How do you welcome visitors who do not identify with your use of language?
Nest has created an exhibition with a subject put forward by the community, and which a very large and diverse group of people are able to identify with and relate to.
The Language is the only homeland exhibition is a follow-up to a study into diversity and inclusiveness in contemporary visual art that was conducted for Nest.
The two main questions addressed by the study were:
- What reason do people have not to visit art institutions, and;
- What can institutions do to become meaningful and accessible to a wider audience?
A common reason why people don’t go to exhibitions turned out to be the institution’s language. It wasn’t so much its complexity, but the fact that people cannot identify with what is written in press releases and exhibition texts. Many people don’t feel they are being addressed, or feel that the text is not about them or reflect their world or experience.
Language is my only homeland
The title of the exhibition is a quote from the Polish writer Czeslaw Milosz, which means that language can make people feel that they belong somewhere, even if they are a long way from home. Language is much more than just a means of communication. It is a vehicle for culture, for collective memories, and it forms part of people’s identity.
For many people, language and identity do not converge. This may be the result of past injustices, colonial domination, or the political oppression of certain groups in societies by people in power. These days, due to global migration and globalisation, the rift between language and identity is the reality for a growing section of people. Consequently, a large number of languages are under threat and more and more children are alienated from the languages spoken by their parents and grandparents.
The major role that language plays in involving the public, especially in The Hague where 53% of the inhabitants have a migrant background, was the reason for making an exhibition about language and the relationship that exists between language and identity. The exhibition posed the question of what happens when your everyday spoken language, your native language, your national and cultural identity do not converge. The six participating artists, from five continents, responded to the question in a variety of ways, and based on their individual circumstances, through socially and politically engaged artworks.
Inclusive language
Simone Zeefuik was asked to write an essay on this theme for the free exhibition booklet. In her capacity as a language consultant, she was also asked to ensure that all the texts written for the exhibition used inclusive language. Simone Zeefuik is a writer and language expert and advises various cultural institutions on ways in which they can use language to involve marginalised groups rather than excluding them. The exhibition text was also translated into the eight languages most commonly spoken in the neighbourhood around Nest.
The aim of the project was to follow up on the results of the study, which had involved large numbers of citizens of The Hague being interviewed, so their recommendations could be acted upon immediately.
Never before have there been so many requests for guided tours from groups that had never previously set foot in Nest and who used to consider a visit to a contemporary art institution to be an option for them. She therefore achieved an important objective.
