“زبانی که خاموش است / A TONGUE THAT IS TURNED OFF” / Rogine Moradi (IR), Photo: tom mesic

“زبانی که خاموش است / A TONGUE THAT IS TURNED OFF”

Rogine Moradi (IR)

Digital Musics & Sound Art

Honorary Mention

A TONGUE THAT IS TURNED OFF, زبانی که خاموش است in Farsi, is an installation consisting of sculptural wall pieces and sound.

The piece uses materials that are usually used in construction, fishing, and packing. In putting them in the context of this installation, the materials are robbed of their intended purpose and functionality. (…) While the materials sit and watch, a sound piece is playing on repeat in the background. The sound piece sings softly in the room, in a loop, reciting the words in Farsi in a meditative way. The narrator talks about the motions of everyday life. The banality of repetition, the safety that comes from the known, the rhythmic motions that help her blend into the surroundings that she finds herself in. The piece reflects on what it feels like to be alien in a surrounding that you should be able to belong to. (…) The materials intermingle and talk to each other to create a space that can provide comfort and stability, a place born out of urgency and necessity.

Jury Statement

In زبانی که خاموش است / A TONGUE THAT IS TURNED OFF, objets trouvés are given new significance in order to challenge their ‘purpose,’ and with that the concepts of construction, function, and intention. Our interest was sparked in this piece since it juxtaposed such abstract objects with a deeper sonic component in a language that few of us knew/understood, without the written translation. And at the same time its power lies exactly in that: linguistic comprehension is not required to understand the piece itself and empathy and solidarity is much more fathomable than we like to admit or than we can comprehend.

Excerpt from the jury statement
Photo: Amy-Casilda Bartoli

Rogine Moradi (IR)

Rogine Moradi is an Iranian multimedia artist and musician based in Vienna, Austria. She began her studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in 2016 in the class of Prof. Monica Bonvicini. She is now working on her Diploma that she will finish in June 2023 with Prof. Iman Issa in the class “Sculpture and Strategic Space.” Moradi uses different materials such as fabrics and nets to build immersive spaces that communicate in a language of their own. The artist’s practice also revolves deeply around creating a physical vessel for the texts she writes. By writing and creating spaces, the artist is able to process the world in an all-encompassing way. Her materials push the boundaries of language, leaving the metaphorical nest, allowing the work to stand completely on its own.