Language Can Exclude by Christin Penz

A stack of the Newspapers

christin533219_1 — 2026-02-25 10:05:44 UTC

Every visitor can take a newspaper with them to read the questions and texts in quiet. I created this image with the help of an AI tool (ChatGPT).

Language Can Exclude - A Film

christin533219_1 — 2026-02-25 10:07:08 UTC

In a first video work using the materials of the submitted texts and questions, I further attempt to show that even voices that appear to criticise or question can be appropriated or misused. The work raises the question of whether the speakers we see are truly expressing their own opinions or merely echoing established voices. This concern resonates with Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s argument in Can the Subaltern Speak?, where she highlights how marginalised subjects are often spoken for rather than being allowed to speak for themselves (Riach, 2017, p.13).

A Zine

christin533219_1 — 2026-02-25 10:07:47 UTC

After printing and folding the first zine (see Fig. 8), I was surprised to realise that I did not like the folding at all. Initially, I had assumed that the texts and questions would interact through the process of folding. However, this did not work as intended, as the reader is only able to see isolated parts at any given time.

A Poster for each contribution.

christin533219_1 — 2026-02-25 10:08:21 UTC

I have worked with a blue colour spectrum from the beginning, because I associate blue with handwriting. In schools and universities, many people write with a blue pen or biro, so blue stands for notes, learning, and personal thoughts. In contrast, canonical texts often feel finished and authoritative, usually printed in black. For me, blue is therefore also a small intervention: it brings the work into the present and helps make space for new voices and questions to be heard.

Another Poster Test

christin533219_1 — 2026-02-25 10:10:58 UTC

I created a poster for each contribution. The idea is to hang these posters on a wall and play the spoken texts as audio. In hindsight, I now think it could also be interesting to show only the questions, without the texts.

Recording as an act of repetition and echoing.

christin533219_1 — 2026-02-25 10:11:14 UTC

After watching the finished video segments for a while, constantly seeing myself speak while hearing the others, it felt very unsettling to hear my own voice again afterwards.

Language Can Exclude - The Books

christin533219_1 — 2026-02-25 10:12:08 UTC

I like to assemble canon books in a pile, bound together with a string. Showing that these books, these opinions of the Western canon, are often unassailable. Most of the time, society does not question these; instead, they are reproduced again and again.

Reports of the Commissioners of Inquiry into the State of Education in Wales. The Treachery of the Blue Books (1847) R.R.W. Lingen, J.C. Symons, and H.V. Johnson. Text Modified + Rearranged by Laura Hoare (2025).

christin533219_1 — 2026-02-25 10:15:43 UTC

Remember mumbling and is happy medium and There is you talking too friend same time and voice; at it a distinct, a to speak voice Be careful for modest and hear, your conduct loud severe misconstruction. reach to the which expose a are this, but A vulgar. Not voice, street are and laughing in are Loud talking of make you While attract attention a gesture that avoid any action and more carefully still laughing, and avoid loud talking or cheerful deportment, may you maintain and vulgar breeding. conspicuous. sure signs and bold deportment, the loud laughter, excessively boisterous, loud only not intended. they the remarks lady ears for most enough to Let but not be him to quiet. sufficiently loud always tone of in be in clear converse, let the at table, avoid meet a loudly. quiet. If a always modest between lady-like deportment screaming.

Bundesrepublik Deutschland (1990) Gesetz zur Privatisierung und Reorganisation des volkseigenen Vermögens (Treuhandgesetz) vom 17. Juni 1990. Gesetzblatt der DDR, Teil I, Nr. 33, S. 300-306. Text Modified + Rearranged by Maria Funke (2026).

