stuttering can create time, Malmö
As the collective People Who Stutter Create, we were invited by moderna museet Malmö to create a new artwork for the gallery’s facade. This time, we worked with nine languages and translators who were mostly locally based. The typography was set in Dysfluent sans by conor foran and jolana Sýkorová. This website was developed by Take Courage in addition, to host stuttering voices and make the banners digitally accessible to a global audience.
Read more about the project on moderna museet’s website.
artwork description
Three banners of equal width and height feature the statement ‘stuttering can create time’ in nine languages: Arabic, Danish, English, Finnish, Meänkieli, Romani Chib, Sámi, Swedish and Yiddish. Each statement occupies three lines of text and they are evenly spaced down the banners. The typography is black and the background of the banners are a light seafoam green. The first banner represents repeated speech in stuttering, so many letterforms are repeated intentionally. The second banner represents blocks or pauses in stuttered speech, so at random intervals there is a black, jagged line that joins letters and words, like a dash. The third banner represents the stretching of stuttered speech, so many letterforms are stretched intentionally.
process
design decisions
The design was led by the amount of languages of chose to feature. We explored one large banner to cover the gallery’s facade. But in the end we split and repeated all languages across three banners, each one represented repetitions, blocks and prolongations in stuttered speech.
choice of languages
to utilise the vertical space of the banners, we decided to feature nine languages. some of them are indigenous to sweden such as sami and Meänkieli. It was important to us to represent marignalised voices. the curator of moderna museet, Andreas, helped us in contacting the translators. almost All statements translate literally to stuttering can create time.
arabic
التلعثم يمكن أن يخلق الوقت
‘At-til‘ath-thum yumkin an yakhluq al-waqt’
‘stuttering can create time’
translator hussain alhussainy:
‘The Arabic word يخلق (yakhluq) means “to create” in the sense of “bringing into existence.” It is derived from the root خلق (kh-l-q), which is commonly associated with creation, formation, or bringing something into being. The word is often used in contexts related to creativity, divine creation, or producing something entirely new.
There are synonyms in Arabic for the word “create” that carry less impact or grandeur, but يخلق is the best choice for the context of this sentence. The way I see it, we are “creating” time in a world that may not inherently offer it.
danish
‘at stamme kan skabe tid’
‘to stutter can create time’
english
‘stuttering can create time’
finnish
‘änkytys voi luoda aikaa’
‘stuttering can create time’
Meänkieli
‘änkytys voi luoda aikaa’
‘stuttering can create time’
romani chib
‘o dadogaši šaj kerel vrama’
‘stuttering can create time’
Sámi
‘vavddadeapmi sáhttá dahkat dili’
‘stuttering can make time’
swedish
‘stamning kan skapa tid’
‘stuttering can create time’
yiddish
שטאַ מלען קען שאַ פֿן צײַט
‘shtamlen ken shafn tsayt’
‘stuttering can create time’
credits
| Contributor | Jia Bin |
|---|---|
| Contributor | Delicia Daniels |
| Founder | Jjjjjerome Ellis |
| Designer | Conor Foran |
| Contributor | Kristel Kubart |
| arabic | hussain alhussainy |
|---|---|
| danish | Sannie |
| english | jjjjjerome ellis |
| finnish | Matti Sumari |
| Meänkieli | The National Association of Swedish Tornedalians, Tornionlaaksolaiset |
| romani chib | Irén Horvatne |
| Sámi | Irén Horvatne |
| swedish | Astrid Trotzig |
| yiddish | Oren Cohen Roman |
| arabic | hussain alhussainy |
|---|---|
| english | kristel kubart |
| gallery | moderna museet Malmö |
|---|---|
| curator | andreas nilsson |
| printer | Joakim Berndt |
| typeface: dysfluent sans | conor foran & jolana Sýkorová |
| typeface: Noto Sans Arabic | Google Fonts |
