Works
Press Release
Exhibitions
words by Federico Sargentone
According to the collins english dictionary (copyright ©harper collins publishers), “expressure” is an
obsolete word. on the website, the word usage frequency is given a mere 1-star rating, and a hyperlink directs the users to the much more advanced, and contemporary one might assume word “expression.” In words, as much as in everything, obsolescence dictates a systemic reshuffling of components for the sake of progress: everything exists in permanent beta-mode until an updated version pops up on the scene. For a word to be deemed as “obsolete,” users in written or oral form must have surpassed and abandoned it in favor of an advanced, updated, engineered version. the reasons for this collective language update might be infinite: speed is usually the first and foremost. Speed in communication; speed in delivery of messages; speed in frequency of language based exchanges; speed in assembling language through simple logic; speed in reading and understanding; speed in forwarding, reposting, retweeting; speed for the sake of progress. Hyperaccelerated language exists today in the form of internet acronyms, sentient algorithms, gpt-3 deep learning, generative models, lorem ipsumish text generators, but at the same time, can be found in con- temporary modes of expression such as extremely synthetic trap jargon; memetic prose assemblages; brand taglines, claims, and logos, seo functional linguistics. the semantic sphere of acceleration sees the word approximating the image, transcending the realm of language to become aesthetics, although not fully. The simulation circle is broken by the quintessential linguistic feature of the word: stand alone meaning. the power of signifying without necessarily becoming a sentence. Images, on the other hand, are agglomerations of visual signs, symbols, signals call it what you want! The image has its own taxonomy, is generated and exists within a given context, is constructed through a complex system of depiction, it demands cognitive interpretation. We no longer have time for that! we want words now, for the sake of progress. Speed, again, rules how we communicate. but speed itself, also, is subjected to obsolescence. If we thought that the image economy we’re all operating within was the ultimate translation of the high-speed imperative (2010-2021), we will see how much the same speed will progress and turn us all against the image (too complex!), rendering it obsolete. Although we’re looking at a lot of words in different scales and formats crammed over the walls of an exhibition space, we are somehow obliged to read to get a sense. Words have been appropriated and treated as objects without complying with strict sense. In this exhibition, words become text, intended as an object that can be read. Text becomes content, intended as information. But does contentor information, text, word have to make sense to qualify as such? Do we still care about sense? Does everything have to make sense? Do i want to make sense? good questions indeed. I read and write for money, but would i be pressured to do so if that weren’t the case?