Review: But Does it Speak? at Bluecoat

Bluecoat’s latest programme, ‘But Does it Speak?’ might be quiet, but its not subdued. There is so much purpose in an exhibition programme that offers its viewers an ultimatum like this; sit, watch, listen; or don’t.

No passive engagement. No casual voyeurism.

This is deeply engaged audience programming, and it kicks off with Jennifer Lee Tsai’s ‘Fallen Star’. The first of three films, this performed poem is likely to be the purest in terms of its presentation of language, but the closing portion of this language-focussed series is yet to be announced, so maybe not.

Without scrawling text onto gallery walls or building it into abstracted works on canvas, poetry or fiction in galleries nearly always takes the form of publications or long-form films.

Here, the film (produced and edited by First Take, performed by Pei Yee Tong) is there to support the strength of the poem.

The line below, from Jennifer Lee Tsai’s ‘Fallen Star’, is, to this point, the deepest explanation of ‘But Does it Speak?’ we are offered.

My body,

                                                                which was not my body

but the body of my grandmother

                                                  remembered what it embodied,

The physicality of contemporary poetry, coupled with the delicacy of the film that accompanies this line speaks clearly to its listener. Because you will understand what it is to be embodied, or to embody something.

In its setting, it is related to Lee Tsai’s ancestry, but in its language, it is related to mine, yours, ours. The history of the world embodied and contextualised through a very personal, very rhythmic poem.

It is the start of a wider exploration of language though. And with each iteration of this programme, I can only imagine there being shifts in tone, and shifts in the relationship between the film and its audience.

The next installation is a film by Farah Al Qasimi, inspired by ‘Iftah Ya Simsim’, a 1980s Arabic version of Sesame Street. I’ve not seen it yet, but it sounds (at least) a million miles detached from Jennier Lee Tsai’s work. Both less and more literal.

The process behind the film is of mis-pronunciations and slipped translations. That’s then presented through a conceptual retelling of a children’s TV show that I’m guessing, like Sesame Street, focussed predominantly on language and numeracy acquisition.

And then from 4th March, ‘Slime Mother’ by Abi Palmer presents the artist’s transformed relationship with slugs, from irritants to the divine.

Each film will be presented differently over the course of this show, and by the time you read this, Jennifer Lee Tsai’s stirring film will have left the gallery, so I can’t make promises about what you’ll see, but I can promise you it will be more engaging than most, because casual viewing isn’t possible, and that’s a good thing.

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Fallen Star, the film by Jennifer Lee Tsai & Tmesis Theatre is open at Bluecoat until 2nd Feb. The wider programme (But Does it Speak?) continues until 31st March 2025
Words, Patrick Kirk-Smith, with thanks to Jennifer Lee Tsai for the excerpt of ‘Fallen Star’