The Speech

Having devoted considerable attention to language in her work, over the past few years, Lapelytė has been delving into its limitations. The film is the result of her performance, created specifically at the invitation of the Festival d’Automne in Paris, held in September 2024 at the Bourse de Commerce – Pinault Collection. Lapelytė takes a radical approach by erasing all linguistic references. ANearly one hundred local Parisian children and teenagers created a sound sculpture, “speaking” by imitating animal sounds. The Speech reflects on the failure of language, human fragility, empathy, imitation as a method of learning and understanding the world, and the unheard voices of marginalized groups. At first glance, the performance may seem carefree and playful, yet it points to a child’s still-developing sense of self, where the distinction between “I” and “other” has not yet fully formed. Lapelytė’s intervention in the unique architecture of the Bourse, designed by Tadao Ando, is delicate and ephemeral. In creating a vision of a primordial world where humans and animals are still taking shape, the artist does not suggest a specific narrative. The film, like the performance, invites the audience to listen to both familiar and abstract sounds, which together form an unexpected, chimeric chorus of voices.