Alternate Languages
Venue: Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, Piccadilly, LondonCurators: Kate Goodwin
Date: 16th March 2019 -
Ruwanthie de Chickera, Inua Ellams, Suzy Willson, Alex De Little, Rachael Young, Toni Lewis, Louisa Robbin
Alternate Languages was a poignant, one-day festival and exhibition held at the Royal Academy of Arts in March 2019. Curated by Kate Goodwin, it functioned as an experimental takeover of the RA’s galleries, designed to explore how we communicate across social, political, and physical divides.
The exhibition centred on two major film installations:
Mirror III (Horizon): A haunting two-screen work filmed on the coast of Lesvos, Greece. It captures a silent dialogue of light signals between a person on a dark shore and a distant boat, reflecting on the anonymity and tension of the global refugee crisis.
Mirror IV (Legacy): Developed with playwright Ruwanthie de Chickera, this piece features actors delivering a shared monologue to the children of both victims and perpetrators of the Sri Lankan Civil War, questioning whether empathy can bridge a divided history.
Beyond the films, the event was highly immersive. The galleries were activated by live performances, spatial listening games, and midnight poetry walks. By blending high-concept video art with raw human interaction, the exhibition challenged visitors to look past their own prejudices and find new ways, or alternate languages, to connect with the other.
