[Berlin-Mitte]

Opening of Yevgeniy Fiks' Mother Tongue
October 27, 2018, 6:00 pm
at Aperto Raum

Please join Yevgeniy Fiks at this opening reception. The exhibition runs from 28 October to 3 December 2018.Родной Язык/Mother Tongue is a project “about” and “in” the Soviet-era Russian gay argot/defense language. In this project, the Soviet-era, Russian gay argot/defense language is given a name – “Tematicheskiy” language (the language for those “in the know”) – and is treated as a complete, self-sufficient, and distinct language, separate from the standard Russian. In Родная речь/Mother Tongue, the Russian gay argot/defense language is conceptualized as a cultural treasure, a national language of the Russian-speaking LGBTQ community, and as a literary language fit for formal language instruction and high culture production, including written literature and publication. The installation of Родная речь/Mother Tongue, includes an alphabet and grammatical rules, books, and an instructional video.  Workshops led by Yevgeniy Fiks are designed to introduce the students to the basic vocabulary, grammar, and usage of the Soviet-era Russian gay slang/defense language, explained in its historical context. The book titled, “Родная речь/Mother Tongue,” by Yevgeniy Fiks is published as part of the project and includes the linguistic analysis of the Tematicheskiy language (in Russian and English) and a collection of conceptual poetry written by Fiks in Tematicheskiy (with English translation).