VOCODE

Scroll to read more

A tribute to languages on the verge of extinction.

Vocode pays tribute to languages on the verge of extinction. For the exhibition Not In So Many Words at the Kroller-Muller Museum in 2020, Fillip Studios selected 139 languages from the UNESCO Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger, including Even, Chantal, Trumai, Waima’s and Savosavo.

These languages were translated into graphic images through sound vibrations. Every day, a unique drawing was created. Endangered languages, originally only understandable to the original community, were thus translated into tangible images.

A language is not just words. It's a culture, a tradition, a unification of a community, a whole history that creates what a community is. It's all embodied in a language.

The exhibition Not in so many words brings together a wide variety of works from the collection of the Kröller-Müller Museum, in which words, letters, sentences and text fragments play a prominent role. From word puzzles and poems to philosophical contemplations and political commentary.

"The most compelling piece in the exhibition" - The New York Times

All the artworks were gathered in the book Vocode. Depicting nearly-lost languages on every single page, the thickness of the book - clearly visible through the open spine binding - represents only a percentage of how many languages are on the verge of extinction.