Passage: Rehearsals in linguistic returns

Abstract

This project is a rehearsal in language and its capacity to refuse comprehensibility. In this experimental process, we will be exploring the boundaries of legibility through a tracing of the shards and fragments embodied in the minor detail. With our sight fixed toward Palestine, we will explore how detail holds radical potential, be it in classical texts in the canon of Palestinian literature, or in the oral testimonies that have emerged from Gaza over the past 6 months. The focus on illegibility and language that defies comprehension exists in the shadow of genocide, where language fails to capture the immensity of the moment. Broken and sharp, it turns inward into a sense closer to emotion than to logic. In that sense, this project is also a rehearsal in utilizing language as matter, as material, as tangible touch.