Language is changing. We humans are speaking fewer and fewer languages. Of the approximately 7000 languages currently spoken, almost half are now threatened with extinction over the next century. Through the course of digitalisation, the acquisition of foreign languages and their translation is increasingly being removed from the body. These skills are being outsourced to AI software and made more efficient.  

But what happens when language is removed from the body? How does a language become extinct? Is there something untranslatable? Why is everyone speaking English? And does a language have to be worthwhile?

As part of a multi-week residency at the Gessnerallee, director Rebekka Bangerter will be exploring these questions as part of her research, inviting an audience to a sharing at the end. 

This sharing will be an encounter between the audience and speakers of endangered languages. Mutual (mis)understanding and active listening will be tested and learning another language will be explored as an opportunity for empathic exchange.
The sharing will be followed by a discussion with the artistic team.