„Beware of Linguistic Engineering“ – excursion to an exhibition

On Monday, 13th June 2022 the English advanced course (Q2) went on an excursion to the exhibition „Beware of Linguistic Engineering“ by the British artist Delaine Le Bas in „Gorki“ theatre with Ms. Wallin. With most students having both English and Arts as advanced courses, they enjoyed the slightly unusual art exhibition.

Delaine La Bas, a British artist with Romani heritage, is also an activist fighting against racism and antiziganism and for Romani rights. Originally having studied fashion design, she puts together different things that she finds in her everyday life in a multimedia bricolage connected to her own biography, Romani history and social injustice.

In the exhibition „Beware of Linguistic Engineering“, the artist deals with the manipulation of people’s thoughts through language, as visible in the Brexit rhetoric, the lies that were gradually deconstructed in the Johnson lockdown party scandal, and politically correct language that does not necessarily result in changed thought.

The students had dealt with ethnic and cultural diversity in the course of the second semester, focusing on ways to overcome prejudice in society. They first learned about the artist and her objectives, then explored the exhibition on their own, chose the art work that they found most interesting and presented it to the rest of the course, sharing their thoughts on it.

Student reactions to the exhibition:

„I really liked the way in which the artist showed her feelings through her art. I could not understand the meaning of all art works, but I could really feel what she meant and how the art related to her experiences.“

„I really liked how the artist combined different styles and techniques in her art, and how even the newspaper pages on the floor were part of the story, showing her criticism of society.“

„Before we entered the exhibition, a student from our course said that the art works looked at bit like children’s drawings, but then I realised how they were connected and how the artist told a story using the different pieces.“

Text und Fotos: C. Wallin