But Does It Speak? at the Bluecoat
Maja Lorkowska, Exhibitions Editor
The new year at the Bluecoat starts with a brand new season of screenings, workshops and events from artists who utilise written and spoken word. But Does It Speak? Runs for just under three months and showcases video works by artists Jennifer Lee Tsai, Farah Al Quasimi and Abi Palmer.
Fallen Star by Jennifer Lee Tsai is the first film to be shown in the gallery. Written and narrated by the artist (who is currently in residence at the Bluecoat), the film shows a dance performed to the poetic soundtrack of Lee Tsai’s words, about ancestral bodies and her desire to connect with the past: “my body which was not my body but the body of my grandmother”. The film was originally commissioned and directed by Tmesis Theatre as part of a collaborative project entitled Lone Women with First Take. The dance is performed by Pei Yee Tong and music was composed by Meike Holzmann.
Fallen Star, Jennifer Lee Tsai. Film still (2)
The second film screened as part of the But Does It Speak? season is Farah Al Qasimi’s Everybody was Invited to a Party (2018). The piece is directly inspired by Iftah Ya Simsim, a 1980s Arabic version of Sesame Street, and borrows text from translation books found by the artist in London during a residency. Everybody was Invited to a Party features puppets to present language as malleable with mispronounciations and clumsy translations, seeing opportunities for creating new meanings in moments when communication breaks down. The puppets were handsewn by Al Quasimi herself, who also composed the music for the video, and performed all of the characters. The humourous idea also brings moments of melancholy and questions established rules of language.
Slime Mother, Abi Palmer. Film still. (2)
Abi Palmer’s Slime Mother is the final screening of the season that focuses on the humble slug. It portrays the commonly disliked mollusc as a creature to be worshipped, and a miracle of nature in its sliminess and queer mating rituals. The narrator describes childhood moments of disgust whenever she encountered a slug and the shift to today’s perspective of love and admiration. Palmer has actually created a whole exhibition on the subject that is currently touring the country, and the film is an excellent slice of the ‘slug-god world’ she has created.