christin533219_1 — 2026-02-25 10:16:04 UTC

Gesetz folgendes Gesetz und werden kann, volkseigenen volkseigenem Vermögen vom verbrieftes Anteilsrecht 1990 reduzierten Betrag der 2. Juli die der Währungsumstellung dies für den Privatisierung einem späteren und den Sparern wie Sanierung des - Wirtschaft und möglichst für Strukturanpassung herzustellen seiner vorrangigen Arbeitsplätze Ertragsfähigkeit sowie und Vermögens und schaffen, Bestandsaufnahme des und daß nach wirtschaftliche Zwecke bereitzustellen, - Boden für einer - Grund volkseigenen neue zu seiner zu sichern nach und somit Nutzung vieler Unternehmen der die Wettbewerbsfähigkeit die möglich zurückzuführen, Staatshaushaltes so weit zu so rasch Zeitpunkt Staates durch bei unternehmerische Tätigkeit am Absicht, - 1990 Getragen von ein 17. Juni an Vermögens (Treuhandgesetz) eingeräumt Reorganisation des wird zur Privatisierung erlassen.

John Dewey, Art as Experience (1934), Text modified + Rearranged by Christin Penz (2025).

christin533219_1 — 2026-02-25 10:18:47 UTC

It a scientific repeatedly define them there mathematical equations difference colors from art of glowing painting the perceptual and different as of external thing: first rhythm in and that there latter from intellectual and something quite is is experienced product rhythm in working. esthetic. And enters itself are and rhythm in it art, become seemingly a product a that is systematized, an outer object il embodied every these rhythms, of perception. Only and its actuality, very of art the experience, the a But an upon hence of of in experience depends conditions of of they are as I pointed When in nature; of existence of is work upon its of this happily emphasized the easily) previous chapter, energies art. In from a work itself; indeed there mutual and ten-sions, antagonisms fulfilling of to steadily) toward a (but not develops cumulatively and surely substance that too bring about a work together impulsions affinities and then when their is the experience of that issue the with the I (but not dependence force interacts final such that the the object rhythms the structure as finally experienced. out, the thing the the character form this interaction and the nature expression. complex interaction; esthetic beginning of work entrance is in emotion. Its is united thought as loving care even elaborated with in or an object theme intellectually itself formless happening, of be a a unaccompanied, whether experience experience bald they For nothing this does, its what what the is experienced. It different is active recognition potential; the is is physical the art. The as the work is or whatever), enjoyment product (statue, harmonious between the the is a that intimated that for has been inquirer.

The Ladies Book of Etiquette, and Manual of Politeness. A Complete Handbook for The Use of The Lady in Polite Society’ (1860) Florence Hartley. Text Modified + Rearranged by Tricia Burton (2025)

christin533219_1 — 2026-02-25 10:20:30 UTC

Pride & Prejudice (1813) Jane Austin. Text Modified + Rearranged by Liesel Robsen (2026).

christin533219_1 — 2026-02-25 10:22:32 UTC

It made no truth it.” Mr. that me all man and she of just been fortune, Mrs. Long in returned she; a “But it little he had feelings Bennet replied of at last?” man Park is on heard that entering day, “have this to him so said his in dear Mr. of their daughters. families, or other is property of rightful considered the someone that he of the surrounding “My the minds Bennet,” well fixed lady truth is one a neighbourhood, you his first Netherfield may be let such a Mr. or views that known the not. wife. However is,” want of “for must be has a good here, in possession told a single about universally acknowledged, Bennet is a answer.

Christian Bible (1984) Holy Bible: New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. Genesis 1:26-28.Text modified + Rearranged by Christin Penz (2026).

christin533219_1 — 2026-02-25 10:43:03 UTC

Then the day. “Let there morning mankind was and image, good. there likeness, it very they had and over all he in so. saw and And was in plant food.” over give green and in I wild breath life over that the creatures the everything along that along So all creatures mankind the and own the in the earth all God beasts the them; to the female food. And them. be for them it. will to with in fruitful that fruit in and tree the the earth subdue the of over seed-bearing on in give every and God “I in the Then and that on living every creature moves sky over ground.” birds the said, sea the you fish the plant Rule the face and it. whole fill earth every increase number; has “Be and seed said them, They blessed and yours created God 30 and he all created male of of he and in image birds his image, sky created in the ground.” God move move the ground the that has and all of the animals, it livestock all every sky, the for birds the it sea the God fish the that rule the made, that may was our so And our in evening, make in was said, us sixth God

