ROUGH TRANSLATION. Sprachkunst zwischen Exklusion und Solidarität

Conference

Date

  • 14 April 2023–16 April 2023

Text

Lab3_The Conference, Language Arts Between Exclusion and Solidarity, 14.-16. April 2023, Universität für Angewandte Kunst Wien, supported by Angewandte program for inter- and transdisciplinary projects in art and research (INTRA). A cooperation between the departments of language arts (creative writing) and transcultural studies (Olga Grjasnowa, Nanna Heidenreich, Viktoria Metschl, Monika Rinck and Gerhild Steinbuch). We think about many forms of translation. These include translations into space, which can be theatrical or urban. We are also interested in the extent to which experiences are transferable. This can be about experiences of war or the phenomenon of structural racism. Does recognition have to come before the possibility of translation? And we try to find out whether there are really genuine forms of untranslatability, and what the untranslatability consists of in each case. Can (or may) we leave translation processes to artificial neural networks? How does poetic language relate to the practice of machine translation? Who translates what, how, for whom? Language articulates power structures. For this reason, far from being romantic, many translating activities involve struggles, tensions, misunderstandings, voids, noise and silence – as well as interesting conflicts that may find expression in a translator’s afterword or explanatory footnotes. Translation can mean violent usurpation, forced assimilation and integration, it can foster the suppression of smaller languages by a dominant language, as is currently being seen in India. But it can also contribute to the ideal of a practice based on solidarity, allow people to participate in debates, enable them to read literary works from other languages, and encourage multilingualism. The title Rough Translation covers these contrasting aspects of translation, between exclusion and solidarity, that are key to our approach. Roughness is allied here with a basic affirmation of the unfinished that remains open to change. The practice of rough translation implies a collective procedure in several stages. A result is only obtained via the interplay of all those involved. Not least, however, the roughness in Rough Translation also points to crude forms of cultural appropriation that exploit content for commercial gain while bypassing those who produced it.

Activity List

Published By: Nanna Heidenreich | Universität für Angewandte Kunst Wien | Publication Date: 03 February 2024, 14:13 | Edit Date: 03 February 2024, 14:17