Lecture

3 December 2005

On Rhetoric (language and new warfare)

Given that “arrogance is ingrained in language” (Roland Barthes), the assertive nature of language becomes more apparent and violent in times of war, even more so in what can be identified as “propaganda war.” The syntax of words, terminologies, or interpretations regarding the presentation of war and political conflicts are imposed and legitimized by dominant powers, whereas the complexity of the phenomenon and its conceptions are oppressed. When we hear simplistic expressions such as “axis of evil,” “war on terror (or terrorism),” or “security fence,” we are faced with either being seduced by the euphemisms and made indifferent to their hidden meanings, or have the impulse to denounce and question the signifying context of the terms. Furthermore we cannot dismiss that behind the deceptive language of power, expelled languages often uttered by the marginal, the peripheral, and the foreign exist. Against the regulative and exclusive politics of rhetoric, artists and intellectuals attempt to revive the nuances of language, its banished or hidden meanings, and shed light on its complex connotations, breaking down definitions and revealing strategies of manipulation. In this context, different methodological attempts are introduced and discussed with artists Ayreen Anastas and Rene Gabri and theoretician Bregje van Eekelen through the lens of their practices—from reconstructing new dictionaries, or producing a radio play, to running an ongoing series of discursive activities concerning military conflicts, war, and disaster around the world.

Suggestions from the archive

Sint Maarten Parade

22 October–10 November 2023

BAK at the Sint Maarten Parade 2023

For Sint Maarten Parade 2023, Tools for Action—a non-profit organization that develops artistic interventions for political actions—collaborates with Utrecht-based members of Filipino, Caribbean, and other communities to collectively dream a parade compartment.

Panel Discussion

30 September 2023, 16.30-18.30

To the Other Side of the Concrete Wall

A book launch and panel discussion reflecting on the Jina Uprising, one year after its beginning.

Saturday, 30 September, 2023, 16:30–18:30 hrs at BAK, basis actuele kunst, Utrecht Organized by Jina Collective, a Netherlands-based feminist, leftist, anti-capitalist, anti-sexist, and pro-LQBTQIA+ action group that emerged from the Jina Uprising. This event launches a book of translated essays, co-published with BAK, which include some of the first English translations of texts by journalists […]

Public Program

09 September–29 October 2023

To Watch the War: The Moving Image Amidst the Invasion of Ukraine (2014–2023)/Public Program

To Watch the War: The Moving Image Amidst the Invasion of Ukraine (2014–2023) involves a hybrid off- and online sequence of conversations and screenings around discursive and artistic interventions that reimagine the social implications of watching the war through ways that disrupt, subvert, resist the media’s incessant spectacularization of war.