Kenneth Goldsmith

christin533219_1 — 2026-02-25 10:43:48 UTC

In Goldsmith’s work, Day, he remains more focused on structural and aesthetic aspects (Ávalos, 2016). With Day, he transforms the material of a physical newspaper into a book, while LCE attempts to take fragments from canonical books to create a newspaper, where the newly stated questions become headlines for broken texts.

Kathy Acker

christin533219_1 — 2026-02-25 10:43:54 UTC

LCE thus operates within existing power structures to undermine them from within, seeking to create visibility for alternative perspectives and marginalised voices, in a way comparable to Kathy Acker’s practice. While in Acker’s works the appropriated material and her words aggressively mix (Henderson, 2021, p. 15), in LCE the text fragments and the added question stay separate from each other (see fig. 1).

Candice Breitz

christin533219_1 — 2026-02-25 10:44:22 UTC

In her video work Love Story, Candice Breitz uses the faces and voices of celebrities to draw attention to individual experiences of the worldwide refugee crisis (Museum of Fine Arts Boston, n.d.). Both LCE and Love Story use the public attention of authorities and recognised personalities to raise attention for marginalised voices.

Walter Benjamin

christin533219_1 — 2026-02-25 10:44:31 UTC

Walter Benjamin uses fragments of chosen texts in The Arcades Project (Rendell, 2021). Walter Benjamin established appropriation as a relevant method within twentieth-century experimental writing (Goldsmith, 2011, p. 123).

Michel Foucault

christin533219_1 — 2026-02-25 10:45:10 UTC

Foucault’s stated the thesis that not all voices are heard or recognised as legitimate in public discourse (Foucault, 1970, p. 10/11).

Judith Butler

christin533219_1 — 2026-02-25 10:45:19 UTC

For Judith Butler, our social existence is constituted through address, and thus through language (Butler, 2022, p. 15); it turns us into subjects within the social sphere. This could suggest that if marginalised groups are to become part of public discourse, they must be actively addressed and included. Butler (p. 36) clarifies that language is not only a tool that reflects social power relations but also one that reproduces them.

Hannah Arendt

christin533219_1 — 2026-02-25 10:45:31 UTC

The performative element in LCE moves the project from written language to embodied voice and connects to Hannah Arendt’s understanding of public speech as relevant (Arendt, 2018, p. 50).

Language Can Exclude - The Newspaper

christin533219_1 — 2026-02-25 10:49:11 UTC

The authority and sense of factual knowledge associated with newspapers is used to give these new questions legitimacy of their own. The original author is initially foregrounded in order to draw on the general recognition and interest associated with their authorship, to question it. With his work Day, Kenneth Goldsmith transforms the material of a physical newspaper into a book, while LCE attempts to take fragments from canonical books to create a newspaper, where the newly stated questions become headlines for broken texts.

Reading as a Performance

christin533219_1 — 2026-02-27 07:33:14 UTC

Reading the selected, now disrupted texts aloud to an audience feels compelling and could help demonstrate how language excludes; how language, dialect, class, gender, and ancestry shape our experiences and influence our participation and representation in public discourse. A performance in public space could serve to shift the discourse, encouraging exchange, discussion, and collective reflection.

christin533219_1 — 2026-02-27 07:50:22 UTC

LCE approaches appropriation as a practice to consciously engage with public discourse, question power structures, and articulate critical commentary.

