Annemarie Jessen – Nackte Namen

A blower supplies air leading to individual whistles. Nackte Namen is a sound installation in which the sounds can be modulated by pulling wooden levers. This manual process allows the sound production to be experienced directly.

Both the steel framework, into which the pipes are partly integrated, as well as the negative moulds, are based on the Hebrew alphabet, whose letters are named after things. An example of this is the letter ת (beth, which is named after the Hebrew word for house. However, the installation does not focus on the legibility of words, but on showing traces of bodily experience in language and writing.

Although not intended for legibility in the classical sense, the sculptures, read from right to left, form the Hebrew word בראשית (Genesis).