Some Name Some Noun Simply

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

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. 

She will now present this language for a live audience in a short play that is set in a not too distant future. Global travel, global trade and global languages have disappeared. 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 learned in practice. 

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 of the performance day allows to do this prior to or after watching the live performance, or both. Visitors may learn to construct their own words and phrases in it and thus contribute to its development.