Draft:Universal Tongue
Universal Tongue
Universal Tongue is a multifaceted art project by Dutch artist Anouk Kruithof based on found footage of diverse dance styles from across the globe, collected from the Internet.
The project encompasses an 8-channel video installation, a book publication, a website with an online database, and a single-channel video edition. Universal Tongue was presented at over 30 international exhibitions, including solo shows of the artist and belongs to several museum collections.[1]
About the Project
Universal Tongue was created through an extensive research of dance found footage conducted by Anouk Kruithof along with an international team of 52 researchers.[2] For the project’s purposes 8 800 videos were collected from YouTube, Facebook and Instagram, summing up to 250 hours of video material presenting a variety of dance videos from different social and cultural contexts of the globe, showcasing different viral phenomena and social media trends. The collected footage has been described by each researcher, who categorised in total over 1000 dance styles from all 196 countries of the world.
Universal Tongue was set as an art project, which highlights an era of fluidity, hybridity and interconnectedness of the modern digital era while honoring and celebrating the diverse historical and cultural backgrounds of the researched dances. In 2018, Kruithof created the centerpiece of Universal Tongue - an 8-channel video installation, presented at Medialab during the Cinekid Festival in Amsterdam commissioned by the curator Ward Janssen[3]. The installation is rhythmically arranged using a unified soundtrack remixed with music samples from the found footage, creating an immersive audiovisual environment for the audience of four hours duration. The videos create an ongoing dance flow of looped moving images, loosening categories of the world order, such as country, continent or culture. The installation displays over 1,000 dance styles, comprising 32 hours of footage in total.[4] In addition to the 8-channel installation, Universal Tongue also exists as a single-channel video edition created in 2022.[5] In 2021, Anouk Kruithof published the book UNIVERSAL TONGUE, with a second edition following in 2022.[6][7] The book documents and describes all the dance styles categorized during the project’s research, accompanied by screenshot images from the found footage videos.[8] The book is playfully described by the author as a “DANCYCLOPEDIA through the Jungle of Internet”, in which dance is presented as a form of an embodied knowledge of cultural identity, self-expression, fun and empowerment.[9][10]
The project's findings are also presented in an online database, accessible at https://www.universaltongue.com/dance-styles-az. This database categorises and provides detailed information on the various dance styles identified, making the research publicly available.
Through its various components, Universal Tongue is a comprehensive and immersive exploration of global dance, reflecting the rich tapestry of human expression and connectivity in the digital age.
Disclaimer
Universal Tongue was created with footage that is published online under the Creative Common License.
Exhibitions and Collections
Universal Tongue been exhibited at over 30 international venues and it is part of the permanent collection of, among others:
- Museum Folkwang Essen, Germany,
- Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar, The Netherlands
- Collection Josselin Souris in Tunis, Tunisia and Paris, France.
- Collection Museum Het Nieuwe Domein, Sittard, The Netherlands (single-channel video)
- Collection Frac Alsace, Alsace, France (single-channel video)
- Collection De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), Amsterdam, The Netherlands (single-channel video)
- Collection BERG contemporary / Ingibjôrg Jonsdottir, Reykjavík, Island (single-channel video)
Solo exhibitions
2024: Universal Tongue, Kunsthal, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 2024. (8-channels installation)
2024: solo Universal Tongue, Mercerie, Brussels, Belgium, 2024. (single-channel installation)
2023: Universal Tongue, Nocturnes with Anouk Kruithof, Cloud Seven, Bruxelles, Belgium, 2023. (single-channel installation)
2023: Anouk Kruithof, Tentacle Togetherness, Centre Photographique d’Île-de-France Ile-de-France 2023. (single-channel installation)
2023: Universal Tongue, Confort Moderne, Poitiers, France, 2023. (single-channel installation)
2023: Universal Tongue, Galerie Valeria Cetraro, Paris, France, 2023. (single-channel installation)
2022/2023: Universal Tongue, Museum Tinguely, Basel, Switzerland, 2022. (8-channels installation)
2022: Universal Tongue, Cite des Arts, Paris, France, 2022. (single-channel installation)
2022: Universal Tongue, Melkweg Expo, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2022. (8-channels installation)
2022: Universal Tongue Kunstmin, Energiehuis, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 2022. (8-channels installation)
2022: Universal Tongue, Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar, The Netherlands, 2022. (8-channels installation)
2021: Universal Tongue, Viernulvier (formerly called Vooruit), Ghent, Belgium, 2021.(8-channels installation)
As part of group exhibitions and festivals
