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Some Name Some Noun Simply

Nicoline van Harskamp

the mine nays give never given self / been enter mine nays / way hollo volume needs keeps fill / these olds, these uncover what pre-person / with which one nay a-stay turn backs / with seven nays been given me / no possiblity at me be seven peal during that same time / spite this, nays mine destinations even


Ik heb mijn namen niet gekregen. Ik ben mijn namen binnengegaan: holle ruimtes die gevuld moeten blijven. De ouderen achterhalen wie jij vroeger was, en welke naam is teruggkeerd. Ik nam er zeven in ontvangst. Ik kan niet zeven mensen tegelijk zijn maar de namen zijn mijn lotsbestemming desondanks.

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“Some Name Some Noun Simply”  is a performative work written and directed by Nicoline van Harskamp. It departs from the language spoken in her 2016 short film “PDGN”: a future link language built up from the ‘ruins’ of today’s global English. She created this language by applying distorting factors to existing non-standard forms of English. These ‘distorters’  include characteristics of English currently spoken between non-native speakers; rules of link languages created in fiction; and traits of Creole languages from the past and present. 

At Veem House for Performance, she will present this language for a live audience in a short play set in a not too distant future. People still move around the planet but much less quickly and frequently. On the way, they use a link-language that cannot be taught but only practiced. Global travel and global trade have disappeared and global languages have changed. 

“Some Name Some Noun Simply”’s three protagonists arrive from different parts of the world at a place they call the Onomasticon. It is a former site where names were inflicted on people, or taken away from people, such as an immigration office or city hall. To them, it is a memorial site for a redundant system where names were tools of surveillance, and a currency in data-mining industries. And although they are happy that the linguistic injury of naming has been put to an end, they each still have their sensitivities in relation to it. These come to light in their short encounter, which ends in an attempt to rename each other using nouns and verbs only.  

In short public sessions with the artist, visitors can familiarize themselves with the structure of the language of “Some Name Some Noun Simply”, in order to follow the 25 minute live piece. The program allows to do this prior to or after watching the live performance, or both. Visitors may watch the performance as often as they like. 

Dutch subtitles will be available during the performance. 

8 October 2017

17:00

16.30 doors open


17.00 first performance


17.30 Q&A and drinks    


18.30 second performance


19.00 Q&A and drinks


20.00 third performance


20.30 Q&A and drinks 

Vistors welcome throughout the afternoon and evening. No admissions allowed during performance times.

Nicoline van Harskamp is an artist whose current works examine the use and the properties of a future spoken global language. Her previous projects include “Yours in Solidarity”, which addressed the very recent history of anarchism through a correspondence archive, and was presented in different stages of completion in Mexico City, Frankfurt, London, Shanghai, Zagreb, Bombay and Montreal. Her live pieces, among which are “Expressive Power Series” and “A Romance in Five Acts and Twenty-one Englishes”, were staged at Tate Modern, London; KunstWerke, Berlin; Witte de With, Rotterdam; New Museum, New York; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Arnolfini, Bristol; Serralves Foundation, Porto; and Kaaitheater, Brussels. She is a Professor for Performative Art at the University of Fine Arts in Münster.

Official website

Stage Performance:
Serge Fouha, Kenneth Philip George and Monica Reyes

Voice:
Stephanie Pan

Script, direction and production:
Nicoline van Harskamp

Co-production:
Archive Kabinett/Let-there-be/Scriptings, Berlin

The Amsterdam staging of this piece was made possible by:
Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst