Translation Games
The Department of German and King’s Cultural Institute Creative Futures initiative are funding the pilot phase of the research and exhibition project Translation Games.
Translation Games is led by Ricarda Vidal (King’s College London) and Jenny Chamarette (Queen Mary, University of London). It examines the theory and practice of translation within literature, i.e. between languages, and in the fine arts, i.e. between art genres. The outcome of the project will be an exhibition and a series of public events, as well as an interactive digital resource.
The project is modelled on the game of Chinese Whispers, where a message is passed from person to person and goes through various stages of transformation: a short creative text has been commissioned as the source text for both the literary and artistic translations. The text will then be translated from one language into the next - i.e. from English into Chinese, from Chinese into Italian, from Italian into German, etc. - and, in a parallel strand, from one art genre into the next - i.e. from text to performance, from performance to video, from video to sculpture, from sculpture to painting, etc. At each stage in the language chain the text will be given to a textile designer who will translate it into textile. Only the first translator/artist will have access to the source text, whereas all other translators and artists will only have access to the text/artwork which is directly before them in the chain of languages/art genres.
The project will culminate in an exhibition/display of work, which will showcase the various texts alongside the artworks and textile designs, with a public event to launch the exhibition and the unveiling of an interactive digital platform. This will feature the artworks and translations alongside explanations and comments by artists and translators and will allow members of the public to upload their own translations (whether linguistic or artistic).
The project is currently looking for multilingual students to participate! Please get in touch by email or via Facebook.