2024/ 2025: Part of group exhibition Tanzwelten, Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, Germany, 2024/2025. (8-channels installation)
2024: Part of Art & Sport, curated by Fabien Danesi, GrandPalais RMN, Grenoble, France, 2024. (single-channel installation)
2024: Part of a group exhibition Can’t we all just get along?, Stevenson, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2024. (single-channel installation)
2023: Part of group exhibition Uit het donker V, Warande Winter Warm: De Hoge Rielen,
Kasterlee, Belgium, 2023. (8-channels installation)
2023: Part of festival ASVOFF, Paris, France, 2023. (single-channel installation)
2023: Part of Robot Festival, Bologna, Italy, 2023. (single-channel installation)
2023: Part of group exhibition De-mold, Contemporaryistanbul, Istanbul, Turkey, 2023. (single-channel installation)
2023: Part of festival schrit_tmacher Just Dance, Schunck Glass Palace, Heerlen, The Netherlands, 2023. (single-channel installation)
2023: Part of group exhibition A field guide to getting lost, Het Nieuwe Domein, Sittard, The Netherlands, 2023. (single-channel installation)
2023: Part of the festival Un Été Au Havre, Le Havre, France, 2023. (single-channel installation)
2023: Part of festival Phest, Monopoli, Italy, 2023. (single-channel installation)
2022: Part of festival Chroniques, Biennale of Digital Imagination, Friche la Belle de Mai, Marseille, France, 2022. (single-channel installation)
2022: Part of KIKK festival Tales of Togetherness, Namur, Belgium, 2022. (8-channels installation)
2022: Part of Tulca Festival of Visual Arts, Columban Hall, Galway, Ireland, 2022. (single-channel installation)
2022: Part of group exhibition Big DaDa, Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2022. (single-channel installation)
2022: Part of group exhibition I can live forever, Gallery Sofie Van de Velde, Antwerp, Belgium, 2022. (single-channel installation)
2022: Part of WHOLE United Queer festival, 2022. (8-channels installation)
2022: Orangerie, Ferropolis, Germany, 2022. (8-channels installation)
2022: Part of group exhibition From where I stand, Biennale für aktuelle Fotografie, 2022. (8-channels installation)
2022: Port 25, Mannheim, Germany, 2022. (8-channels installation)
2022: Part of group exhibition Folkwang and the City, Club Naked, Essen, Germany, 2022. (8-channels installation)
2021: Part of festival Noorderzon, Vera, Groningen, The Netherlands, 2021.(8-channels installation)
2021: Part of fotofestival, Stadhuiszolder, Naarden, The Netherlands, 2021. (8-channels installation)
2021: Part of group exhibition Global Groove, 2021, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany, 2021. (8-channels installation)
2020: Part of Manifesta 13, Parallel Du Sud Program (#coronacancelled), Le Ballet National, Marseille, France, 2020. (8-channels installation)
2018: Part of Cinekid Medialab, Westergasfabriek, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 2018. (8-channels installation)
Awards
Universal Tongue was shortlisted for Lumen Prize Moving Image Category, 2018, Golden Lion, Cinekid Festival, 2018, and long-listed for the The Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize, 2021.
External links & Press
Video interview at Museum Tinguely, Switzerland
Universal Tongue publication video
Video documentation Universal Tongue at Mercerie, Brussels
[1]Video documentation Universal Tongue at Vooruit, Brussels
Folkwang and the City - Announcements - e-flux
TOGETHER WE DANCE, DIVIDED WE FALL. On Anouk Kruithof, ARTS OF THE WORKING CLASS
Fijen Charlotte, Van folklore tot lap dance – MOVE! Body Politics in Motion bij MU, Metropolism
Burg van der Ben, Opinie | De Tango als tegengif, BNR
‘Universal Tongue’ een van de hoogtepunten bij FotoFestival Naarden, Gooisemerennieuws
Nooit Meer Slapen: Anouk Kruithof (beeldend kunstenaar), vpro
FotoFestival Naarden feestelijk geopend met spektakelstuk ‘Universal Tongue’', Gooisemerennieuws
Leu De Nick, Babystapjes, De Standaard
Somviele De Charlotte, Dans in een digitaal doolhof, De Standaard
AVS bezoekt ‘Universal Tongue’ door Anouk Kruithof, Kunstencentrum VIERNULVIER
Metz Tracy, Dans is overal anders, en tegelijk een universele taal, NRC
Soundtrack links
Soundtrack for Anouk Kruithof: Universal Tongue Video Edition 2022, Karoliina Pärnänen, 2022.
Universal Tongue Soundtrack Hour 1 by Koen Nutters, 2018.
Universal Tongue Soundtrack Hour 2 by Koen Nutters, 2018.
Universal Tongue Soundtrack Hour 3 by Koen Nutters, 2018.
Universal Tongue Soundtrack Hour 4 by Koen Nutters, 2018.
- ^ see "Exhibitions and Collections" sections of the article
- ^ "Researchers". Universal Tongue. Retrieved 2024-07-05.
- ^ "wardjanssen". wardjanssen.com. Retrieved 2024-07-05.
- ^ "Anouk Kruithof - Universal Tongue". Voorlinden. Retrieved 2024-07-05.
- ^ "Exhibitions". Universal Tongue. Retrieved 2024-07-05.
- ^ "UNIVERSAL TONGUE (second edition) – Anouk Kruithof". Retrieved 2024-07-05.
- ^ Kruithof, Anouk (05.07.2024). Universal Tongue (first ed.). Ghent, Belgium: Art Paper Editions in Ghent Belgium (published May 2021). ISBN 9789493146686.
{{cite book}}: Check date values in:|date=and|year=/|date=mismatch (help) - ^ The dance styles were described by the project’s researchers and Internet fact-checked with the support of a cultural anthropologist Ula Kahul.
- ^ "Anouk Kruithof / Universal Tongue". artpapereditions.org. Retrieved 2024-07-05.
- ^ "Arts of the Working Class, issue 18 September 2021" (PDF).