Oulipo

christin533219_1 — 2026-02-27 07:52:09 UTC

The specific rearrangement of individual words reweaves a new text, similar to Oulipo’s use of formal constraints (Despeaux, 2015, p. 239). Meaning is disrupted, yet the vocabulary of a dominant language remains visible. This strategy encourages reflection on the authority of certain texts and authors and questions who is heard in public discourse and who is silenced.

Participants in LCE chose text fragments from a male-dominated canon of artistic, political, religious, historical, and psychological writing.

christin533219_1 — 2026-02-27 07:52:59 UTC

LCE operates within existing power structures in order to undermine them from within, seeking to create visibility for alternative perspectives and marginalised voices.

christin533219_1 — 2026-02-27 08:05:25 UTC

Within the collaborative project, each participant decides which text to choose and which dominant position to question. Through multiple contributing voices, LCE seeks to generate additional visibility and relevance for diverse voices within discourse.

christin533219_1 — 2026-02-27 08:07:33 UTC

Roland Barthes

christin533219_1 — 2026-02-27 08:10:59 UTC

In LCE the meaning of a text is requested; the viewer is invited to reinterpret the text and its subject matter anew, reflecting Barthes’ thesis “the birth of the reader must be at the cost of the death of the Author” (Barthes, 1977).

By reproducing, participants in LCE formulate a question for the audience in order to reflect on authority and to stimulate public discussion in a new direction.

christin533219_1 — 2026-02-27 08:12:23 UTC

Appropriation as a political intervention

christin533219_1 — 2026-02-27 08:15:28 UTC

While Goldsmith, who, following his controversial reading of Michael Brown’s autopsy report, defended the act by stating that he “simply read it without commentary or additional editorialising” (Flood, 2015), remains in a conceptual framework, LCE approaches appropriation as a practice to consciously engage with public discourse, question power structures, and articulate critical commentary.

The collaborative project Language Can Exclude (LCE) makes visible who holds authority and challenges it. At the same time, it asks whether authority can be claimed by appropriating the names and words of those who are already heard, to gain visibility and voice for oneself and for others.

christin533219_1 — 2026-02-27 08:20:32 UTC

The participants are asked to read and record their transformed text aloud. This act of speaking and listening aims to foreground questions of language, accent, dialect, background, and ancestry.

christin533219_1 — 2026-02-27 08:26:52 UTC

Viewer Participation - an Iteration

christin533219_1 — 2026-02-27 08:42:23 UTC

If a number of books (30-50) were available, it would be possible to invite visitors to assemble and strap together their own stacks of books they consider untouchable. This gesture could prompt reflection on what such texts mean for them and for others, and on how their viewpoints are represented in public discourse. Visitors could write their own questions on Post-its and add them to a shared wall, creating a visible, collective map.

christin533219_1 — 2026-02-27 09:11:31 UTC

Ahmed, S. (2017) Living a Feminist Life. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Aloi, G. and McHigh S. (2021) Posthumanism in Art and Science: A Reader. New York: Columbia University Press.

Arendt, H. (2018) The Human Condition. 2nd edn. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Ávalos, I. (2016) Move a Text, Break Up the House. CCCB Lab. Available at: https://lab.cccb.org/en/move-a-text-break-up-the-house/ (Accessed: 22 January 2026).

Barthes, R. (1977) "The Death of the Author", in: Image-Music-Text. London: Fontana Press.

Butler, J. (2022) Haß spricht: Zur Politik des Performativen. Berlin: Suhrkamp.

Despeaux, S.E. (2015) "Oulipo: Applying Mathematical Constraints to Literature and the Arts in a Mathematics for the Liberal Arts Classroom“, PRIMUS: Problems, Resources, and Issues in Mathematics Undergraduate Studies, 25(3), pp. 238-247. Available at: https://doi-org.libezproxy.open.ac.uk/10.1080/10511970.2014.966935 (Accessed: 5 February 2026).

Flood, A. (2015) "US poet defends reading of Michael Brown autopsy report as a poem", The Guardian, 17. May. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/mar/17/michael-brown-autopsy-report-poem-kenneth-goldsmith (Accessed: 5 February 2026).

