Brother in Law in Bordeaux

Perceptions seemed to have gone mad and no longer fitted together: a woman loses her own tongue after eating a common sole (German: sea tongue) and only a tongue-twister away the flea sits freely in Yuna’s mouth – they rapidly got confused.

Yoko Tawada performs a tightrope walk in her books between Japanese calligraphy and German letters. She describes failures of communication, misunderstandings which cannot be overcome and the wonder of two cultures coming together with great elegance and lightness of touch. In Tawada’s texts, both cultures are always present, on every page the Japanese characters remind German readers that there is another way of reading, another way of looking at text. The author places apparently stable interpretative models in question, for her language is never so unambiguous as language itself would like to be. Almost like sleepwalking, Yoko Tawada leads language to its own speechlessness and in the process opens up a new space for communication, occupying it for a brief moment. Rie Wada’s calligraphy offers a view of Japanese culture and the characters will become visual partners for the reading.

Yoko Tawada will be available to sign her books after the reading. The calligraphies will be given away.

The Turbine Hall has no heating. We recommend appropriate clothing for this industrial heritage site.