if words are to be sounded is a joint exhibition project that explores language as a performative medium of the imaginary. The exhibition first opened this summer at CAP • Saint-Fons, and now the second installment opens on October 2, 2026 at GAK Gesellschaft für Aktuelle Kunst, Bremen. The final installment will open at Le 19, Crac, Montbéliard in the spring of 2027.
The project emerges out of a close exchange between our three French and German institutions, initiated in 2024 and driven by our shared interest in the diverse forms and circulations of the concept of “value.” Our dialogue has unfolded against a backdrop of mounting pressure and divisions imposed upon language—forces that constantly challenge our relationship with words, whether of the past or in the present.
The starting point for the exhibition if words are to be sounded is our collective engagement with the poetic and eclectic body of work of Theresa Hak Kyung Cha (1951–1982). Accordingly, we present a curated selection of video and audio works, image series, and text collages in which Cha navigates memory and loss through a constant intertwining of words, punctuation, languages, and sound; we view her works as both an invitation and a scenography for the contributions by Pierre Allain, Claire Fontaine, Shadi Harouni, and Mira M. Yang. Themes of memory, borders, resistance, vulnerability, and transmission permeate the gathered works, together they address the value of words and explore the possibility of redefining our relationships.
With a keen awareness of social transformation characteristic of their practice, the artist collective Claire Fontaine presents part of the brickbat series alongside neon works that address values, the processes of value creation, and the increasing absence of a shared foundation of value. Pierre Allain’s artistic practice centers on incommunicability as well as on perception and listening during states of vulnerable transformation or unconsciousness. The works of Shadi Harouni explore the political and poetic dimensions of language, with a particular focus on Kurdish. In a video and new textile works, she examines the connections between language, territory, and resistance. Mira M. Yang draws on Korean Pansori, a traditional form of musical storytelling that emerged in the seventeenth century. They weave ancestral narratives with memories of their own mother to investigate family lore, experiences of displacement, and the construction of memory in exile.
By bringing together diverse aspects of language, the exhibition creates a space of reflection for how words, images, and bodies can contribute to the emergence of new forms of attentiveness, coexistence, and at times resistance. Humans use language to interpret the world, establish rules, and communicate. It enables and regulates social life, conveys our values, and necessitates the constant process of translation. When language ceases to serve as a common ground and shared values are lost, yet we still believe that it can offer a concrete point of orientation, where might we find new forms of connection and meaning?
Curated by Annette Hans, Adeline Lépine, and Alessandra Prandin.
in collaboration with CAP Saint-Fons & Le 19, Crac Montbéliard
Events
Do, 29.10., 19:00
Joana Atemengue Owona & Dejvi Haxhi: Upon careful deliberation I admit 2 having drilled a hole in the water — reading
So, 1.11., 12:00
Short guided tour (admission free)
Do, 12.11., 19:00
Sophie Seita: plastic lip slot machine — performance
Sa, 14.11., 11:00—17:00
Noelle BuAbbud: that might resemble speech — workshop
So, 6.12., 12:00
Short guided tour (admission free)
So, 3.1.27, 12:00
Short guided tour (admission free)
Funding
As part of the PERSPEKTIVE fund for contemporary art & architecture, an initiative of the Bureau des arts visuels of the Institut français d’Allemagne. Supported by the French Ministry of Culture, the Institut français Paris and the Goethe Institut.
Funding GAK Bremen: Karin und Uwe Hollweg Stiftung, Beate + Hartmut Schaefers Stiftung, Partnerschaften für Demokratie in Bremen, gefördert vom Bundesministerium für Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend im Rahmen des Bundesprogramms Demokratie leben, Sparkasse Bremen, Senator für Kultur der Freien und Hansestadt Bremen