Born in 1984, lives and works in Berlin, Germany.
They say words are weapons. With etaïnn zwer, they're much more than that. The artist, member of the RER Q collective, speaks of “knives (for spreading butter)”. Their words, thus, are simultaneously sharp and soft, plural, shifting, fluid, flowing into each other. Or rather, they throw themselves at each other, uniting like a cluster of bodies, absorbing each other, eating each other (with butter), in a nocturnal euphoria called desire. Heated words in flying color speak of bodies becoming them, becoming flesh, slipping under the skin, slashing, dissecting, like razor blades – weapons, then, once again. etaïnn zwer's writing sweats urgency and speed in a breathless rhythm. It takes us on a wild moped ride through outdoor nightclubs that feel strangely like abandoned fairgrounds. During the 100-day residency in Clermont-Ferrand, etaïnn zwer will transform their latest publication Bleu nuit, blouson rose into embodied performative forms, anchoring their words in a present that threatens to slip away from us at any moment.
Adele Dipasquale (IT), etaïnn zwer (FR), Sigrún Sveínsdottir (IS)
27 February 2025 18h30-21h00
at Artistes en résidence, la Diode
190, bd Gustave Flaubert, Clermont-Ferrand
Sigrún. Adele. etaïnn. Three names whose musicality is tinged with a gentle strangeness for ears accustomed to French consonances. Three names that could belong to Monique Wittig's Guérillères (1), a narrative punctuated by enigmatic, hypnotic lists of names. The three eponymous artists have been hosted by Artistes en Résidence in Clermont-Ferrand over the past few weeks: Sigrún is Icelandic and based in Amsterdam, Adele is Italian but living and working in The Hague, and etaïnn, a Frenchperson, is based in Berlin. Each of them with their own specific cultural background play with language, words, sounds, songs, whispers. Whether it's etaïnn zwer's poetry of desire, Sigrún Gyða Sveinsdóttir's operas or Adele Dipasquale's voices from the beyond: they all give speech to the unexpected, the repressed, the forgotten, what is usually shushed or ignored. They unearth writings that academia tries to silence, and give voice to those who have none: gender minorities, activits, people of color or from underprivileged social classes… . A multitude of alternative voices resonate at La Diode, voices that have always been discredited by associating them with madness, irrationality and a threatening otherness. Here, the artists restore the transformative power of words. Speaking in tongues, glossolalia (2), söngur sírenanna (3), lingue di fuoco (4), écritures inclusives (5) and magical sayings come together in a radical, colorful polyphony, capable de faire trembler les fondations de la domination (6), di bruciare il patriarcato (7), of caring for vernd hinna glötuðu vistkerfa8. And who knows, maybe their revolutionary vocalizations will end in a multilingual, militant and joyful karaoke.
This text has been written by a collective intelligence.
(1) Monique Wittig, Les Guérillères, Les éditions de minuit, 1969
(2) Speaking in tongues and glossolalia are synonyms that designate a vocalization of speech-like syllables with no easily comprehensible meaning, often regarded by believers as divine or spiritual languages unknown to the person who serves as a vehicle.
(3) Icelandic for The siren songs, Greek mythology.
(4 )Italian for Tongues of fire, Christian mythology.
(5) French for Inclusive writings.
(6) French for "Capable of cracking the foundations of domination"
(7) Italian "Burn the patriarchy".
(8) Icelandic for "the protection of our lost ecosystems".