Still Collecting words for Endangered Languages artwork. Participate!

I am still collecting languages for my Endangered Languages Project!

What it involves:  if you speak an endangered language or dialect (list here) I would want to speak with you for 15-30 minutes over the phone, skype, google hangouts or facetime.  You would not need to turn on the video part if it is over the computer. Basically I would just record audio of the following:

-a word or phrase that you feel doesn’t quite translate and which may say something about the culture

-your translation of that word or phrase

-a personal thought or story about it.

Other information I’d collect is where you grew up and where you live now, and what sort of fabric you would suggest goes with the language.  For example: the Irish speaker suggested a brown tweed, the Lowland Scots suggested a Douglas Tartan wool, and the Estonian speaker suggested a natural linen embroidered in a traditional pattern (which I am embroidering).  Otherwise no information about you (name, etc.) would be included unless you would like me to include your name in a “thanks to” list.

I am making a sort of cabinet where the fabrics will be displayed.  When a person approaches, one of the languages will start to play and the corresponding fabric with move with air as if the breath of the speaker is moving it.  It will mimic a Natural History display in certain ways… except with an emphasis on these things still being very much alive.

If you would like to participate, please email me at contact@marymarch.com

This piece is part of a an art exhibition on Endangered Languages curated by Hanna Regev at Root Division in San Francisco which is potentially traveling afterwards.  Previous post here.

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