Foucault, M. (1970) Die Ordnung des Diskurses. Inaugural lecture at the Collège de France, 2 December 1970. Available at: https://www.kulturanalyse.uzh.ch/dam/jcr:00000000-7943-5e91-ffff-ffffbc77cf97/Foucault_DieOrdnung_1970.pdf (Accessed: 30 December 2025).

Goldsmith, K. (2011) Uncreative Writing. New York: Columbia University Press.

Henderson, M.A. (2021) Kathy Acker : punk writer. 1 ed. London: Taylor & Francis.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (n.d.) Candice Breitz: Love Story. Available at: https://www.mfa.org/exhibitions/candice-breitz-love-story (Accessed 9 February 2026).

Rendell, J. (2021) "Fragment of the imagination". The Architectural Review (1483) p.66.

Riach, G. (2017) Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s Can the Subaltern Speak? London: Macat International Ltd.

Van Dijk, T.A. (2015) “Critical Discourse Analysis”, in Tannen, D., Hamilton, H.E. and Schiffrin, D. (eds.) The Handbook of Discourse Analysis. 2nd edn. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell, pp. 466-480.

NEW vs OLD

christin533219_1 — 2026-02-27 09:30:33 UTC

The question is placed above the text and takes priority as it sits in the foreground.

The Audio Recordings

christin533219_1 — 2026-02-27 09:33:52 UTC

The audio recordings were all very different in tone, melody, and in the way they were spoken. This has a lot to do with the original text, but also with the speaker. One contributor submitted an Al-generated recording, which raised new questions for me about authorship and representation.

With gratitude to everyone who shared their words, voices, and time with LCE.

christin533219_1 — 2026-02-27 09:44:46 UTC

Interested in collaborating? Reach out—every input expands the project.

christin533219_1 — 2026-02-27 09:47:31 UTC

The Invitation

christin533219_1 — 2026-02-27 09:53:54 UTC

I’m inviting you to collaborate on my poetry project, Language Can Exclude (LCE). The method is simple and rule-based: using a small tool, the text is transformed by keeping every third word and rearranging the remaining words — no new words added. The result is a strange, “folded” version of the original, and I’m interested in how it changes meaning, access, and authority in language.

What I’m asking you to do (very easy):

Choose a short excerpt (about 150–200 words) from a text in the traditional Western canon (often taught / historically “authoritative” texts — feel free to interpret this broadly).

How to receive the transformed text: my tool: https://spaces.oca.ac.uk/christinpenz2/category/coursework/project-7/language-can-exclude-a-poetry-project/

Add one simple question addressed directly to the listener (example below).

Optional but encouraged: Record yourself reading the transformed text aloud (phone recording is perfect).

Practical notes:

- Here is one short example of me reading a transformed text.

- Its up to you in which style you read the text

- File format: mp3 / m4a / wav all fine

- Credit: the original work and your name

Send me: your recording + the original excerpt + the transformed output

Thank you — I’m really curious how the same rule becomes something totally different through different voices, rhythms, accents, and interpretations.

Testing the next video iteration.

christin533219_1 — 2026-02-27 10:06:05 UTC

I would like to create a loop that begins with a video of people speaking on mute, then plays the audio recordings one by one, and later layers them. It is not important for the original contributors to be visible. I have already contacted an acting student to collaborate on the project.

Teun A. Van Dijk

christin533219_1 — 2026-02-27 10:08:01 UTC

Van Dijk argues that elites use language for “mind control” (Van Dijk, 2015, pp. 468-471), and control what is said, who may speak, and in which context (pp. 470-471).

