Speechscape 31° 47' N / 35° 13' E

Substituting a word for an other one, chanting the message it contains, printing it in a reality with redefined outlines, enables to generate a phenomenon that will be understood as authentic. This permutation always means "correcting" the opinion about a phenomenon, a population, a territory, an object, etc. As for the conflict on a ground space bringing into struggle Palestinians and Israelis, it is interesting to question the choice of the words used to name this territory that I would not know how to name, fearing to use an incorrect truth. Therefore I name this zone with the geographical coordinates of the symbolic city of Jerusalem : 31° 47' N / 35° 13' E. « Israel, Palestine, busy Palestine, the Zionist entity, mother country, earth of divine messages, … », so many naming stemming from the official declarations of independence of both States. The choice of the words depends on the chosen reality. The human vocal device is a system of archetypal domination that unleashes a stream of syllables on a perpetually changeable world. The word selects, appoints, orders things and generates common realities, « undeniable » truths, fickle ideas, changeable and conflicting concepts : the war of the words is declared. The project I introduce here « Speechscape 31° 47' N / 35° 13' E » takes back the graphic plans of the naming of two politicians engaged in the war of the words to overcome his opponent on the territory: « State of Israel » (quote of David Ben Gourion when he declared the independence of Israel) and « State of Palestine » (quote of Yasser Arafat in the Declaration of Independence of Palestine). Two civilizations, two cultures, two visions, two claims, two names of the same ground. The result : a confuse landscape, a grey area that let us see mounts and valleys formed by the given names to that place ; added tracks some to the others, that chant their perpetual messages.

On the picture above you can only see one of the two landscapes. the second part of the artwork was damaged during the transport for exhibition. But the artwork, that has never been exhibited entirely, will be complete again soon.