language, translation, and their associated politics.

Hannah Azar Strauss is an artist living in Tiohtià:ke/Mooniyang, also known as Montréal. Working mainly with drawing, print, and experimental book forms, her practice explores linguistic estrangement, everyday gestures, and the cultivation of memory through archive. Her recent work has mostly developed collaboratively through slow, iterative projects inspired by the process of translation. She teaches at Vanier College in Communications, Media and Studio Arts.

Simon Guibord is a graphic designer who works in cultural, academic and commercial circles. Since 2015, he has taught typography at the University of Quebec in Outaouais.

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