Just Saying it Doesn’t Make it So.

‘The limits of my language means the limits of my world.’

‘What can be shown, cannot be said.’

Ludwig Wittgenstein, 1889-1951

 

Every time we speak we, potentially, change our immediate surroundings. In linguistics, the term speech act is used to describe this more specifically, by making a direct connection between what Is said and the force or intension that lies behind that act of speech.

 

So, although we may not always feel that we are being listened to, simply by saying something, we do something. We can alter the world around us. We might shout ‘Go!’ and see the racers spring from the starting blocks. In our everyday lives we might give a direction or express an opinion. We might make a promise or declare our love (or our hate). We might tell of our firm belief in the truth of the words we say.

 

But just saying it doesn't make it so. We must act; follow through on the words we utter. The artists exhibiting in the 2014 University of Cumbria Fine Art Degree Show have spent years thinking and talking about the world around them, right here in this building. Their voices echo around the atrium and the corridors, merging with the voices of their colleagues both past and future. But these artists they are not all mouth and no trousers. They don't just talk a good game. They turn their words into actions, into things, so that we might better understand just what exactly it is that they want us to hear. They make paintings and sculptures, videos and photographs. They curate exhibitions because they know that without an audience they may as well be talking to themselves. They are so steeped in the practice of describing, reflecting and transforming their surroundings that making has become for them as automatic as breathing. They create as they speak.

 

Jane Topping

Programme Leader Fine Art BA (Hons)

2014