ECAS Co-Commission

Heimo Lattner

Lattner’s work, commissioned by the ECAS network within the Working Period II , explores the whistling language of the Guanche, the native inhabitants of the Canary Islands. While the Silbo Gomero language presumably developed as a means to communicate across the volcanic islands’ deep-cut gorges, the advance of modern telecommunications and infrastructure have rendered its original purpose redundant. The levels of meaning of this musical language, and the shifts these have undergone over the last six decades, serve as the point of departure for Lattner’s research.

By exploring the phenomenon of voice, Heimo Lattner raises questions of identity and society. To him, the voice is no longer part of the body, nor yet part of language. It is no longer part of the subject, nor yet part of the other, no longer part of biological life, nor yet part of social existence. It is the point of intersection of both, in a place that is in fact impossible and placeless, a place to which we are led by El Silbo, the endangered whistled language of the Guanches, the aboriginal inhabitants of the Canary Islands.

Also supported by the Austrian Ministry of Education, Art and Culture, Berlin Cultural Affairs Senate Chancellery, European Union programme Culture, EUNIC, Goethe-Institut.