During her residence at Le Cube Irena Eden and Stijn Lernout are planning a study on Sabir, a contact language used as a lingua franca in the Mediterranean from the 11th to the 19th centuries.
This commercial and trade language was initially based on the northern Italian languages (especially Venetian and Genoese), was extended to include the Occitan- Romance languages (Catalan and Galician) in the western Mediterranean; and later, the lingua franca included Spanish and Portuguese elements, especially on the Berber-Coast (now Maghreb) the lingua franca also borrowed from Amazigh, Turkish, French, Greek, and Arabic.
What might the idea of a unifying Mediterranean language mean in today’s world, where the Mediterranean region is shaped and divided by various conflicts?
(…) Could the Mediterranean, then, offer a space of encounter and thought that defies these destructive logics? Can we, from our shores and in conversation with other territories, imagine a thought that articulates distinct alliances from, for, and of the south? Could a joint conversation emerge from between these shores? One that overcomes the necropolitical logic of borders and offers other forums for meeting and understanding each other? Can we rescue some of those historical ideas by positioning them in relation with contemporary events and imagine a solar thought that proposes other ways of relating to one another to the planet? (…)**
Irena Eden and Stijn Lernout want to take the opportunity to be on site, research and interact and thus relate to the present. The artist duo plans to spend time by the sea, reflect and develop their ideas.
** Juan Canela; Introduction text; Circle Surface Sun-From somewhere in the Mediterranean; edited by Irena Eden & Stijn Lernout, published by Schlebrügge.Editor; Vienna; 2020; Page 11