Samo Zeichen

How can the slow disappearance of a language group be articulated? How does the loss of (linguistic) identity manifest itself and what (political) circumstances lead to this? The artistic research project Veliko nas je bilo / We Were Many critically examines sound recordings of Carinthian Slovenes stored in the Phonogrammarchiv Vienna (ÖAW). The original purpose of these recordings as objects of investigation for dialectological and linguistic research gives way to the question: to what extent does inscription into the archive go hand in hand with extinction in the outside world? The sound recordings tell stories of belonging, temporality and materiality and even after digitalisation, the sonic memories remain witnesses to their time of inscription. This project is an invitation to understand language and identity as something ghostly that is inherent in all social relations and can dis-appear or re-appear at any time. The sound collage (loop on magnetic tape) re-surfaces the voices from the archive and reconnects them with the broader public, telling stories of the past and present and predicting an uncertain future. Bomo bili.