Project initiated by ROM for kunst og arkitektur and led by Gabrielle Paré and Tina Lam
2021
With:
Ben Yu, architect and co-founder of NORTHING SPACE
Cathrine Liberg, artist
Chenyu Yan, MA student of Landscape Architecture
Eliot Moleba, playwright
Håkon Lillegraven, curator
local (Jérome Picard and Elida Mosquera), urbanists and designers
Justine Nguyen, MA student of Art History
The invented word samgrunnelse is composed of three linguistic components. It is made up of the prefix sam- (together), the root word -grunn- (ground / root) and the suffix -else (the verbal noun of a process).
In the process of Samgrunnelse, an experimental language workshop, a group of Norway-based practitioners of various disciplines, life experiences and languages, dwell on the absence of a suitable language to discuss “diversity” and “representation” in a Norwegian context. Sourcing texts from Oslo Municipality and architecture journalism, the working group identified a series of words they wished to problematize. Through a series of exercises, these words were deconstructed, and new words were invented in their place.
These six new words are published as the third edition of ROM dictionary. The dictionary takes the form of a series of postcards, a number of which were posted to relevant recipients at the choice of the working group. They are individuals, institutions and colleagues to whom the words could be of interest or resonance, or create an opportunity for discussion.
The words are an offering to the public's vocabulary. This offering is also meant as an opportunity to reflect on our language, the biases that might be implicit in our words, the exclusions they may engender.
Ben Yu authored “allmennorsk”
Cathrine Liberg authored “ co-commissioned governing/samoppdragsstyre”
Chenyu Yan authored “autoherreskap”
Eliot Moleba authored “demonoculturisation/avmonokulturifisering”
local (Jérome Picard and Elida Mosquera) authored “supramilieu/supramiljø”
Justine Nguyen authored “intersension/intersensasjon”
More about the project on ROMforlag (Norwegian).