Sara Ahmed

christin533219_1 — 2026-02-27 12:09:20 UTC

Sara Ahmed is one of many voices arguing that rights are hard won, remain vulnerable, and continue to be under threat; the right to speak in the public realm is at stake (Ahmed, 2017, p.112).

bell hooks

christin533219_1 — 2026-02-27 12:11:18 UTC

For many marginalized groups, public discourse and the right to speak publicly have been, and continue to be a long fought struggle against enforced silence, produced through mechanisms such as racism, sexism, and class exploitation. (Hooks, p. 127). bell hooks describes how, for her, speaking unprompted as a Black female child was an act of “risk and daring”, as there was no space for what she calls “legitimized rewarded speech” (hooks, 1986, pp. 123- 124). Breaking this silence can form a liberated voice, one that constitutes the speaker as a subject rather than an object (p.128).

The Algorithm

christin533219_1 — 2026-02-27 18:12:30 UTC

Erasure Poetry

christin533219_1 — 2026-02-27 18:15:19 UTC

Erasure poetry is also a form of appropriation; parts are deleted, creating a completely new context. Often, new content is added to critique or to reflect on the original work.

An overpowering shadow of authority above. Below, the blue ink spills out of the books. The ink runs. Should we catch it? Should we use it to write new words and sentences, new truths?

christin533219_1 — 2026-03-01 07:59:37 UTC

Poster in A3 format

christin533219_1 — 2026-03-04 08:04:40 UTC

I created a poster for each contribution. The idea is to hang these posters on a large wall to show the superior might the canon has. At the same time, the new questions take up a lot of space and challenge the authority of the authors and texts.

Poststructuralism

christin533219_1 — 2026-03-08 08:48:50 UTC

Language, discourse, and power are central to post-structuralism. Meaning is neither neutral nor stable.

Text to voice tool

christin533219_1 — 2026-03-12 09:11:40 UTC

One participant used an AI voice generator (a text-to-speech tool) to record the new text. This is a shift toward a post-humanist direction, where technology and AI are becoming increasingly important to humans in "an increasingly more than-human world" (Aloi and McHugh, 2021).

Reflecting on the process

christin533219_1 — 2026-04-01 08:58:02 UTC

Appropriating the texts felt liberating. It went through my own bookshelf, and I was surprised by how many books I recognised as male and as expressions of a patriarchal system. Some of them probably would not be written or published in the same way today. It felt right to stack them and tie them together with a band. On the one hand, this bundling shows how rigid the canon is; on the other hand, it also prevents the books from being opened and read. That feels extreme, but also like change. I think the moment I acknowledge that these works are part of the canon is also the moment when I am ready to consciously refuse them as still relevant. I decide that they are wrong. Reordering the words gave me a feeling of power, a way to question the authority of others. Writing the question strengthened this further.

Peers influence

christin533219_1 — 2026-04-27 11:57:11 UTC

Peer presentations, particularly structured Padlet formats, influenced my decision to present my own work in this way.

Tutor Feedback

christin533219_1 — 2026-04-27 12:00:21 UTC

Julia's feedback introduced me to the connection between erasure poetry and marginalised voices. I realised that LCE operates in a similar way: it leaves fragments visible while intervening in the overall structure to shift meaning.

Do I reproduce recognised opinions?

christin533219_1 — 2026-04-27 12:03:56 UTC

A fundamental danger of LCE is that, through appropriation, it may simply reproduce already recognised opinions; the oversized questions are intended to counter this by interrupting repetition and redirecting attention towards critique.

Collaboration

christin533219_1 — 2026-04-27 12:05:49 UTC

At first, it felt uncomfortable to give the other participants freedom in their choice of text and question. But each time, I was positively surprised by the results, and I would be happy if more people joined the project. The collaborative nature of the project allowed me to include multiple voices.

christin533219_1 — 2026-04-27 12:10:33 UTC

Watching a recent performance of Antigone made me realise again how complex language can exclude people. I found the text hard to understand and frustrating. This relates to LCE, where I question how language can be made more accessible.

More Reflection about this work

christin533219_1 — 2026-04-29 08:25:46 UTC