Word/World

Two artists from the state of Minas Gerais known for their outstanding practices, Rivane Neuenschwander and Cao Guimarães, come together in a collaboration aimed at producing films that investigate nature, narrative and temporality in the face of the chance/control duality. In the film Word/World (2001), Neuenschwander and Guimarães turn the viewer’s focus to the ground and introduce an unusual viewpoint: that of ants. Through the artists’ macro lens, viewers not only discover a new scale, a lunar-seeming environment whose inhabitants are now shown in detail, but also observe lives that appear to be at the extraordinary. The presence of ants underscores the distinction between the many coexisting worlds and brings up such issues as communicability and its impossibility. Written on tiny pieces of paper that the ants carry around, the expressions “word” and “world” have their meanings approximated through writing. Human logic tells us it is unlikely that ants understand the meaning of the banners they bear. Most probably they will build their nests with them. Ultimately, we all inhabit language.