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The tourist's
experience of language is of mistranslations, words overheard
and partly comprehended, language used too fast or stretched
out so slowly that the beginning of a sentence disappears
as its end approaches.
We remember
places for their (rapidly discerned) feel of love or threat:
for the sad smile of the woman in the hotel or the sarcastic
nature of a waiter, for the heat that strikes on leaving a
department store or the smell of the drains. In one country,
the static green man in the pedestrian symbol leans forward
as if hurrying; in another, he is notable for his disproportionately
large head; in a third, he is animated, speeds to a panic
as a green timer counts down the seconds remaining before
the traffic will rush forward. Everywhere: insomnia, vertigo
and the smell of cooking.
The tourist
irrevocably owns all visited destinations. Here they are,
available for recall in ten remnant words - from which emerge
half-memories, recent and ancient legends, these foreign logics.
Exhibitions
and Performances
Institute of Contemporary Art, London (featured multimedia,
September 2001)
Lethaby Gallery, London
Bath Festival of Literature
University College Worcester
Australian High Commission, London
The Lighthouse, Brighton
Credits
Concept:
Bernard Cohen and David Bickerstaff
Text: Bernard Cohen
Visuals and sound: David Bickerstaff
Programming: Paul Whittington
Producer: Peter Ride
Commissioned by DA2 Digital Arts Development Agency
Funded by the National Lottery (UK) through the Arts Council
of England's National Touring Program
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