La Langue Verte
Solo exhibition, 2021
Centre Culturel Jean-Cocteau
Paris (France)
Curated by Luca Avanzini
Solo exhibition, 2021
Centre Culturel Jean-Cocteau
Paris (France)
Curated by Luca Avanzini
Six giant books occupy the exhibition rooms of the Jean Cocteau Cultural Centre in Les Lilas, Paris. They lie open on the ground, atop a carpet punctuated by a pattern of tribal masks surrounded by figurines that seem to dance. These are no ordinary books. They contain no words and tell new stories every day. The creatures that live within them go to bed with two eyes and wake up with three. A visitor who returns on multiple occasions to consult them might think they were losing their mind or swear they had seen certain figures disappear beneath flat areas of colour. These are the Langue Verte books by the CANEMORTO trio, magical volumes that the Jean Cocteau Cultural Centre and the André-Malraux Library were fortunate to present in an extraordinary exhibition for and by children.
Txakurra, the name given to the CANEMORTO deity, symbolises liberation from all power structures. It is a Dionysian anti-divinity that rejects the Apollonian order of social norms that transform children into adults. CANEMORTO's work is materialist, anti-intellectual, collective, experimental, and fanciful. Rooted in underground graffiti culture, it sheds all rigidity through a light-hearted attitude that treats play as a serious pursuit. Ambivalent, ironic, and hybrid, their language draws from the Art Brut of outsiders and the unrefined, unfiltered creativity of children. The language of Txakurra, known as Langue Verte, is instinctive, direct, and raw. It comes alive through the energy of drawing and speaks to everyone without uttering a single word.
How can we preserve this energy within the institutional walls of an art centre without extinguishing the sacred fire of the dead dog? The first rule: reverse the rules. The works ‘fall’ from the walls, taking the form of books scattered around the rooms like islands. Children crawl, roll, and walk on them, seeking treasures hidden within the geological strata of their pages. The second rule challenges the sacred law of galleries: do not touch the works. In the world of Langue Verte, it is not just a matter of touching the works but of transforming them. Coloured pencils are provided for anyone under the age of 12, the traditional age of transition into adulthood. The pages of each book, inhabited by quirky and mysterious sketched figures, are just waiting to be brought to life with children's drawings. By breaking the traditional museum format and removing the safety distance, these works become spaces for direct interaction. It is not a merely symbolic encounter but a physical, sensory experience with the unknown that reveals something of ourselves.
More than 1,500 children participated in this collective performance from October to December 2021. Following instructions given by CANEMORTO in a video in the style of Fluxus protocols, the children removed their shoes, selected a colour and let their imaginations run wild on the thick paper of these magical books. Working alone, in teams or with friends, they exchanged pencils and supported each other in wild freestyles, never questioning their inalienable right to express themselves or how to do so. Some followed the rough outlines of the characters drawn by the six hands of CANEMORTO, others ignored them entirely. Still others aggressively covered them, like graffiti artists on a mission to reclaim the subway trains with their own obsessive gesture. The result was a jam session where the lines between the artists’ and children’s work disappeared, breaking free from the division that underpins adult society. Langue Verte is a living, evolving patois. Its alphabet is formed by the collective gestures of a ritual where the group transcends the individual, feeding off its unique style. It is a danced language, with patterns that shift according to vibrations in lines, tones, and pencil strokes, at times gentle, at others powerful. Like a new Babylon, the members of the Langue Verte tribe understand one another without speaking, united in the freedom that makes childhood a land of limitless possibility.
Luca Avanzini
Photographs by Élodie Ponsaud / Laura Aruallan
Txakurra, the name given to the CANEMORTO deity, symbolises liberation from all power structures. It is a Dionysian anti-divinity that rejects the Apollonian order of social norms that transform children into adults. CANEMORTO's work is materialist, anti-intellectual, collective, experimental, and fanciful. Rooted in underground graffiti culture, it sheds all rigidity through a light-hearted attitude that treats play as a serious pursuit. Ambivalent, ironic, and hybrid, their language draws from the Art Brut of outsiders and the unrefined, unfiltered creativity of children. The language of Txakurra, known as Langue Verte, is instinctive, direct, and raw. It comes alive through the energy of drawing and speaks to everyone without uttering a single word.
How can we preserve this energy within the institutional walls of an art centre without extinguishing the sacred fire of the dead dog? The first rule: reverse the rules. The works ‘fall’ from the walls, taking the form of books scattered around the rooms like islands. Children crawl, roll, and walk on them, seeking treasures hidden within the geological strata of their pages. The second rule challenges the sacred law of galleries: do not touch the works. In the world of Langue Verte, it is not just a matter of touching the works but of transforming them. Coloured pencils are provided for anyone under the age of 12, the traditional age of transition into adulthood. The pages of each book, inhabited by quirky and mysterious sketched figures, are just waiting to be brought to life with children's drawings. By breaking the traditional museum format and removing the safety distance, these works become spaces for direct interaction. It is not a merely symbolic encounter but a physical, sensory experience with the unknown that reveals something of ourselves.
More than 1,500 children participated in this collective performance from October to December 2021. Following instructions given by CANEMORTO in a video in the style of Fluxus protocols, the children removed their shoes, selected a colour and let their imaginations run wild on the thick paper of these magical books. Working alone, in teams or with friends, they exchanged pencils and supported each other in wild freestyles, never questioning their inalienable right to express themselves or how to do so. Some followed the rough outlines of the characters drawn by the six hands of CANEMORTO, others ignored them entirely. Still others aggressively covered them, like graffiti artists on a mission to reclaim the subway trains with their own obsessive gesture. The result was a jam session where the lines between the artists’ and children’s work disappeared, breaking free from the division that underpins adult society. Langue Verte is a living, evolving patois. Its alphabet is formed by the collective gestures of a ritual where the group transcends the individual, feeding off its unique style. It is a danced language, with patterns that shift according to vibrations in lines, tones, and pencil strokes, at times gentle, at others powerful. Like a new Babylon, the members of the Langue Verte tribe understand one another without speaking, united in the freedom that makes childhood a land of limitless possibility.
Luca Avanzini
Photographs by Élodie Ponsaud / Laura Aruallan
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