This body of work takes inspiration from the multilingual yet nonsensical poems of Hans/Jean Arp and the sound poems of Hugo Ball, which expose language as form while detaching it from meaning. In Ball’s Karawane, the verse “Bosso Fataka”—though invented—resonated in Arabic as “look at this strength” or “what strength.” From this moment grew a sustained interest in how sounds that appear as nonsense in one language may carry unintended meaning in another.
The works attempt to “translate” nonsense across languages, drawing on examples from Dadaist publications such as Merz, Bulletin D., and Integral, including their playful advertisements and poems. The pieces are realized on thick leather, inspired by medieval parchment engraved with musical notation that I encountered in Bologna. Their graphic qualities and color schemes deliberately echo the design and irreverence of the Dada magazines.