Freeing the Voices

The group exhibition begins with one voice: Marina Abramović’s scream. Throughout the exhibition, a polyphony of voices develops, merging into the sound of a mosquito in the work of Tao G. Vrhovec Sambolec.

Why is an exhibition about the voice so important today? The world we live in is out of balance. The many crises and genocidal wars, and the loss of the common space in which bodies resonate with each other, have created a sense of suffocation and panic. A culture of silence has spread around us; the space allowing for free expression is shrinking; the call for a ‘cancel culture’ is growing louder. However, control is not only exerted through silence and censorship. We are exposed to a level of information noise that overwhelms us even more. This noise muffles the feeling that holds us together as a social body. The time has come to take action, even if it only results in an inarticulate shout or murmur.

Although there is no such thing as our own authentic voice, the liberation of our individual and collective voice is the common framework linking the artistic works on display. Liberating our voices does not mean finding a self that matches our voice perfectly. What we really liberate with the voice is our relationship to the world. The works attempt to decolonise the various voices of certain traditions, nations and their communities and landscapes, the voices of women, people of colour, people from the margins of Europe and the voices of our individual bodies. Liberating voices means breathing, shouting, writing poetry, singing, speaking and murmuring.

The artists also draw attention to the crisis of modernity and its rational constructs. Their language goes beyond universal concepts, embodying particular experiences and knowledge. A voice is always specific. And there is no voice that cannot be heard, thus the liberated voices are only those that are heard. Intensive listening thereby has the power to heal, connect and resist.