Thou Shalt Not Speak

What is the relationship between voice-over and image? Does a voice-over give voice to the image? Does it help the image communicate something that images cannot communicate on their own? Common sense tells us that this is how voice-over functions. This artistic research project explores a line of thought that runs contrary to common sense. A voice-over functions – not by giving voice to the image – but by taking voice away. By speaking of the image, the voice-over commands the image to silence.

Thou Shalt Not Speak brings a group of artists together in a research project that examines whether it is possible to use this paradoxical logic against the voice-over. If the voice-over commands the image to silence, can this silence be mobilised against the voice-over? Can it become an obstacle to speech that blocks the voice-over from articulating what the image means?

The event will feature screenings of two videos produced within the project: Even the Prompter Dies by Erik Bünger and Manuel Saiz and Paradis by Sophie Reyer. Following the screenings, there will be a discussion with the artists and two invited guests: film critic Marina D. Richter and artist and activist Steven Cuzner.

Erik Bünger is an artist, writer and composer whose work presents a continuous investigation into the human voice and its paradoxical relationship to human language. His videos, lecture performances and musical compositions have been presented at venues such as Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Wellcome Collection in London, The Curitiba Biennial in Brazil and the Art Encounters Biennial in Timișoara.

Steven Cuzner lives and works in Stockholm with social teaching projects, radio and text art, translations and independent research. Over the past two decades, he has been organising with local and transnational political collectives against exploitation and expropriation.

Sophie Reyer was born in Vienna in 1984 and is an Austrian author who writes novels, poetry and plays. She has published several works, including books with S. Fischer Verlag. Her historical crime novel Tod bei den Salzburger Festspielen became a bestseller and appeared on Austrian bestseller lists.

Marina D. Richter was born in Belgrade and lives in Vienna. She has been writing about film for thirty years, with reviews and interviews published in Politika, Vreme, Sirp, European Animation Journal and other international publications. She is a regular contributor to Asian Movie Pulse, founder and editor-in-chief of Ubiquarian, and a member of the European Film Academy and the Austrian Film Critics Association. An experienced festival consultant and programmer, she regularly introduces films and moderates Q&As at international festivals.

Manuel Saiz is an artist and writer who has worked across a wide range of media. He has exhibited in private galleries and institutions around the world, including the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid, Tate Modern in London and the Museum of the Moving Image in New York City. He has also published several books on art theory and general essays.

This research was funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) [AR688].