The work presented in the exhibition—and created specifically for this occasion—consists of a video projection, directly onto the wall, of a sequence lasting approximately 3 minutes and 30 seconds that repeats endlessly. It features a 10-year-old actress, filmed in a close-up, reciting the conjugation of the verb “to shout” in Breton, in all tenses and moods: I shout, you shout, he shouts… I shouted, you shouted, he shouted… etc. The choice of this verb is certainly no accident: on the one hand, it refers directly to the setting in which this work is set (La Criée) and to its original activities (auction sales); on the other hand, when spoken by this young narrator—naive yet focused—it brings to mind an entire aspect of Breton culture (or, metaphorically speaking, the entirety of that culture). In fact, intercultural power relations almost always involve linguistic domination: speaking French means thinking in French.
This work by John Knight is accompanied by a special piece created for the exhibition poster. The artist decided to turn the usual approach on its head by featuring the Criée logo in color. (although it is usually rendered in line art, in gray on a white background), taking care to have the inscription on the building’s pediment translated into Breton (the municipal auction house becomes “koc’hu ar ger”) whereas the central part of the poster, usually reserved for the announcement of the exhibition itself, features his “JK” logo in white on a gray background.
