TRADUTORE-TRADITTORE – description of the installation

Site-specific installation – 4 meters x 4 meters x 3.50 meters
Underground Prisoners Museum – Jerusalem -October 1 to November 16. 2017

Babel means “confusion”. The “Other” was born when the Tower of Babel was destroyed, when different languages were created, and people had to “translate” his/her thoughts to co-habit the same territory.
The installation is made of hand-cut rubber shaping a net of 70 different characters of different languages. The haggadic assumption that there are seventy nations and languages in the world is based upon the ethnological note, where seventy grandsons of Noah are enumerated, each of whom became the ancestor of a nation.
The visitor is able to walk around and inside the installation.
Printed papers with the story of the tower of Babel in ancient and contemporary languages are displayed on the surrounding walls.
NASA asked Dr Carl Sagan of Cornell University to assemble a greeting to leave in the space: The Golden records of the nave Voyager “The Sounds of Earth”, (1977) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCB35lTiqT4
This constant murmur with greetings in 55 different languages, will be heard.

Mirta Kupferminc

The Jerusalem Bienniale 2017-General Curator – Rami Ozeri
Development Director- Abby Margulies
Assistant: Estela Ivkovcic
Contributor: Gaia Ostrowski
Spatial design consultant: Margarita Hnilo
Curator: Pelusa Borthwick- Original Soundtrack: Composition, programming, recording, processing and mixing: Ernesto Romeo, Lucas Romeo, Pablo Gil, María Eugenia García, Manuela Suárez in studio / laboratory La Siesta del Fauno

Supported by the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture –NYC Fellowship 2016-2017